Dartmoor Geocoin

Speaking of Dartmoor, check out my link to The Geocoin Store. Under their Bargain Bin section, they still have Dartmoor geocoins for $5.00. Even if you don't collect geocoins, it still might be something neat to have. . .

Houston Retirees

Working my way through pulling some of my Houston boxes to retire them. Mostly the microboxes. The logbooks just fill up too quick, and I don't want to have to rely on someone to replace for me. Besides, they've been out long enough for most local people to get them by now.

Today I pulled 'Gutenberg' and 'Black Horse'. Hope you had a chance to get them. 'Gutenberg' was especially hard to pull as I really love the Museum of Printing History. My background is in printing, so I can really relate to everything in the building. (If you're ever interested in the old metal type, they have a printing club that meets there and you can hook up with one of the older guys to show you the presses and even set your own type.)

'Black Horse' was a letterbox/geocache hybrid. Same box for both. Frankly, it saw many more geocachers than letterboxers. But it's always fun to see new people stamp in, so I enjoyed seeing some sig stamps I hadn't seen before.

Next up to pull is the Trivial Pursuit series in Memorial Park.

Missing Anything?

Since this blog was completely started over and I lost/left behind over 2 years of postings, just wanted to ask my Texas people (if you're still reading this) if there is something missing from the original blog that I need to add or address. . .?

There will still be some of my boxes left to find around Houston, as well as the 2 Texas Tour Buses I started. (How do you like Team New Hampshire picking up my idea on those and starting one up there?!) If/when any of my remaining boxes go missing, they will be retired and not replaced.

You can post to the comments section if you have suggestions or feedback.

Only 2 more weeks with my computer before it's packed up in a container and shipped across the Atlantic along with everything else we own. (Yikes! Hope a big hurricane doesn't decide to tear across there in July!)

Gertrude Wellie Challenge Update

For those of you in Houston who saw my Gertrude Wellie Letterbox Challenge here on my blog, I just wanted to give you an update. At least 3 of the boxes have gone missing, so I have decided to go ahead and pull the whole series. As each box contains the clue to the next one, it really took the wind out of the sail to have to forward email clues because a box was missing. It only makes sense to retire them as I won't be here to update or replace.

Anyway, thanks for participating. Hope you enjoyed it. Box 1, Box 8, and the prize/bonus box are still out there as of this date.

I'm still deciding on what to do with the stamps. At this point, I think a final box with the leftover stamps may be appropriate. Keep checking back on this blog. Once I place it, I'll put the clue here as a WOM and the box listed on AQ for you list as a find.

Dartmoor 100 Club Update

A post from last week regarding the new administrators for the Dartmoor Letterbox Club. . . .

END OF AN ERA. Godfrey Swinscow, founder of the ���100 Club��� has decided to retire! but will continue to try and maintain the ���Club Collection��� of stamps by relying on members providing him with copies. The Club started in 1979 when there were only 100 boxes on Dartmoor, and there are now almost 14.000 members. Godfrey would like to thank all those who have helped him over the years. Special thanks to Stephanie and Roger Paul who have kindly agreed to take over from him on the 1st July 2007. They will be responsible for enrolling new members and supplying 100 ��� 5000 badges and membership cards. Details and Rules of the Club remain the same as in the Catalogue of Dartmoor Letterboxes published by Tony Moore, except for the change of name and address to send your details for application of membership, which should now go to:- Stephanie and Roger Paul, Lower Burrows, Shilstone Lane, Throwleigh, Okehampton. EX20 2HX. Tel. No. ��� 01647 231080. Please make any cheques payable for badges to S.Paul.

More Creative Stamps

This was another awesome stamp at the gathering. I missed getting a photo of the logbook, but it was bigger than the stamp!

Creative Stamps

This was one of my most favorite stamps from the gathering. How neat and creative is this?!

Great Lakes Cont. 2

There were still lots of people at the shelter, so I was able to get in a lot of exchanges, meet a bunch of new people, get some travelers, share my travelers, and so on.

The tables were FULL of stamps. I just stamped everything I saw and still missed a bunch of them. I nearly forgot the event stamp!

Before calling it quits for the day, I went back out for a final series for the day with plb pal, Penguin Patrol. After doing the AM boxes by myself, it was fun to box with someone else!

I had a great time and even headed back out on Sunday AM for one more series I missed before leaving to go home. (Hey, it was Disney! How could miss that?!)

Thanks Great Lakes people for a good gathering!

Great Lakes Cont.

Since I didn't see too many people in the morning, I had a lovely quiet time letterboxing. Good trails and scenery. The lake was a neat bonus. Everytime I popped out of the woods near the lake shore somewhere, I would end up standing right in front of a fishing boat. I'm sure I must have startled a few of of them!

Finally, after running into a few different people and getting some boxes together, it started to get dark - a storm was coming. I hightailed it back to the shelter. (Of course, a storm in Ohio just isn't even in the same category as a Texas storm. Come south if you want to experience some really nasty weather!) Look how dark it is in the picture - and this just early afternoon about 2pm or so!

Great Lakes Gathering Recap

I headed out to Columbus, Ohio back on the weekend of June 2nd for the Great Lakes Gathering. I lived in Columbus for a few years eons ago, so it was fun to see some familiar places again. The weather wasn't so great - rain off and on. My hotel booked me into a smoking room which nearly ruined the trip for me, but I was again to get in at another hotel down the road.

Early Saturday I got up and drove to the park which was 20mins or so north of where I was staying. Stopped and got Starbucks (or Fourbucks as I've heard it called) and some drinks and lunch. I always like to be prepared ahead of time with plenty of cold liquids and some snack food. Since it was hot out, I did my usual out-of-state routine. . .stop at a convenience store and buy one of those styrofoam coolers for about $5 the night before, fill it up with ice from the hotel that morning and your drinks and food items, use for the weekend (wonderful to come off the trails on a hot day and have cold drinks ready in your car!) Then toss it before heading back home on the plane. Works for me!

Anyway, this was another one of those types of gathering where there are a lot of people, but I didn't see too many on the trails. Things picked up in the afternoon so I assume most folks were doing exchanges first, then heading out. Of course, that's when the rain and a little storm picked up too. I got back to the shelter just in time.

Personal Traveler - A Scoutdogs Dachshund

Since I deleted the old blog (pre-UK move) and lost all my old entries, I thought I better repost this. . .

In February 2006, we lost our little female dachshund, Reenie. She had some health issues and she died on the way to the emergency vet clinic one Saturday morning. This photo was taken just days before on one of her last walks.

Postal letterboxing friend, Scoutdogs, was kind enough to carve a dachshund stamp for me. This stamp is only available in person - so you'll have to meet me to get it. This traveler is listed on Atlas Quest with the requirement that you tell me the name of this dachshund to get it. . .

Reenie!

One Hard Part About Moving

As you can see by the "About Us" section and the dates on these entries, we haven't moved yet. 6 more weeks.

One hard part about moving to the UK is that we'll be without Penny dachshund for 2+months while she continues to wait out the quarantine requirements.

(Isn't she precious?!)

But I know she'll love that cooler weather. When we take her for a walk in Houston, she almost gives out from the heat!

She's one of my main letterboxing & caching partners, so I may have to scout out some areas and walks to take her once she arrives.

Blog Start

Changed around some emails and accounts, so decided to start over with my blog. All the elements are the same as before, but no history. So long Houston info! Didn't really want that to happen, but didn't seem like much choice. Excited to get it all changed and set up ready to go!