Rocks, Docks and Locks - Day 3

Day three - my little, narrow bunk bed had felt heavenly the night before. I was so exhausted that I fell right to sleep and never woke up till 3:30 in the morning. My dilemma now was whether or not I could take a shower in the common bathroom without waking up the rest of the ship. I fooled around logging finds on my excel spreadsheet and stamping my NY HHH find into my logbook which took me to 4 and I was ready to be out and about. So I hurriedly took a shower as quietly as I could and headed out - to a series by Butterfly5, The Pirate Series. The first box of this series was again hidden in the rocks along the water. I marvel that these boxes stay dry and don't wash away. This picture shows the sun just beginning to rise from my position stamping in at this box. I also marvelled at the stamps in this series. They are the kind of stamps that require you to use lots of colors and take your time stamping in so that you don't waste the experience. The next box was at the gravesite of the first prime minister of Canada. I had a lot of difficulty finding this box and almost gave up on it. The problem with giving up on it was that this box contained the clue to the third and final box of the series. I poked around for a while, went back to my car, turned it on to leave and decided, what the heck, I would give it one more try and fortunately I was rewarded with the find. It was amusing to see that Yankeechik, who had found this box the day before, had mentioned in the log that she had also had a great deal of difficulty finding this box. I stamped in and went to my next and final box in this series. As I was stamping in there, I heard a bit of a clatter behind me and turned to see that there was a gardener unloading equipment at the grave I had just visited. I had timed it just right!

From the Pirate Series, I headed back to the ship because Yankeechik and I had made tentative plans to get together again to box. I waited around for a while and then began to do the five box series which had been planted on the ship for the gathering. The Alexander Henry Series took me on a complete tour of the ship, something that I may not have taken the time to do if the boxes hadn't been there. And on this tour, an amazing thing happened - I found a hitchhiker! I can't find them in my own country but I found one in Canada. And the funniest thing about it was that it was the Elvis Hitchhiker by Norasta. Some of you may know that my Bill is crazy about Elvis. When I moved in with him, there were Elvis collectibles scattered throughout the house. I like Elvis too but I was having a hard time dealing with these mementos in every room. So I gathered them all together and placed them in one room - our guest bedroom which is now known as the Elvis room. And now the HH which I found was an Elvis HH - it was meant to be!

After completing the Alexander Henry series and not finding Yankeechik, I assumed that she had gone out on her own so I set out again. My first stop was to the Emily Carr letterbox. This one was a semi-mystery, needing a little research ahead of time. Thankfully, my laptop managed to pick up a good wireless signal when I was in the Marine Museum parking lot so I was able to quickly solve the clue and move on to find the box. Emily Carr was a well known Canadian artist and this box commemorates her art. At this point I was near the location of another one of the Shop Local, Shop Small series. I went into the Wallack Art store for the Star Wars Geek letterbox. I was excited to find an art store because,unbelievably, my log book was almost full and I desparately wanted another one. I can't believe how many stamps I found on this trip. But a logbook similar to the one which I use and buy for under $3 here was $10.99 there. Even with the difference in the rate exchange, I just couldn't justify spending that much for a new book.

I then meandered my way back to the ship to prepare for the gathering and decided to stop at the Museum which had just opened to collect the first stamp of the Alexander Henry series and to find the other stamps which were located on the ship in areas that hadn't been open when I did them early that morning. At the museum, I met Mummy and Me who were also searching for the same box. Ethan, the Me part of Mummy and Me, proved to be an absolute boxing fiend at the ripe old age of four. He and his fearless Mummy had arrived two days earlier and were capturing all of the boxes in the Kingston area. My only hope is that my Lil Milkmonster is as into boxing as Ethan was.

Back on the ship then to finish the series and to also search for the bonus box by Jiggs, The Loyalist, which was located in the winch room of the ship. This room was at the very front of the ship and provided a nice view of the entire dock area. While I was searching for this box, which was very cleverly hidden, I heard a commotion on the dock and looked down to see the arrival of the rest of the Red Hat Boxers. And that meant that the gathering had officially begun.

