Alaska or Bust!

Several weeks ago, Donutz wrote to me, telling me about a HH she wanted to launch while she and her husband were in Florida. Her idea was to have the HH, which she would launch in FL, make its way to Alaska, where her brother would finally retrieve it once the Alaskan boxer emailed Donutz telling her that they had found the much-traveled HH.

This week I received another email from Donutz on vaca in FL letting me know that the HH was in the wild - somewhere in the Sunshine State and would hopefully begin its journey forthwith.

Here's the background and the explanation in her own words taken from that initial email that she first sent me:

" . . . Several years ago when visiting Alaska, my husband and I spent a few days in Seward and came across a Memorial for Benny Benson. John Ben "Benny" Benson is responsible for creating the flag for the Territory of Alaska in 1927.Up to that time, Alaskans had flown only the U.S. flag since the territory was purchased from Russia in 1867. Benson's design was chosen over roughly 700 other submissions from school children statewide in grades 7–12. He was 13 years old at the time and an orphan. He looked to the sky, choosing the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and the North Star for his symbols. He described his choices: "The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska Flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly of the union. The dipper is for the Great Bear symbolizing strength."

His sentiments are echoed in the state song. The whole story behind the creation of the Alaska Flag inspired me, so now I would like to try something. I don’t know if it will work, but I think it would be fun to launch a stamp in Florida of the Alaska Flag as a hitchhiker, “I want to Go Home HH,”and see if it could travel to Alaska. The logbook would ask that the finder move it in a Northwesterly direction. Perhaps people on LBNA and AQ could post that they’ve found it. Would you be willing to post something on your Blog? My brother lives in Anchorage and would be happy to retrieve it if and when it arrives."

So there you have it - the story behind the "I Want to Go Home HH." If you find this wayward HH, please email Donutz and do your best to plant it in another host box in a northwesterly fashion.

We wish good luck to Donutz and the journey of her ambitious, new HH which is now Alaska bound!