After finding our initial box in June 2002, we have since found letterboxes in 18 states and placed them in 13 states; 4 countries: Aruba, Bermuda, The Netherlands, Great Britain; and on a cruise ship! Thanks for stopping by our website and we appreciate your continued support.
"Have fun and just get out there & box!!!"
Email us: mjpepe1@comcast.net (Mark) or suepepe1@comcast.net (Sue)
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Wes Giving Rosie a Ride!
Wes Garrison, beloved webmaster of the Letterboxing.org website, has just announced on the big talk list that he is headed to Toronto on business and will drop the Rosie Ruiz HH somewhere along his route. Will he go via NYC and drive Rosie to the finish line? Who know but Wes! We will be watching this one closely as Rosie might just win this thing before the Labor Day weekend!
After our group letterboxing hike a few Sundays ago in the Newgate Prison area, I have been the recipient of a bunch of emails from other letterboxers who read these webpages; many asking to be included in the next group thing we do.
As usual - that got me thinking - about an informal group to go letterboxing one Sunday a month in a different part of CT each time. This would give Sue & I the chance to see trails and boxes in parts of the state we might normally not visit, and those letterboxers who are interested, a chance to join us. Also, those that don't like to hike and box alone would have some companionship and gain safety in numbers. Again - this is not a formal club but a chance to do some group boxing in different parts of the state. You could join us one week and miss the next 4 if you like. Attendance is as your schedule and whim permits. We will publish a schedule of places and times and you may join those that appeal to you most.
Hopefully, we can all take turns carving an event stamp for each month. We can start out as once a month, but then make it every other month if interest wanes. Bring your own lunch and we can stop for a pizza or some kind of supper after dark. In the good weather, we use hiking boots and in the winter - we can go to places conducive to snow shoes and cross country skiing.
I can't see the first hike starting until after November 1st. Dartmoor and an October filled with gatherings have pretty much filled our September and October. Stay tuned for more details and please, send us an email if you are interest or have a suggested location or both!
Our favorite letterboxing piggy has done it again! Funhog has just planted a new box called Six Hogs in Corn. Located in Shevlin Park in Bend, OR, the Hog takes us on a wonderful letterboxing adventureas seen through the eyes of our swinely friends.
This week's Box of the Week is Bluebird'sCheshire Camporee 2004 Commemorative Box. This letterbox celebrates the recent Girl Scout annual camping outing and is located at Riverbound Farms in Cheshire, CT - home to some other great boxes.
Our Poll of the Weekasks for the number of states in which you have found letterboxes. Thanks, Pine Tree for the suggestion! Don't be afraid to email your suggestions for this poll - I could use the help!
Our Website of the Weekis Ryan Carpenter's Atlas Quest site. Check out the link in the right column and don't forget to register. This is a great, user-friendly site with some very cool features. I was privileged, among others, to test this site before Ryan put it online for the general letterboxing public. He took our suggestions like a man and he really is a nice guy! No - really - he is a nice guy! Really! You know how frisky the young can be! Look for Ryan's interview with us later this fall.
Wes Garrison and Jess have picked up Rosie Ruiz and are now moving her to Kansas City! Rosie has been a very busy HH lately - thanks to the drivers who have helped her along. Go Rosie!
Sue and I will be wending our way to the mountains tonight. Wilmington is celebrating its 87th Annual Deerfield Valley Farmer's Days this weekend, which is a local fair with a small midway with food and rides and one of VT's largest of its 14 agricultural fairs. Another of the main attractions is a great parade that features Wilmington-born residents who have moved away and come back every year to march or ride in the event. The culmination of the event is an all day demolition derby on Sunday afternoon - my favorite! We should also find some time on Saturday to do a few of the Valley Questsin Wilmington from the new quest book that just came out. Whatever you do this weekend - enjoy and be safe. We'll be back posting on Monday.
Got a phone call from Pine Tree tonight. It seems she and Wolf decided to take the kids and do a little letterboxing before school resumes next week. They ended up in VT to do some of our letterboxes and had an unusual story to tell!
While they were searching for our Alternate Energy letterbox, they hesitated on the path - not sure which direction to turn - left or right. A woman came up to them, asked if they needed any help and then asked if they were looking for "clothed" or "unclothed!"
Pine Tree quickly asked, "Excuse me?" The local went on to tell them that if they continued down the path they were heading, they would be at the nude beach! Sue & I have heard rumors of a nude beach for years but never really found it! Looks like Pine Tree, Wolf and the kids almost did! She told me that they have a new name for the letterbox - Alternative Energy or Bare Windmills! Thanks to Pine Tree for sharing this story with me and giving permission to place it here so that our readers could hear the bare facts!
