It's The Journey . . .

One of the first questions we're asked when we meet people is what we like best about letterboxing. Without hesitation, our answer is the title of this little narrative - the journey. Now the "journey" can be taken two ways - the hike to the letterbox or our overall journey in letterboxing. Either way, we love the journey!

Many times while boxing with Sue and others, I'll be bird-watching or enjoying the scenery - the rushing Metolius and grand peaks in the distance in Oregon, the patchwork-like "quilts" of Dartmoor with its majestic, granite Tors, the 360 degree views at Putney Mountain in Vermont or the stunning beauty of where rock meets sea on Mt. Desert Island in Maine. I clearly remember Funhog and Don (of Don & Gwen) laughing at me as I seemed to be disjointed from the quest at hand. I was too busy taking it all in! I was enjoying the journey! As we approach our 6th letterboxing anniversary, I began to wax poetic!

It might seem, at times, that I'm just along for the ride and I guess - maybe I am! It's the smell of the pines and the song of the birds, the passing of rumors and sharing of special WOM clues with other boxers, the views, that weird-shaped rock, the awesome blue of the sky - all of the sights and sounds that add to the memories of the journey.

Our memorable personal letterboxing journey began on June 16, 2002 when I took Sue away for a major milestone birthday that she was less than pleased about reaching! "Consider the alternative," I told her but to no avail. So I secretly made reservations at a B & B in southern CT for the weekend. "Pack your bag for a weekend," I told her and we were off to Essex, CT. Unbeknownst to Sue, I had purchased a commercial stamp of a pinecone and a ruled journal (both items that I was to learn much later we not the best choices!) and ran off some clues in Essex by a family called The Drew Clan. I was intrigued with their website and secretly packed this little packet of clues, stamp & logbook.

The morning of June 16, we headed off for our first letterboxing hunt - Sue was very excited. Many months previous she had spotted an article in the Hartford Courant that had a picture of eagles and the accompanying story about letterboxing including the reference to the now famous Smithsonian magazine article. She thought it was something we might do together and we talked about it briefly but put the article on the shelf "for the future."

We had the clues in hand for Zoom Zoom Zoom by the Drew Clan. We followed the clue - passed the library, crossed at the crosswalk, etc. And we reached the end of the clues. Now - what was a juniper? We figured it out but realized early on that we had to study up on our trees and all of these sisters! Two sisters, three sisters . . . We made mental notes to check out the internet for a primer on trees but at this moment we savored the view and the victory of finding our first box!

Several personal traits proved to be very useful in our letterboxing journey - Sue always loved a challenge (she married me after all!) and is very persistant. I am curious by nature and love to search and wonder "why?." With some of those traits in hand, we found the big talk list and some individual clues that were hidden in all the nooks and crannies of the internet. This letterboxing thing was getting interesting!

Our first big jump into the letterboxing ocean was one cold January Saturday in 2007, when Sue & I attended our first gathering with our 2 nieces. We arrived at the first Moose Hill gathering and saw many cars in the parking lot. Once inside, we were amazed at the people! After dropping off our potluck item (chili, I think) we headed upstairs to the restrooms. There, at the top of the stairs sat a man who said simply "Welcome - I'm Jay Drew." Oh my God, I thought, this is Jay from the Drew Clan! I had been to his website at least 100 times!

We all walked downstairs and starting exchanging with others. What a crazy scene it was! People of all sizes and shapes and ages! We then ended up going outside in the 17 degree weather to find some of the letterboxes on the grounds and were met by a couple who had a young son with them. "We are TeamGreenDragon" they said and thus a strong friendship developed that has lasted since our first words of introduction. That day we met many special people who would remain close to us over the years: Deanne the lazy letterboxer & Dave the letterboxing ham (although I don't remember them from that gathering,) Butterfly and Lobsta, RTRW and Bookworm, our hosts CSCM and RustyPuff, Pine Tree and a whole host of others too numerous to mention.

Since that first gathering, Sue & I have had the pleasure to attend 2 special gatherings with Godfrey and Anne Swinscow in Dartmoor National Park, several events in Oregon with our porcine host and great friend, Funhog and Der Mad Stamper; a Detroit area gathering where we met SpringChick and others; VA Beach where we ended a vacation with a small gathering overlooking the beach and hosted by Shell & BullDawg; a lovely lakeside gather in Ithica hosted by Angele and other gathers in Maine with Phyto, the Cape gather hosted by "the girls," and who knows where we'll show up next! And at each stop, we met boxers who were strangers at first but became part of our extended letterboxing family.

The next stop on this continuing journey takes us to the Orlando area in Florida in a week and a small gathering set up for us by Three Hearts on May 2. Although we've been to Florida many times, we're looking forward to getting our first Florida exchanges and boxes! After that, we hit our Letterboxing Cruise on June 22 for an awesome week at sea and on the immaculate, pink sands of our favorite island - Bermuda with 35 boxing friends. May is time for Spring into Boxing hosted by MayEve and Wild Rover. August brings us to the Murder Mystery gathering at the Austin Hill Inn in West Dover, VT! September and the cooler weather brings us out to the mother-of-all-gathers, We Live and Breathe Letterboxing in Oregon - a gather that we and the rest of the country are awaiting. We end the year with our Bed & Breakfast gathering that will be happening in November. Whew - that's 7 scheduled gathers in CT, VT, NH, Bermuda, and OR. Do you think we're addicted?

Now matter where we roam and how long this letterboxing journey lasts, Sue & I relish every minute of it and we're so thankful to those who have befriended us along the way and all of the planters from around the world whose boxes we've found.

It's been a great journey thus far and the future looks even better!