HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

MILKMONSTER!

Frigid Sunday in New Jersey

After spending a pretty physical day on Saturday following Pink Panther around in the freezing cold, I was more than ready for the less physical Sunday which Sherry of Dogs with Wings and I had planned. But the day didn't start out too well. Our plans had not been totally finalized and because I had fallen asleep right after coming home on Saturday, I missed the instant messages from Sherry to set a meeting time. Then when I did wake up after midnight and came down to see these messages and that she was still online, I couldn't get my mouse to work and by the time that was functioning, she had signed off. So I sent an email in the hopes that she would check it in the morning and figured that I needed to go back to bed for a little more sleep. After checking that my bag was ready, my clues were printed and my food was replenished, I climbed back in bed - only to not be able to sleep and got up again and played around to see what other boxes would be in the area we were visiting. Aha! Radetoan had planted two new boxes and they were pretty much drivebys.

I printed off the clues to those also and added them to my packet and decided that I could find those in the dark and that I could leave right away instead of trying to sleep some more. So, I hauled everything out to my car, set up my GPS and off I went. Got to King of Prussia and knew that I needed a hint as to where to go next, checked out my computer and the GPS was dead. Pulled off the side of the road to set it up again and proceded to head to Bensalem. Got within a few miles of my anticipated exit and my GPS was dead again. Pulled off the road to set it up again. Got near the neighborhood where my first box was and looked to see which street I needed to turn on and my GPS was dead. Pulled off the road again and set it up AGAIN and managed to find the little park where Wild Animal was hidden and grabbed my bag and clues ....whoa....where were the clues? Searched frantically through all of the stuff I had thrown in the car and finally remembered pulling my packet out to add the two new Radetoan clues and never placing it back in my bag. So all of my clues were laying safely on my desk at home, 90 miles away. Now what was I going to do. I looked around me and noticed that I was in a development that Pink Panther would dub "Smurf Village" - full of new identical houses that looked as though they were occupied by young families. And young families are often into computers and someone in the neighborhood must have an unsecured wireless network. So I drove up and down the streets in search of a network for my laptop and was successful on the third street that I tried. I quickly copied the clues to Wild Animal and decided to try the same trick if I had time to get to the next Radetoan box.

In spite of my scribbled notes, I was able to quickly find Wild Animal and, of course, was first finder. Who else would be out at 6:30 on a below freezing Sunday morning when they could be safe and sound in their warm beds. I am happy to report that the first carvings I had found by Radetoan were not a fluke. Wild Animal is also a very nicely carved stamp. Someone in their family has mastered the carving curve very quickly. After finding this box and checking my watch, I decided that it would be best if I proceded to our meeting place , even if it meant being early. With my luck this day, I was afraid that I wouldn't get there at all.

This was good planning on my part because my GPS kicked out time after time on my way to the Bucks County Haunts: The Witching Chair. As I drove across the border into New Jersey, I had a strong feeling that I was in the wrong location again. I returned to Pennsylvania and managed to find Bristol before it died again. By this time I was a little bored with the constant start and stop process that my mapping program was requiring so I decided to just try to find my own way to the box. Little did I know that Bristol consists of dozens of one way teeny tiny streets and that this was not going to be an easy task. But I finally did find the right location. Fortunately, this time I was able to retrieve a saved copy of the clues from my computer. Sherry hadn't arrived at the meeting spot yet so I decided to find the box myself and let her look for it when she arrived. I found the landmark mentioned in the clues and used the timer on my camera to take a few shots of me in the haunted chair before looking for the box. When I did go for the box, I was totally upset that it appeared to be missing. I went back and checked the clues again and went back to the location for the box and found.....Nathan did a wonderful job of disguising this box in a really open location. (oh, as if I needed to mention it, this stamp is another tiny Cyclonic creation.) Since people were beginning to arrive for church services, I stamped in my car and returned the box and waited for Sherry to arrive. She did and had her picture taken and looked for the box and also marveled at Nathan's ingenuity in the disguise. And we were on to our next adventure.

Our original plans for this day were to do the Freight Train series by the Bs, we were lucky to pick up the other boxes along the way. This series is planted along the New Jersey River Line system which travels from Trenton to Camden. You get off the train at seven different stops to find the stamps. This is a really neat idea and I can start out by telling everyone that they really need to take the train to experience this properly. For under $5 a person you get the train experience plus seven new stamps to add to your collection.

That being said, I have to admit that the last time I rode a train was when my sister went to Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and Laura was a really little girl. We would get the train in the nice warm cozy (did I mention warm?) train station in Lancaster and ride to Philly to spend weekends with my sister. I had visions of the same type of day for Sherry and me, thinking about what a perfect trip this would be for a cold, windy (did I mention cold?) day. Well, the picture below shows Sherry standing in one of the train "stations". No heat, no bathrooms, no food. Just nice fresh cold air. The train system is completely automated. You buy your ticket at a little computer at the station and when the train comes you punch it yourself in another machine located at the station. There are warnings all around that there would be periodic checks of the tickets by a real human being and we did have one such check. The ticket is good for two hours and you can ride all you want for that time frame before buying a new ticket.


