Return to Boxing

After an almost two  year hiatus from letterboxing, only going out about 6 or 7 times in those years, I am again feeling the urge to get out and look for those little boxes again.  I am excited about taking my grandson, formerly known as the Milkmonster and now known as African Wild along with me on many new adventures.  In addition, since I last wrote this blog, my sister Karen, aka Sepia Slipper, has begun letterboxing and my niece Lizzie, or Fish Kisses, occasionally can accompany us when her busy schedule has a free day. 

My style has changed a lot since I began boxing in 2003 because I now know what I like and don't like about this hobby and I will be tailoring my boxing to what suits me now.  I have learned the following in my many years since I started to letterbox;

My dislikes:

• Carving.
• Planting is ok but maintaining sucks.
• Long hikes taken just for the sake of taking a long hike to find a box is boring.  If there are breathtaking views along the way, such as the waterfalls at Ricketts Glen, then it might be something that I would enjoy.  I am one of those people who need to have an incentive to take a long, tedious walk and a letterbox is not enough.
• Boxers who have secret societies.
• Clues that demand a master's degree in decoding and decryption to solve.
• New boxers who don't take the time to research what has been tried before they decide that they will revolutionize the hobby.
• Boxes placed every twenty feet with a log book in each one.
• Boxers who think that letterboxing is talking about it on a message board instead of actually looking for boxes.  
• Boxers who think that the number of stars that they have for messages on a message board are a badge of honor.
• Boxers who feel they must degrade people who geocache.

My likes:

• Getting out for exercise.
• Being taken to places that I never knew existed right here in Pennsylvania.
• Having boxes be my tour guide when I visit a new place.
• The good, honest people that I have met along the way -the Crayola Posse, Lotus, Wisconsin Hiker, Martini Man, Dogs with Wings are the first that come to mind but there are lot of others.
• Planning for the hunt - this is actually my favorite part of the whole process.
• Parks that have multiple boxes (but see above for a dislike).
• Watching a new carver grow into an accomplished one.
• Boxers who offer constructive assistance on message boards.  The one that I consider the best at this is Deniserows.  I have never met her but I hope that someday our paths will cross.  I also admire LoneR for her consistently patient defense of geocaching when the message boards get carried away with their contempt of another group's hobby of choice.
• Planters who actually correct their clues if there is an error in them.

Wow! That was fun!  

But back to my plan.  I have mapped Pennsylvania letterboxes on my Microsoft Streets and Trips mapping program for years now and I did continue to plot new boxes even when I wasn't actively boxing.  But because of health issues, I don't think I will even consider anything longer than a three mile hike.  I will read the clues to the over three miles boxes and perhaps tuck some of the the more interesting ones away in case I ever feel really inspired but most will probably be put on ignore.  I like to see my accomplishments and watching the list of unfound boxes on my saved searches on Atlas Quest diminish is rewarding to me.  If those pesky over three mile boxes remain, it will be a personal irritant.

I have to add the boxes from my newly adopted state of Florida to my map.  I do have most from the immediate area of our home in Deltona plotted but Florida is a very big state with lots of boxes.  Florida is also a good state for me to box in because it is flat.  I can handle the longer walks there because I won't have the challenging climbs that I have here in Pennsylvania.  One of the first things I need to do, though, before I continue to plot Florida boxes is to put all Disney boxes out.  Orlando itself has lots of beautiful parks with plenty of boxes placed by locals so I don't need to pay to go into Disney to find hastily placed boxes by tourists.

Enough of my preaching for now, after all, this is my blog and I can do it whenever I want to!