Spending the Fourth in State College

Much to my surprise, Bill agreed to accompany me on a letterbox driveby tour of State College on the Fourth of July holiday. The weather that morning was yucky, hot, humid, raining off and on, so I had a feeling that till the day was over, Bill was not going to be a big fan of letterboxing. Not that he was before we left. We left at 6 that morning and till we got very far down the turnpike, we both were feeling a little hungry so we decided to stop at the next place that was along the road for some breakfast. It turned out that the next place was not for almost two hours when we arrived in Lewistown in search of the Stone Arch Bridge. The restaurant was one of those 24 hour diners that usually have really good solid food and Bill and I both ordered one of our favorite breakfasts, cream chipped beef. Either cream chipped beef is made differently in different parts of the state or this was the absolute worst cream chipped beef we have ever had. I was beginning to get a sinking feeling in my stomach about the day ahead and Bill's part in it if even the breakfast was really bad.

But we made our way down the road a little bit to the Stone Arch Bridge and while Bill read the paper, I crossed the neat bridge and started down the little creek bank in search of the box. A really ironic part about finding this box is that I had actually been at this bridge a few months ago when I was photographing Markeronis and didn't even realize that this was the site of a letterbox. The drizzle was just beginning at this point and the little park was totally empty except for me.......and a woman with a dog. First of all, I startled both of them when they noticed me down in the brush. Then the dog decided that he wanted to come down and look with me and the woman just stood there and watched the dog come at me. So, of course, I needed to come up so I wouldn't arouse too much curiosity about why I was there. I chatted a few minutes with the lady and then walked over and sat on a little bench along the creek. The lady and the dog decided that the spot that I had been in was the only spot in the entire little park that they wanted to be in. As I was contemplating going back to the car to wait for them to leave, they finally turned around and left and I went back to my snooping, looking for a rock which was supposed to be covering the bank. Oh, yes, we have had more than a little bit of rain in the past few weeks, and the bank was just a little slippery and muddy, so I had to hold onto brush so that I wouldn't slide the whole way down into the water. Apparently, the rock which was supposed to be anchoring the box had done just that, slipped down into the water. I finally located the box and it was in great shape and the stamp, as usual for a Crayola Posse box, was exquisite. I stamped in and managed to find a rock to re-anchor this wonderful little box and made it back to the car before Bill had finished reading the news section of the paper.

Our next stop was at Crayola Posse's Dorothy and Billina. This box begins at a delightful little Wizard of Oz diorama. Bill dropped me off at the site and drove down the road to turn around as I answered the questions required to find the box which was located in a different spot. Bill picked me back up and we drove to the box site and I made a big, very sad discovery about my aging body. I no longer have the 20/20 vision that I had for most of my life. I can no longer distinguish details unless they are very well lighted and I have my glasses on. This box, which I really, really wanted to get eluded me - I think because it was in some vines and I didn't have a flashlight along with me to help me to see into these vines. I don't know if I was more broken hearted at the thought of not being able to see like I used to or that I didn't find the box. Oh, well, I keep telling myself that I still have pretty good vision compared to Laura who has none. Puts it into perspective.

I was almost instantly cheered up at the next box, another Crayole Posse creation, The Tavern. This was so cool, one of my best experiences at urban boxing so far. The box is so obvious if you know what you are looking for but absolutely invisible to others who must think it is just part of the bench. I loved everything about this one, the location (State College is one of my most favorite places to be), the stamp, the idea of finding a box in front of people. I had called Terri earlier to let her know that we would be at the Tavern but unfortunately she didn't get the call and couldn't watch to see how stealthy we were being here. Of course, it helped that it was a holiday and there were almost no people anywhere around!

We moved on campus next and were the first finders for Crayola Posse's new box, Martin Luther King Jr at PSU. This box was perfect, the location was great, the hide was really good, the clues were precise and the stamp.....well, the stamp was the best of the day for me. Lightnin' Bug and I had found the Posse's Bowery Mission series a few months ago so we are well aware of what a wonderful carver RGBisMe has become. This stamp was equal in quality to his Bowery Mission stamps. Imagine my surprise when I was telling Terri later how much I enjoyed this stamp and she very humbly told me that it was her stamp. Way to go, girlfriend! She has given me permission to display her stamp here but I have to encourage you to go find it so that you have your own copy of it.

Our next stop was right across the street to the famous Nittany Lion statue. Bill had actually gotten out of the car for this box and while I was searching and stamping in, he was patiently waiting in line for all of the kids who were playing and getting their pictures taken with the Lion. Just as I finished with my box, the kids let Bill have his turn! And of course, I wanted a turn too. With this, we finished up our Crayola Posse part of the day and began our next adventures with boxes by a new Center County boxer, Archeobirder.