Spending the Fourth in State College, Part II

After finishing up in State College, we headed a bit out of town to the State Game Lands in Scotia. I had prepared Bill for a day of drivebys but what I hadn't prepared him for was a four mile drive on a dirt road in the little red car. Here is a picture of that same little red car waiting for me at The Tavern. It is not exactly an off road vehicle. Well, after painfully driving through a now steady drizzle we finally reached our first destination - Whippoorwill - Birding at Dusk #3. This was my first experience with a new boxer, Archaeobirder, since it is also one of his first boxes. At first, I was a bit miffed as I reached for the box and it slid down an embankment, thanks to the slippery leaves from the rain, but once I pulled the box in, I was really happy that we had taken the opportunity to look for this series. Nice job! I wish my first boxes looked this good!

We then drove back up the four mile dirt road to the next box in his series Woodcock - Birding at Dusk #2. Here I was delighted to find not only a nice box but a hitchhiker, Mini Bob's Wife. Mini Bob's Wife had been left in the box several weeks ago by the Crayola Posse and unbelievably the following two visitors also left it for me! This day was really going much better than I had anticipated! And Bill was so relieved to be able to drive the little red car back onto paved roads that he also was a happy boxer.

From here we headed to Bellefonte and the rains went right along with us. Bill and I were both astonished to see that seven Pennsylvania governors had ties to this little town. They are memorialized in the Governor's Memorial Park which is also the home of The Bush House letterbox. The clues to the Bush House box take you on a nice tour of the park. One part of the tour is crossing a railroad bridge. Now, both Bill and I are "height challenged" and both Bill and I are smart enough to know that we can't fall between the cracks of a railroad bridge but that didn't keep either of us from being extremely relieved when we reached the end of it. Bill was more relieved than I was because he discovered that his shoe string was untied when he was halfway across the bridge. So we moved on and found the Bush House box right near Mr. Abraham Lincoln and wonder of wonders - there was another hitchhiker for me in it. This HH, The Hidden Message had been originally set free in Hawaii by Daelphinus in 2003 and had sat there for almost two years before it was moved by another boxer. Then somewhere along the line, the stamp was lost. The people who put it in the Bush House letterbox had graciously carved another stamp for it so that it could continue on its way. We must have just missed meeting this letterboxing team since the HH was placed the same day. I emailed Daelphinus and sent her pictures of the log and she admitted that she never thought she would hear anything about this box again. Warning: this HH has already been rehidden in one of my boxes during a box check!

After finishing up at the Bush House, we moved back to the other side of the park to collect the third box in the Birding at Dusk series, Chimney Swifts. This was my second magnetic box for the day and I have to tell you - I LIKE THEM! I came home and immediately went to Walmart and purchased some from their clearance rack and then hit the dollar store where I found some that were just a bit bigger and better for logs. I have some plans for them too! I do want to congratulate Archaeobirder on these four boxes, his first. I can't wait to see what is coming from him.