Louise Donovan, the UK college student writing her dissertation on letterboxing, just announced to the talk list that her website has been updated with photos from her trip to the US in July and Music Woman and Bluebird's trip to Dartmoor. Click the stamp image above to be magically transported across the pond! This stamp image was given to Louise at the evening gathering at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden.
Thanks to Funhog, our official website cheerleader, the announcement has been made on the talk list about our interview with Tom Cooch being ready. We are very honored to have done this interview with Tom, who was involved in letterboxing from the very start. As you read the interview, you will get a feel for that very first gathering of our letterboxing pioneers as they plotted that first course for this pastime that we all so enjoy today. Thanks so much, Tom, for agreeing to this interview so that all of our readers may appreciate not only your individual contribution but that of all of those early boxers. Click on Tom's signature stamp above for your look at the interview.
Funhog took a trip to the heartland of America this weekend and visited the Iowa State Fair after hearing personal heart throb, Fabian, was a headliner at an oldies show. The performers included Lou Christie, Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, Lesley Gore, Tommy Roe, the Marvelettes, Danny and the Juniors.
Leave it to Funhog to wrangle backstage and meet all of the performers, including Fabian, after telling the backstage guards that she was the "Time Magazine" piggie.The Hog told the performers about letterboxing and really seized their interest when Brett'sMusician's Series and Jay Drew's and TeamGreenDragon's individual Beatles series were mentioned. After the show, Funhog had a chance to check on a box and then safely place Rosie Ruiz there in Iowa!Rosie is now halfway to her goal in NYC and Funhog has finally met Fabian! Does it get any better than that?
Our Box of the Week is Janet's Letterbox, by Chrissy, in honor of her mom who passed away from breast cancer. This box's purpose is to promote self-examination and mammograms for all women. My mom also passed away from breast cancer at the age of 59, so this box holds a special meaning for me, also.
Our Website of the Weekis Monkey Toes Website, from Texas. Find the link in the right column.
Poll of the Week asks about your letterboxing maintenance habits!
At the summit of the Old New-Gate Prison letterboxes
What a great day Sue & I had today! Butterfly, Lobsta Lady, Rubaduc, Sadie & Russ all went letterboxing in Granby today. We figured that we hiked about 9 miles total - should help to get us in shape for Dartmoor! Butterfly and Rubaduccan hike and hike and hike!
CT's Winged Wonder, Butterfly
The New-Gate Prison box we did starts with a very steep climb but then levels off. Russ and I figured we hiked a total of 4 miles on that series and Rubaduc and Butterflywere just getting warmed up! All I could think was Butterfly and Rubaduc are going to kill me in Dartmoor.
Thanks to all for a wonderful day - and special thanks to Rubaduc for her extra supplies for the soggy, dirty boxes we found and thanks to Sue for finding a great Chinese restaurant for a great meal at the end of a wonderful day. The restaurant was called "Wok on the Wild Side!" That's a great name for a letterbox! Plus, we also got another on trail exchange with a new letterboxing family of 5 called Metro's Pack, who live nearby. Metro, by the way, is the name of their black lab, who had a pack slung over his back and was carrying the letterboxing supplies! It's always fun to meet new letterboxers on the trail.
President G. W. Bush's Letterboxing Signature Stamp
This has been a very unbelievable week! First, John Kerry, then the Bandits and now the President of the United States!
The following exciting message was just received via email:
"Please post my personal letterboxing stamp.
As you can see, this stamp is clearly better than Senator Kerry's.
A clear indicator of who should win the upcoming election.
Thank you,
W"
Sadie and Russ Become #5!
In a non-related story, Sadie & Russ have completed the CT State Stamp Series, becoming the 5th on our Hall of Fame list. Great work to this Southern CT Duo. Heard Russ needed a little help with our Hartford County Mystery box from a famous, wonderful winged mutual friend of ours!
Funhog figured out the clues to Rosie's last location [left by John Kerry!] and Rosie is once again on the move! According to the Hog, she is going to take Rosie for a huge leap. Don't know what that means, but knowing that Funhog is a world traveler, Rosie could be heading just about anywhere! Godspeed to you both!
The Sticky Fingers Bandits might be on their way to jail. In a link from a new talk list post, the saga continues with the news that detectives have unearthed a set of clues from a phone tap of one of the Bandits, Perry "Rat" Wilak. Decode the clues in the form of a encrypted phone call and you may possibly find out the location of these wayward souls.
Hi, I'm John Kerry, letterboxer.
If you click my picture, you will be taken to my interview!
