Black Creek Preserve

I headed upstate today, to Black Creek Preserve in Ulster County and did phynstar's "MY PLB Series". She always carves very nice stamps and her clues are interesting. She forces you to notice your surroundings and work a little. I had no trouble following the clues for this series so they were probably pretty easy! It was a nice day for a hike and the trails are easy. The weather was beautiful and it's always great to get OUT OF GOTHAM!

BACK FROM B.A.B.E.

As it turned out, there were actually more than the 10 spaces that were posted about because you could park on the edge of the road. *And* as it turned out, at least as far as the impression I got, there was no parking problem because it wasn't a big gathering like I expected. I don't know if not everyone showed up or there was no problem just due to people coming and going. And you did have to drive to most of the boxes not at the pavillion unless you had all the time in the world to hike around and do them all in a very leisurely fashion, which we did not. And many of them were a hike of some kind after driving to the location. But it seemed to me like a regular sized gathering, not a so called big "national anniversary" gathering. I have a tendency to get overwhelmed when there are too many people and too much of a stamping frenzy and I never felt like that while I was there. It was a nice gathering with a very good, friendly feeling to it.



I guess we were at the pavillion from around 1???.... untill around 3???? We had driven from Roanoke, Virginia and then did 3 boxes in Hot Springs before we got there. After we left the pavillion we went and did the event boxes and only got 8 of them, mostly because of the time factor and the fact that we were very tired. I have an issue with hiding the event stamps all over the place but that was her choice. People coming from a long distance had time and traveling issues that I don't think were taken into consideration. People who came and stayed for 2-3-4 days had time to do it all with no problem but not everyone can do that with a so called national gathering. But it's over and done with now. She has the right to do what she wants to. All in all it was a good gathering and I really enjoyed meeting some very nice people from a different part of the country. I also finally met the Gallant Rogue himself!!



And it never rained on Saturday as far as I know. If there were any scattered sprinkles we never saw them.

We went back and did Max Patch the next morning before leaving the area. We had stayed in Newport, Tennessee, about 26 miles away and did the comfortable bed, steak and crab cakes for dinner at Ruby Tuesday's boxing thing as opposed to the hard, cold ground boxing thing. ++A boxer does not a camper have to be. There's room for those who enjoy sleeping on the cold hard ground and for those that enjoy a nice mattress.++



Max Patch is an easy box to get once you get up to it, but the drive willllllll kill ya!! LOL But it's BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Then we stopped in Bristol, Virginia and did two boxes before the rain started there. We didn't have time to wait till it stopped and do the other two. So by the time 4survivors and I got back to DC and I took the train baaaaaaaaaaaak here, it was midnight. So guess who took advantage of being a civil servant and called in sick today?! God I love not working in the private sector where you actually have to go to work every day!! LOL



Did I mention North Carolina is extraordinarily beautiful? North Carolina is extraordinarily beautiful! I hope I can go back down there and see more of it.

Escape From Gotham!

On Saturday Lockwench and I took a ride up to the New Paltz area, about an hour and a half from here in upstate New York. We did two series on the Rail Trail that made for a nice hike on a very nice day, sunny with a crisp chill in the air. Only one box that was supposed to be in the town of New Paltz itself was missing. Lockwench fell on her butt and I lost some clues. All in all it was a pretty typical boxing day!




The trail has several entrances and this caboose was at one of them. Caboose......rail trail......get it? Sorry but it was just too easy to pass up.




We walked along the main street in New Paltz and checked out some of the little stores, especially the books stores and the art supply store. Can a letterboxer ever walk past an art supply store without going in?! Lockwench found a book that had some interesting and little known locations for new letterboxes.




We hit a local restaurant, had some delicious Greek food for lunch and managed to escape out the door without sampling the Bakalava. After that we walked back up the little main street, retrieved our cars and went to a couple of easy drive-bys before hitting the road for home sweet home. It was a good day with good boxing and good company. And that's pretty much what it's all about isn't it?

Tha' Great North West

I have the week of April 13 off, which also happens to be my birthday, so happy birthday to me!

On the 14th I'm off to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon to be exact. My dear friend Karen, better known to boxers the world over as esmereldaofthesplendidbuccaneers is living out there these days as opposed to the family homestead in Beautiful Western Colorado. We'll drive north from the Medford area up to Salem and meet up with some local boxers from Eugene who are going to host us with the mostess. Then we'll drive down the gorgeous coast, doing some more boxing along the way. I'll find a few and plant a couple. Or three. I've been to northern California but never this far up the coast so I'm really looking forward to this trip! And Karen and I haven't seen each other in way too long! The tripod is coming with me so there will be photo opportunities galore! Stay tuned!

Whew!!

Some Red hat Boxers take a much needed break from beach boxing