Tyler TShirt Gathering

Now that my fingers and toes all seem to be thawed out, I can sit and reflect on what a wonderful time I had at the Tyler TShirt gathering at Tyler State Park yesterday. The day was a little on the cold side but at least the wind from the previous day had died down and the sun remained out the entire day. Last summer, I had spent a day in Tyler collecting all but two of the boxes that still remained on my to do list but after yesterday, I now have to make a return trip to find the many new ones which were hidden. It is a wonderful park so it certainly doesn't bother me to make a return trip over there, probably in the spring when I go to check on my Elvis boxes.

Speaking of my Elvis boxes, a really strange thing happened with one of them. Wanda of Wanda and Pete was telling me that they had found my TCB box prior to coming to the gathering but that the stamp was missing in it. I have to admit that I was a little confused because Lightnin' Bug and Thomas had just found all of the Elvis boxes last weekend and had reported that all were in good shape. Well, we got to talking and discovered that Pete was using a set of clues from the first TCB box that I had planted last year at the Plantapalooza. That box had been found in the open by a non boxer who was kind enough to notify me that they had found it and replaced it. It was found in the open again a week or two later by another non boxer who followed a group of teens into the woods and feel that they had seen it and pulled it out and left it there. Again, the second non boxer, hid it and had notified me. The following weekend, Bill and I drove over to check on it and could not find it anywhere so I gave it up for lost and planted a new TCB box in a different location which has been found many times since then. Wanda and Pete had found the original box and stamped into it! Now I just have to see if I still have a copy of the original clues so that I can go back over and pull it and savor the logbook containing the original finders.

But back to the gathering. There were so many old friends and new names there that I didn't take much time for actual boxing. MizScarlet and I did manage to locate one of Hikers and Hounds boxes and I had to laugh when I discovered that it was the same box that I had removed from the BCCC campus during the summer for Irene from a series that she had planted for a class for young kids. So I have a double find for the same stamp but with a different location. It is a really, really good stamp too so I am glad to have it. I also mourned with Irene when she told me that her Dude, the Wonder Dog, stamp had been stolen from its letterbox. Someone had taken it but left everything else in the box. That was also a wonderful stamp and I know that it meant a lot to Irene.

It was a great pleasure to meet Lori and Brian from Team Green Dragon who have moved to New Jersey from New England recently. They were a very entertaining couple with lots of letterboxing stories to share. Brian's carving is exquisite, he showed me some of his stamps and all I could do is marvel at what he had created with an exacto knife and a piece of rubber. His log book was another hand made work of art. Lori endeared herself to me when she oohed and aahed over every page in my letterboxing scrapbooks.

Also attending the gathering besides MizScarlet and the King of Angmar, Wanda and Pete, Team Green Dragon, and of course, Hikers and Hound, were Lightnin' Bug, Cyclonic, NJCarole, Lucky Wolf, Rick in Boca and his sons, Rck2001 and wife Purple Fanci, Lotus and Leafcutter, Sheba, the new letterboxing family - MOO, and Eagle Bob and Teapot Marie. So it was a really nice mix of old friends and new ones. Irene had brought camp stoves and prepared hot drinks, soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for us. Leafcutter kept a fire going to warm us up. The King of Angmar kept us busy with a new type of cootie, a hybrid mystery cootie which consisted of a series of clues that we had to follow to find it and now that I am in possession of it, I get to plant it at another gathering in the future.

I also got to add to my "F" count by locating the Festival of Lights carved by Lotus, and I finally found the NIN box in our quest for the Who Done It hybrid cootie. I also added some new versions of personal stamps for NJCarole and Lightnin' Bug and shared my new personal stamp. MizScarlet carved the event stamp, shown above.

It was a great day and I want to thank Irene for it. The gathering was small compared to some that I have attended but to be honest, I had more fun and had more time to enjoy people this time than I have at any other gathering that I have attended. Thanks, Irene.