Letterboxing in the Bluegrass

I just recently returned from a business trip to Lexington, Kentucky. The weather was great and everything is green (well blue-green) and blooming. While there, I managed to find a few letterboxes and one hitchiker. Lexington seems to have a nice little collection of boxes to choose from.

The boxes I chose to search for had simple clues (I didn't have time to do much ciphering). I did not find all I searched for, but the attempts were worth it. There was one box I just had to give up on due to the really nice weather causing a large infestation of muggles in the box area.

My favorite search was in a city park on a disc golf course (I went in the morning that time). The box was supposed to be in a hollow tree. I found the tree, but I think the box was either gone or had slipped down too far in the hollow for my arm to reach (the hollow's mouth was about shoulder height). Had I only had BBQ tongs, I might have been succesful. I let the placer know of my trouble, but also my enjoyment of the search.

My biggest disappointment was a "ziplock baggy box" that had leaked. The logbook, which was in its own ziplock, was soaked and the prior stamps were unreadable. I did not have any repair or replace materials, but I took some paper towels and dried out the bags as much as possible and then contacted the placer. I was able to get the stamp in my logbook as well, so it was not all bad.

My favorite stamp was that of a box near Martin Castle (plug in Martin Castle Kentucky into Google for photos and history). Yes, there is a castle right amongst the horse pastures. The stamp was very tiny and a very fair depiction of the castle itself. I found a name and stamp in there from Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe, who some of you may recognize from the newboxers chat list. The bonus was my very first hitchhiker that I have found in a box. It is called Imagine and the stamp is a caricature of John Lennon. It started in Georgia.

It is nice to have a hobby that travels with you. Also, if you don't have time to spend half or even a whole day boxing, and you have 1/2 an hour or an hour, you can sneak a box or two in.

See you on the trail (or not, if you're stealthy),

J-Corn