I didn't have my clues with me. I had carefully done the research so that I would know where we had to get off to find each box and now I was totally helpless. Sherry hadn't had the time to prepare that I had since this was kind of a last minute decision to do this series so she wasn't 100% sure of her solutions. But we happily boarded the train and got warm and jumped off everywhere there appeared to be a landmark that was mentioned in the clues. And we were successful, although I do admit that we got off at the wrong station a few times. We were able to create a full train for our log books and have a lot of fun in the process. The only downside that we found was the lack of bathrooms or easily reached sources for food along the way. Since it took us six hours to complete our train, this became an issue but we were resourceful and found ways around these inconveniences. Oh, did I mention that it was cold??? And there was no inside station? But I think that we probably did this series at a really good time. A nicer day would have meant more riders. As cold as it was outside, there were quite a few people on the train who were riding with their children just for the opportunity of showing them a train. Believe me, after this trip, I can't wait to take the Milkmonster on a train trip ourselves. There is a train station very close to his house which goes to Philadelphia and I am now determined that we will make this trip soon. I want to thank the Bs for a wonderful experience, even with the cold!

Frigid Saturday in Delaware

Saturday morning, Mary (Pink Panther) and I met nice and early in Morgantown to begin a day of boxing in the frigid mid-Atlantic area. Our plan had been to start at the Challenge of the Sprite box in Elverson but the planter pulled that box for unknown reasons. So being the versatile and adaptable duo that we are, we moved a bit further south to search for the Bikini Bottom Hitchhiker Hostel . After heading in the wrong direction because of some erroneous info given to me by my son in law, the state trooper who patrols the area, we made an adjustment and headed correctly for this box in a section of a park that neither Mary nor I ever had walked before. We were a little surprised to pull out this wonderfully decorated box, very appropriate for the theme and type of box that it is. However, when we opened the box, we were shocked to see that there was not one single hitchhiker in it to exchange. The last person who logged in, OtisFriends, had left two there just a few weeks ago but for some reason, they had mysteriously disappeared. While we were disappointed (I had come armed with four hitchhikers to exchange) we did enjoy the box itself and the stamp. Thanks, Hikerdad!

From the tropical Bikini Bottom, we headed further south and were first finders at one of Cyclonic's newer boxes, The Whip . I am not sure how much smaller Nathan is going to begin to make his boxes but he has certainly become the master of small stamps. It was too early for us to partake of the Whip's menu but it looked like a good place to return at a later date. Next stop was a visit to Hockessin and Tweed's Tavern. This historic building is surrounded by new development. A small fortune was spent to restore the tavern and it is my hope that it doesn't get lost in all of the modern growth around it.

We continued to head south, our destination - White Clay Creek State Park in Delaware. We had sectioned the park off to systematically try to find all of the boxes located there and began with the northern section. Strategic parking allowed us to quickly find The Hummer and Spell Check . Then we did some posing with the Arc monument which is posted at the corner where Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania meet. Mary decided to visit Delaware (and you say no one ever comes to Delaware, Sheba!) while I remained in Pennsylvania. And we both visited Maryland to take the pictures!
Both of us were intrigued with the piles of pennies on top of the monument, assuming that they were placed there as an "I was here" statement. Any one else have any ideas? As we were just leaving the area, a group of young boys came barreling down the hill to the monument. When Pink Panther and Black Swan made a return visit to the monument the next day, the pennies were gone. Hmmm, wonder where they went? From here we headed for a mystery box which was also in the area. Let me tell you, it is a bit different hiking with an extra ten pounds of clothing on. I was toasty warm the whole day because of them so they served their purpose but it was difficult to move. And when we reached a stream that we had to cross and Mary did her usual hop, skip and a jump to get over it - I just stood there and looked with dismay at it. Even sans winter attire, I can't hop, skip and jump. So I just stood on a higher bank and closed my eyes and jumped and fortunately, landed on the other side. I have to admit that the thought of going back across the stream on the return trip occupied my mind more than a few times as we searched and found the mystery box. But all went better than I expected on the trek back to the car and we soon moved to the south side of the park where we began a loop in search of The Outdoor Fun series, a three box series on a hilly but beautiful trail. The Wolfbox was next on our list . The fact that this box is still in existence defies reasoning. It contains a store bought stamp in a really obvious location very close to a trail which appears to get a lot of traffic in good weather. With that being said, it has been there since 2003 and contains two full logbooks. Tis a mystery how some well hidden boxes disappear and some seemingly doomed boxes remain! We were also able to find another delightful box by Sheba, Alexander the Gander. After looking through this logbook and marveling that there were finders from Oregon and North Carolina and Maine and Ohio, it finally hit us that this had been a postal letterbox prior to its life as a planted box. Duh!

Along the way, Mary stopped to marvel at my technique for retrieving a frozen box from under a rock. As I worked away at it, Mary was laughing hysterically at me and snapped my picture. Hey, it worked! We got the box!

At this time, we decided to call it a day even though we had about 20 more boxes on our list (I always overplan!). Although I made it home safe and sound, I almost didn't make it up the steps to my room. The cold air and the exercise with the extra weight I had been carrying almost did me in. I lay down to just rest my poor aching body and the next thing I knew, it was after midnight and time to plan my next day's adventures.