More Sightseeing than Boxing

My destination this day was the Doylestown area, a town that I am very fond of. It is not only full of history and is one of the quaintest towns that I have ever visited but it is also home to many boxes by two of my favorite planters, Lotus and Celtic Cat.  Many of the boxes that I was planning on searching for this day were not new boxes but nonetheless, I was still very surprised to find that most of the boxes I sought were missing.  Since boxes in this area are usually not haphazardly placed, even though the boxes may not be available, I am not usually disappointed because there is something interesting to see or do.

 Happily, the box in the little park below was available and in good shape so I got to enjoy the park and the box.

 

I was not quite sure how I felt about this monument though.  It seemed kind of eerie to me to see all of these faces peering out of me from a slab of concrete.  Even though I know better, I couldn't help wondering if there were real faces below the concrete coating.

  

In my travels, I passed signs pointing to the home of Pearl Buck.  I had seen the signs before and had passed them by but today, I decided to stop and check it out, also anticipating some new post cards for my collection.  I was a little upset to discover that the actual grounds did not open till much later that morning but I did get to see Pearl Buck's grave.  My fondest memory of Miss Buck's writings is from when I was about eleven years old and I was an avid reader.  One winter I had scarletena and at that time, the family who had this contagious disease was quarantined.  Even though I was sick, I enjoyed the thought of spending days reading without anyone to tell me that I needed to be doing something else.  My mom supplied me with a stack of books to get through the recovery which, as I remember, was several weeks long, and one of the books was "The Good Earth".  I fell in love with her writing and went on to read several other books by this author and now, I was able to thank her in person.

 The beautiful balloon against the bright blue sky was my reward for a visit to the sight of a missing box.  I know that I am not alone when I say that I love to see these graceful sky travelers but this was reward enough for me when I had to leave without a box.

 Another group of boxes that seemed to be missing also had a rewarding scene.  I can now add Moods Covered Bridge to my growing collection of Pennsylvania covered bridges.

 

I ended up only three for seven this day but still considered this to be a very successful day.

Postcards and Box Collecting

 We had spent Saturday in Philadelphia searching for three more boxes after we left Fort Mifflin.  Typical of urban boxing, we found one out of three of those boxes and Bill was all boxed out for the day.  He was content to stay at home watching our Steelers AND Eagles lose while I set out alone again on Sunday.   I captured this sunrise as I stopped at a turnpike rest stop to replenish my postcard supply.  I had hopes that the weather man who had predicted more rain this day would be wrong when I saw the sun peaking through but as it turned out, he was right.

  This time I headed for northern York County and Adams County.  I had been hesitant to head in that direction because they had even more rain than we did and flooding was a major problem, especially in the northern York County area.  The signs of it were everywhere.  I was surprised to find a box along this part of the Yellow Breeches Creek but it was just high enough to escape this wild creek.  I did have to laugh at this sign in the parking area beside the creek.  I guess there is a fish guts problem but at this time, they had all been washed away.

 

I spent the day meandering through Dillsburg and the surrounding area before heading to Gettysburg and Biglerville, collecting about 17 boxes along the way, 12 of them belonging to a wonderful carver, Red Cruzsader.  I  have to admit that I stuck pretty much to drivebys and less than a mile walks because of the mud and muck that is so prevalent right now and also because, surprise, surprise, it was raining this day.  I also took the time to stop to check out interesting sights and add to my postcard collection.  I ended up with about 25 new postcard styles to send out to my Postcrossing buddies.

  This Round Barn below is a fruit stand and I purchased some apples there.  Adams County is well known for its wonderful apple crops and, in fact, this weekend was the huge Apple Harvest Festival that is held locally each year.  Ironically, I was also in the same area on the exact same weekend last year.  I remember searching for a box that was missing and getting caught in festival traffic.  This year, the box was replaced and because of the rain, when I went for it, the traffic was really light.  What a shame for the festival people but a bonus for me.

 My journeys took me past Mister Ed's Elephant Museum. I had collected a box there a few years ago and since the time that I had been there, Mister Ed's had burnt down.  But now the new and improved version had been erected and I stopped to check it out. I should have checked to see if the box was still there on the Box Radar app on my phone but I forgot all about it.  I purchased some postcards, snapped a few more pictures and continued on my way.