The usual hubbub of a gathering took place and I have to admit that I was feeling more than a little naked without my camera to capture it all but I had decided that I was going to actually experience this gathering instead of trying to find just the right shots all afternoon. And enjoy it, I did. I made exchanges with a lot of people, but not nearly everyone who was there. I received stamps from our host and hostess, Norasta and Guitarzan, from Mummy and Me, Weezee, Butterfly5, Grasshopper, Trailfeathers, Tamsyn, Lockwench, Wink and Tarheel , and Spudhund, I also received the new stamps for Wanda and Pete and SewSowbizzy. I also managed to collect a few table stamps - Dragon Breath and Gummy Bear. And of course, I had to get a few personal travelers. My collection now includes Lockwench's Gloria Long and Ex in a Box as well as her delightful Letterboxers Gone Wild. I also received Drink of Choice and Leafy Seadragon by Spudhund. And last but not least I was a beneficiary of the Pudge Traveling Event stamp by Wink and their team stamp, the Wizards of Oz.

After trying to meet everyone and get the exchanges and devouring more good food than I should have, Sewsowbizzy, MizScarlet and Mambo Dog were heading downtown to search for some more of the Shop Local, Shop Small boxes. I decided to accompany them because I still needed to find the first two boxes of the series. We walked up a street looking for a big faucet in order to find Hetty and Hercule which turned out to be hidden in a very quaint book store dealing only in mysteries. It was totally cool and the box was a perfect fit for this location. Then we traveled across the street to another quaint shop to find Walk Up and Smell the Coffee. The aromas in this shop were almost enough to convince me to begin to drink coffee. It was on these two boxes that I discovered the big difference between the rest of the Red Hat Boxers and me - these Red Hatters actually shopped in these stores. I was in a state of shock - shopping on a letterboxing excursion - it just can't be!

I left the Red Hat Boxers at this point and headed back to the ship, collecting Norasta's Fresh Water Sailing Capital along the way. When I returned, I reconnected with my Friday boxing partner, Yankeechik, and the Unlisted Boxes WOM clues by Guitarzan. Hmmmm, another set of boxes in stores. But this one came with a warning from Norasta that she wouldn't do this set if she were us. It seems that this was the one set of boxes which did not have the permission of the store owners and that there were security cameras throughout the store. Undaunted, Yankeechik and I headed for the store, planning our strategy along the way. However, once we actually saw the layout of the store, our plans abruptly changed. Create a diversion, that's what was needed....so I admired some items which were hanging between the cashier and the letterbox. Yankeechik made quick work of finding this box, thank heavens, and we went on to box number two, choosing to find both of them before stamping in. Then we had to find a spot to stamp in. In a moment of divine inspiration, we came up with the perfect solution and hurriedly stamped into our books without being detected. Happily we rehid the boxes and went back to the ship.

Once more back to the ship where we met up with Wink and Tarheel and we all headed back to the RMC to finish the series I had already started. Boy, did we have a tough time doing that. The last two boxes turned out to be exactly where they were supposed to be but even with four experienced boxers hunting for them, we lost a lot of time trying to locate them. And we lost a little more time when a pair of ducks decided to join us while stamping in at one of the boxes. After oohing and ahhing over their beauty and their lack of fear, we hurried back to the ship......again........for the group photos and the end of the official gathering. But the four of us weren't quite finished yet, we headed back toward the RMC but made the turn into Fort Henry for a group of boxes tucked away there. Be Free Little Squirrel by Hoover was our first find there, followed by another Norasta series, Fort Henry which consisted of two boxes, Deadman's Bay and the Cannon. Deadman's Bay was located at the site of an archeological dig which, fortunately for us, was not in progress when we were there. However, I did hear that some subsequent boxers were not able to collect this one because of the studies going on.

By this time, I was totally, exhausted and ready to head for my narrow little bunk. But it was not to be just yet.... there was time for one more box. We still had to collect a member of the Royal Family, the Queen Mother herself. We headed to another local pub and found the queen's red purse and Wanda and Pete. As we wearily stamped in, some of our group were making plans to go out and party but this member knew that 4 the next morning would be there really soon and I headed back to my cabin.