A REAL letterbox survey

I think what I enjoy most about letterboxing is the surprise. Sometimes it is the unexpected joy of opening a box to find a true piece of art carved for my pleasure. Just as often it is following the clues to a wonderful place I knew nothing about and would have never discovered on my own.

As Cecile and I plant more boxes, that pleasure of the unexpected has taken a new turn. I try to check my boxes for maintenance periodically. Besides replacing the plastic bags, I love to sit on the ground at "my" site and read the log of finders. When I started in early 2005, I knew who would be in the book. Our corps of discoverers was friendly, but small. Then I started finding stamps from letterboxers who were just passing through. Those almost always came with a note about how they enjoyed the area and the boxes here.

This week I went to the Buried Jewells box, as a finder had reported it needed repair. Indeed, the plastic bag had torn, the lid to the box was ajar and the logbook ink was starting to run. I took it home and changed the status on LBNA to under repair. At home, I also found the logbook was down to its last page, so I started to create a "second edition" to put in the repaired box.

My first surprise was that the book was so full. I suppose that the easy access to Buried Jewells makes it popular with families, and the uniqueness of the Cecile clues attracts the adults. There are stamps I have never seen before, along with several penned entries --- one in Chinese.

But hands down, the best entry was the one pictured here. There is considerable construction activity around the Jewell Cemetery, with survey flags on every nearby lot. "RTM" and "DPH" found the box while conducting a survey. They not only treated it with respect, they logged in with a hand-drawn caricature of them doing their work.

How can you beat that for a pleasant surprise? RTM and DPH, my cap is off to you. I'll be watching every survey crew I see from now on to see who has that tell-tale "letterboxer's grin.

C2B2