 

 It was getting pretty late in the day when I made my way up a muddy, gravel road to the top of a mountain in the Chambersburg area.  The rain was pretty heavy at this time which made me question my sanity about driving up this trail but I made it successfully, found the two boxes there, took this picture of the fog over the lake and happily made my way back down the mountain. 

Mud and Mysteries

We have had lots of rain lately.  A local newspaper stated that the Philadelphia area has had about two feet of rain in the past two months.  So when there is the prospect of a beautiful Saturday, we had to take advantage of it.   I was able to con Bill into going along as my chauffeur by promising him breakfast and a visit to a Viet Nam Veterans Appreciation celebration.  He took me up on the breakfast immediately and then we headed for southern Chester county.  We ended up right on the Delaware River and there were many apparent signs of high water from the rains.  I quickly located the box while Bill stood looking up at the underside of the Commodore Barry bridge.  He seemed totally fascinated with it and when I asked him what he was thinking, he told me that he was marveling that only 40 bolts were holding up the section of the bridge that he was inspecting.  The cars and trucks were zooming over us and that thought did make me take a step back away from the bridge.

Jumping ahead a little in time, I did mention that I had found the box and stamped in.  When I got home, I logged my find on AQ and commented that I was really surprised that I had been first finder on this box which is basically a driveby.  It had been in place for a couple of months.  The planter of the box seemed relieved that I had found it because he had had several reports that it was missing.  I then received another email from Idlemoon who was excited that I HAD found it and was going to make a return visit to stamp in.  This got me to thinking.  So I emailed the planter, Lightnin' Bug, and described the box that I had found to him and commented that when I found this box, I had thought that it was not his normal style of box, but that it was in the exact spot that he described in the clues.  It turned out that this was NOT his box and that some mystery person had placed another box in the exact same location.  There was no identification on the box I found, simply a stamp of sorts, a scroll of paper and a pencil.  There was a notation on the scroll but it was illegible.  This was one of the weirdest things that I have ever found in my 8 years of boxing.

From the mysterious box, we headed to Fort Mifflin, for a box there and also for the Viet Nam veterans days.  Bill served in the Navy aboard the USS Perry in Viet Nam and is very proud of his time served.  His service has led us to gatherings of Perry veterans all over the country and we have rekindled some of his old friendships from the ship. In fact, it is because of an old Navy friend that we now own a home in Florida also.  Bill bought the house from his friend's father and he now snowbirds there while I stay here and shovel snow and work.

 But back to Fort Mifflin which is also know as Fort Mudd.  The fort is also along the Delaware River and is very flat.  It is surrounded by high dirt walls which served as protection during the Revolutionary War.   The high walls around the flat fort turn the area into a pool when it rains a normal rain and with two feet of rain recently, it was a mess. Around the high walls is a moat which is now filled with lily pads.  

 

Well, to say that this walk was muddy is understating.  There are no walks to lead from one area to the other so we decided to just agree that our shoes were going to be muddy and trudge on.  We started by standing on the balcony where we bought our admission tickets and surveying the fort.  You can see the Delaware River peaking through in the far lower left corner.

 

I didn't take a lot of pictures this day because I was focusing more on not sinking in mud but I was impressed with the bunkers that also served as protection for the soldiers during this early American war.

 

Somehow, I don't really believe that the interior of the bunker was lined with brick and peeling paint during George Washington's time but this is the inside of the bunker and one of the few non muddy places.

I have to mention that the Viet Nam veteran's celebration was a bit of a letdown.  There were several tables of items which were common in everyday civilian life at the time and others filled with military items of the era but that was really about all there was.  I always get choked up when someone says to Bill "thank you for your service" but one thing that always makes me giggle is that so many of them also say "welcome home".  We heard a lot of both of those comments this day. Bill has been home from Viet Nam for 42 years.  I know that a lot of people did not come home from that awful war but I still find it an odd thing to say and we do hear it often.  About the only thing that really seemed picture worthy of the Viet Nam celebration is this Vietnamese man talking to an American GI.  This picture did hit home with me because no one really understood this war...er, conflict... and seeing two different cultures here was an effective educational tool for me.

I had collected my box while we were tramping through the mud here and as we were leaving, Bill gave the ultimate compliment about boxing, something that he normally ridicules.  He said "You sure do take me to some interesting places on these boxes!"  Congratulations, Idlemoon, for getting us to a new spot and making Bill happy.