The Pittie's Tales of Mid-MO LB Adventure

Before the meet & greet and after spraying on a can of Deep Woods OFF, we tackled Wallace & Gromit-Lost in RB. Immediate success on these 4 boxes started our day off right. We were surprised to see so many of you at the meet and greet. It was a first for all of us, since we are new to letterboxing. It was fun to exchange with so many of you and to pass off some cooties. Isn't it fun to see how excited kids get about getting cooties-ok, we adults get excited too! I wish I had looked up all of your personal travelers before setting off to MO. Oh well!

Foxfyr's tour of Connor's Cave was a highlight for all. It was my son, "Tiger's" favorite part of the weekend. The park is really beautiful. By now, I was really getting anxious to get going - the boxes were calling my name, so with LndCzr as our guide (and errand runner, thanks a ton for keeping us together-I know it wasn't easy) , Devil's Icebox was next. We did stamp out in the open with a tour coming through (very naughty, I know). No one realized what we were doing and the box was retrieved and replaced in stealth mode. The rest of the boxing day was spent on Connor's Cave and the rest of the Wallace boxes. Tiger enjoyed playing with the snails found along the way. It was a good thing we had Ron along, I think we would have been the next to be "Lost in Rock Bridge"!! By the time we finished W&G, the bug spray had worn off and we were all having issues with the blood sucking "travelers" picked up along the way. When we got back to the granny mobile, as we like to call it, Shorty retrieved the "Sail Away WI" box (now listed on AQ & Lbna). We were so happy to see you all had played along with our temp plant and we laughed all the way to "Buried Jewells" at the entries in the logbook, especially Foxfyrs!

Found Buried Jewells quickly as my mother "Gma Weez" likes to skip ahead in the clues to determine the hiding spot. It worked this time. Next, tick checks and showers, then a trip downtown for dinner and Coldstone Creamery. Afterwards, we plotted our next day's attack at the "record" and fell fast asleep dreaming of the treasures we would find tomorrow...The kids, Gma Weez and I started out at about 9 am.

We hit the Bed & Breakfast first, left 2 HH's, took one. Enjoyed the box immensely. Thanks Foxfyr! Then to "Shelter Gardens", such a beautiful place and the weather was great too. We spent quite a bit of time here. Next to Dublin Park (bug spray applied), where we enjoyed watching and photographing 5 deer grazing ahead of us. After a bit of bushwacking, we found "Monster tree", but the Irish roots were not found. Shorty and I looked for some time while the rest waited at the van. I think if we had had Dafi Daffodil, our resident tree expert with us, the outcome would have been different. Oh well, off we go to Rothwell Park. Gma is a great navigator...soon we discovered Neighborhood Park, but Taz was missing. Sorry OMGB, hopefully it was out for maintenance. Next we picked up the rest of the crew and headed for Kiwanis Park. There we found LndCrzr's 4 with ease. Mamaroots' Lorax took a little longer (Gma tried to skip ahead again)!! Then to Capen to plant Dafi and Highflyer's "forget me-not lb. We found a great spot for it! I hope you all get a chance to check it out soon. The "Capen" box was fun, tough to find! We were staring right at it and didn't see it at first. Then off to find "More Parts" and the "1st bonus more parts", "Rain Came Down" & "Good Boy Fergus". Next, Gma, Pitties & kids visited "Home Tweet Home". It was about 6 pm and not a soul in sight. We really got a kick out of the false floor and nest - gives me an idea.... Anyway, by now the kids were starving, but instead of going to dinner, we went to Nifong Park for just a few more. The bug spray again had worn off, etc. etc... I loved the bridge at Nifong (simple and rustic). "Diary of a Worm" was found by Gma Weez (she has a built-in compass is her mind - it's amazing to me since I have no sense of direction) and Shorty & I nabbed "Kiss Goodnight" & "You can do it Sam". All of the Favorite Books boxes were special in bringing back memories of reading those books to the kids before they could read, especially "Runaway Bunny". After dinner, We headed downtown to try & make our total take 20 boxes for the day with Higher Ed and Mid-Mo Letterboxers. We were so excited to figure out the clues for Higher Ed and again Gma had the intuition for the structure and Shorty found it first (he is always looking for HH's). Thoroughly enjoyed this one - cleverly hidden - camera is a great idea. Then we located Mid Mo LBers, but a it was closed for a private meeting. We vowed to try again tomorrow! We got home about 9 pm - very satisfied, but equally exhausted.

Monday was more leisurely, we took our time at the "Mid-Mo LBers", enjoyed smoothies & lattes, as well as the awesome collaborative effort put into the lb. Every part was special, I especially liked the box. Then to "The Happy Birthday" box, some shopping (and investigative activity - to locate the weaving/pottery studio). "Mud Strings...Things" was had and enjoyed greatly. What a neat place to have in town! Our energy was fading fast as we tackled Bear Creek Trail and "School house rock". It was cool and quiet and more deer were seen as well as some turtles. Ahistory's series brought back great memories (for us adults anyway). We sang the School House songs as we stamped in (I'm sure we were a sight). We made it to #3 and then Gma couldn't go any further, so she headed back to get the van & pick us up at Casey's. #4 was our last box of the weekend. On the way home, we popped by a drive by box about an hour away from our home and much to my surprise, a hh I had released in March was there. It had moved 3 times already.

Thanks for all your hospitality and assistance in planning our weekend. We really enjoyed ourselves, your city and especially your creative stamps, clues, logbooks & log entries. We hope to see you all again soon. I still have about 30 more clues deciphered and ready to go.

Thanks again!

Pitties