Sunday in the Snow

As they say - the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Such was my weekend. Bill's aunt has been staying with us this week and we were going to take her back home to Cumberland, MD, on Saturday. I had planned on stopping for JBZfarm's Holy Turnpike Letterbox on the way to Cumberland . Sunday was supposed to have been spent in York, meeting some new boxers and searching for their boxes. But that darn weatherman had other plans for our weekends. We were fortunate to be able to return Aunt Dotty on Saturday. In fact, we were so surprised to find that at 9 in the morning, the turnpike was totally cleared and actually dry in most spots. Quite the opposite of what we expected. In addition, it was a real treat to see that almost all of the cars that were traveling on the turnpike were totally cleared of ice and snow. Although my personal opinion of the new law demanding cleared cars after a snow is that it is totally unenforceable, I nevertheless welcome its demands. My dad had taught us when we were learning to drive that all the snow must be removed from our vehicles before we were allowed to take them out after a snow and it is something which has always stuck with me. That and the fact that a half tank of gas is almost the same as an empty one. One of my sisters actually panics when her gas tank marker reaches the half way point. I am not that bad, but I am uncomfortable with it. Thanks Dad!

We made it safely to Cumberland without stopping at the Holy Turnpike box but I was able to make one addition to my F count at the Flat Tire box, Sideling Hill . The snow was about a foot deep in front of the box but the box was safe and sound. Then on Sunday morning, I was really getting restless to be outside, especially since it was sunny and bright. It definitely was not a day to stay inside, in spite of the snow. Fortunately for me, there was a new series planted within the last few weeks in nearby Hamburg and it appeared that these might be fairly easily accessible boxes. The Immobile One even got into the mood to get out of the house and agreed to chauffeur me on my quest. Each box for the From One Flake to Another series contained the clues to the next one so I was not sure where our wanderings would take us. It began close to one of our favorite restaurants so after stamping into the first box, we went back to Cracker Barrel for a hearty breakfast and then headed across the street and spent a glorious hour wandering through the Cabela's wonderland. After we had filled our heads with dreams of material possessions that we just had to have, we resumed our search for the next three boxes. After locating number two, we made a wrong turn to find the third box and the Immobile One had reached his tolerance level for letterboxing. After reminding me about how silly it was to be out digging in the snow, and getting a bit (ok, a lot) aggravated with me because I wasn't ready to call it a day, I received a really timely phone call from Sheba. She and Cyclonic were also out on the search . So I was able to defend myself even more by showing the Immobile One that I was not nuts, there were lots of people out. But he wasn't buying it so we took him home and I went back to Hamburg and happily resumed my search. The series takes place along a beautiful section of the Schuylkill River, made even more beautiful by the snow. I never knew there was a canal in the Hamburg area till I did these boxes. And the really neat thing about completing the series was the first finders prize in the final box. It was a cold weather kit consisting of Chapstick, tissues and moisturizing lotion. How perfect for the type of series and the type of day that it was.


From the Snowflake boxes, I headed for another of Ladysg's new boxes, the Littlest Dragon. Once again, the views from this box were so beautiful that it was worth the foot of snow that I had to wade through to reach the box. And I was so happy to have had the opportunity to get out and have some fun. I owe Ladysg a big thank you for giving me the opportunity.