After we received Senator Kerry's signature stamp via email, your ever vigilant servant posed the question of an exclusive interview for our website readers. A quick response from the Kerry camp came back in the affirmative. Watch our pages in the next few days for a one-on-one with this letterboxing candidate for President.
Who knows - there may even be a letterbox in the White House if he wins?!?
John Kerry, after reading our story about the talk list post below, has graciously emailed us his signature stamp image for our exclusive use on this web page. We hope to keep these lines of communication open between the candidate and yours truly so that we, too, may push the letterboxing agenda! Hopefully, more communications to come!
A new talk list post gives a link to a new website - the home of the Sticky Bandits. On this site, they brag about their 5th bank heist. The website says that the befuddled authorities may be forced to share their clues with the boxing public so as to find these letterboxing bandits. Apparently their name comes from the fact that not only do they steal cash from the banks, they even steal the banks' stash of lollipops for kids! Stay tuned - I'm sure there will be more to come!
According to a new talk list post from the "Kerry Camp," Presidential candidate John Kerry decided to try letterboxing after reading about it in Time magazine and ran into our favorite Hog while on a campaign swing through Portland, OR.
After the Hog gave Kerry a ride on her motorcycle, Funhog pushed her agenda about the National Park Service and geocaching. Kerry promised the Hog that if he is elected, he would work to ensure that letterboxing is allowed in the National Parks and that geocaching on public lands would become a federal offense!
Getting back to the trails, John Kerry was very pleased to find a hitchhiker while letterboxing - the one and only Rosie Ruiz HH! Kerry is quoted as saying:
"I wish Rosie well in her pursuit. I was unable to help her move much towards her goal, but to help her the best as I can, I made sure to leave the Boss Hogg letterbox I moved her to well out in the open to ease finding the box by the next hunter."
God bless John Kerry,
God bless Funhog,
& God bless Rosie Ruiz!
Our goodies this week have a wedding flavor, in honor of our newest letterboxing newlyweds, Phyto and Isoceles! They tied the knot on the same day that Mepanj placed this week's Box of the Week, on August 14th. The Golden Exacto Award Letterbox is in honor of the happy couple and the enjoyment they have given Mepanj while searching for their letterboxes.
Our Poll of the Week deals with your opinion, positive or negative, to the latest craze of Postal Letterboxes. Please place your vote! Also - don't forget to sign our Guest Map, if you haven't already - it's one of the few ways we have to see who are visitors are and from where they live. Click on the button located right under the Weekly Poll. Thanks!
Our Website of the Week is Pam and Todd's Coyotl Clan website. Find the link in the right column, just above the Weekly Poll.
Picture 1: From a backyard of a private home next to the parking lot for Spongebob & Friends Series Letterboxes. It's one and a half miles uphill, but coming back is easy!
Picture 2: View coming down the trail, in search of the Quabbin View box, located in New Salem, MA. We will bring a picnic here next time!
Picture 3: The cemetery, located in Old Bennington, VT is down the street from the Bennington Monument and behind the First Congregational Church, where Deanne & Dave and Sue & I had a special moment with a new friend at the grave of Robert Frost. See the entry below with the picture of Robert Frost.
Our CT boxers are back from Dartmoor safe and sound from their whirlwind trip to Dartmoor. Music Woman posted links to her website that has 2 pages of pictures from the trip.
More info to follow in the next few days.
You will notice pictures of Chris and Louise. They are the father/daughter team that we met when they came to the US to interview US boxers for Louise's college dissertation. Louise and Chris will be joining our 13 Dartmoor travelers [The LBNA Bakers Dozen] in September for 2 days of letterboxing, interviews and fun!
Rest up, Louise, we need you to get us to Cranmere!
Brett Costley has just announced to the LBNA talk list that he has found Rosie Ruiz, the HH! Rosie was found in the Wild Rose box near Vernonia, OR after a trip from CA!
Brett went on to issue Rosie's new war cry: "Watch out all you critters; Rosie is in it to win it!" It looks like Rosie has the will power to beat these critters. Stay tuned for further developments as they happen!
Alphabet Bandits have announced their new letterbox, A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on the popular childrens' books. Lemony Snicket, one of the central characters, has been the topic of our letterboxing talk lists over the past several months concerning some secret letterboxes located around the country. On December 17th, Jim Carrey, as Lemony Snicket, will star in a movie based on these books.
Q has set the final destination to determine the winner of the Thumbin' Critter HH Race - it's in NYC and the box is entitled Halloween Adventure. First HH that arrives there wins the race!
Rosie Picked Up! Hitches a Ride via the Northern Trail!
Ron, az89a, has given the first ride for Rosie Ruiz! He picked Rosie up at the Alex G. Woodpecker box in CA. Ron posted that Rosie is now on her way to some legendary boxes in the Pacific Northwest! Go, Rosie, go! ~ You can beat these critters!
This week's Box of the Week is a timely one. With the start of the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece this week, MayEve's Let the Games Begin! will get us all ready for this event. Be sure to click on the olympic rings picture to take you to the official Olympics site for updates and the latest standings.
Our Weekly Poll of the Week deals with the proliferation of letterboxes found in CT and whether that is a good thing or not. Please try not to let your jealousy enter into the picture while voting!!!! ;-)
Our Website of the Week honors go to Deedle and Doodle Bug and their letterboxing website. Find the link in the column at the right.
Saturday, we took Deanne [The Lazy Letterboxer] and Dave [The Letterboxing Ham] on a tour of Bennington, VT. Our first stop was the burial place of poet, Robert Frost. As we wound our way through the cemetery behind that historic white Congregational church that stands guard, we encountered an elderly man with what appeared to be his son. The elderly man asked if we knew where Robert Frost was buried. I told him to follow us, as we were headed there. Once Sue, Deanne and Dave got to the grave, we were joined by our new elderly friend and son.
The elderly man then asked us if we knew any of Frosts works. Dave and Sue both answered with "the horse might think it queer." He then proceeded to recite the entire poem, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, from memory, and with the panache of a poet on a stage. Supported by only a cane, our new friend brought a special meaning to our location.
He then told us that on that inaugural day for JFK, when Frost was called upon to recite his special poem for the event, the wind took his script and carried the papers into the crowd. Undaunted, Frost repeated from memory The Road Not Taken. Our new friend then recited that complete poem for us, again from memory, with clear and lilting voice.
Now all of this may seem impressive but the best was yet to come. I asked him if he was a teacher, possibly an English teacher. His son kind of laughed and the elderly gentleman said something like "a long time ago." He then told us that he was a contemporary of Frost's. "I am almost 100 years old!", he said - much to our complete surprise. It was like reliving history and a special moment that the four of us will not forget for a long time.
"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
Thanks go out to Q, the brains behind the Thumbin' Critter Race. Q has seen fit to recognize the late entry of Rosie Ruiz on the Racing Whereabouts page, as Rosie gets into the starting gate. Now let's see who wins this thing!
Fleur de Lis recently wondered on her blog, where our Monday Goodies were. Well, they have been here all along, but we just didn't announce them. It's nice to know that someone noticed! So - here goes:
Box of the Week - Explorer Camp Series by Memlili and her campers from Maine. A series of 5 out there for just a short time!
Poll of the Week - Relates to the resource from which you get your stamp images for your letterboxes.
Website of the Week - Q's Thumbin' Critters HH Race Page [GO ROSIE!] Look for the link in the right column.
Hiking safety and security is something of which the veteran and new letterboxer should be aware. Thanks to Don, of Don and Gwen from California, we have a great resource and benchmark to be sure we all remain safe in the woods as we hike. Don has contributed the first article in Letterboxing 101 - our exclusive reference library for new letterboxers. Thanks to Don for voluteering and offering his wisdom from his many years in the security business and Phantom Phiddler from RI for her work in assembling and soliciting these articles to help our new boxers.
Queen B has posted the clues for her Lebanon Fair Series. Please note that these 5 letterboxes are limited to the Fair days of this Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. Hours, admission fee and directions are contained in the clues.
CT's own letterboxing treasure, Butterfly, has completed the CT State Stamp Series and enters our Hall of Fame as the 4th letterboxer to complete this series. Congratulations!
Things are heating up about the latest entry in the Thumbin' Critter HH Race! See the story below and don't forget to vote for your personal favorite to win the race. Run, Rosie, Run!
Letterboxing enthusiasts hide and hunt weatherproof containers in remote or scenic places. Each container holds a logbook, a rubber stamp and stamp pad. The planter of the letterbox distributes clues to it's location via the internet, Word of Mouth, on websites or via other means. Clues can be easy to difficult. Finding a letterbox may require a combination of skills such as mapreading, orienteering, and puzzle-solving.
Letterboxers carry their own logbook and personal stamp when hunting for hidden boxes. Upon finding a letterbox, they will imprint their own logbook using the found stamp, and leave their own stamping or personalization in the letterbox's logbook. Some artistic letterboxers carve and even design their own stamps and logbooks. Letterboxes are hidden in various locations throughout the world.
Letterboxing has its beginnings in Dartmoor National Park in England, where the first letterbox at Cranmere Pool was placed in 1854 by a Dartmoor guide named James Perrott, who left his calling card in a container there while guiding tourists through Dartmoor.
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