Alberta Bound!!

Anyone else have that Stompin’ Tom song running through their heads???   As my last post stated the news is official.  By May 6 or 7th, I will be on the road to Alberta.

My plan is to spend some time on the first day in Muskoka.  I have a couple more labyrinths to plant and a hubcap or two to drop at rest areas.  Then over to Parry Sound to pick up a couple of fiddleheads/kirbert boxes (and several others) before heading northward.  My sister-in-law will be joining me in Parry Sound for the drive west.  She is a rookie (avid) letterboxer, so it will be fun to spend a couple of days with her.  We will be stopping along the way at all of the letterboxes I planted on my trip west (to Saskatchewan) last spring as well as planting 14 new ones between Sudbury and Calgary.  I had these all carved and ready to go a while ago, so it was just a matter of finishing up the boxes and logbooks.   (I had almost enough already purchased…. I need two more L&L’s and 1 more logbook and I’m set to go).    Oh, and I will be leaving behind 6 new mini’s in the library in Owen Sound.  (I got permission and even recruited a new letterboxer ~ the head librarian).  She and her husband take motorcycle trips around NA and they were soon heading for Gettysburg, PA.  I told her I thought there might be lots around that area.  She was really enthused!!!

I will try to remember to take photos as we go, so I can post the story when I have a chance!!

Last Big Ontario Letterboxing Trip ~ for a while anyways…

So… the news is now official. I am moving to Calgary (area). I will be leaving within the next two weeks. I really wanted to get in one more day of letterboxing to bring my find numbers up to 200 before I left. With Friday the 22nd (Good Friday and Earth Day on the same day) looking to be sunny and warmish, I decided that was the day!!

I left home at 5:00am to take best advantage of the day and headed for Penetang.  First stop Caragouha outside the little village of Lafontaine.  I love these kinds of letterboxes with history in out-of-the-way places.  Unfortunately, the box was missing.   Then I stopped in Penetang to pick up Champlain which had been frozen in place a month ago.  Then over to Victoria Harbour to the Hogg Bay Trestle Bridge.  Unknowingly, I had also planted a hubcap at this same rest stop (before the clues for the bridge LB were posted), so you can pick up two letterboxes here with one stop.  Another great history lesson and a cool spot.  Then on to Orillia to try for Not Your Typical Grannie at the Stephen Leacock summer home…. missing.  Next down to Barrie to the Arboretum to plant yet another labyrinth.  This is actually a replant of #4 which was originally at the Guelph Jesuit Centre.

Next I headed for Bradford.  I was determined to finish up the Green Forest Series planted by Trailfeathers at Scanlon Creek Conservation Area.  I had attempted these twice before and the final two had eluded me.  By reading the directions (and following them) carefully, I was finally able to pick up Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck.

Next I headed for Hockley Valley.  I also really wanted to complete the Celtic Animals series placed here by Trailfeathers.  I had missed the last box on my first attempt (although I realized where it was about 15 minutes after I had passed the spot, but didn’t have time on that day to go back for it).   The Irish Wolfhound was an easy find once I realized what had happened with the clues.   AND….. I met a family with two young girls hiking the loop that were really interested in what I was doing.  (I passed them going in and then met them again on the way out.)  So,  I told them about letterboxing and gave them the clues (since I was done with them) and the AQ address.  So maybe some new letterboxers have been “born”.

I finished the day in Orangeville with the Ontario Wildflowers series (found the Marsh Marigold and Red Trillium but didn’t make it to the last one) and the Erindale Park series (found Strike a Pose and All Dressed Up).  By the time I finished at Erindale Park the wind had come up (biting) and it had begun to rain.  With 9 finds for the day, my total finds are up to 199.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to show for it because my camera was sitting at home on a shelf.  Argh!!!

Just Can’t Stop Thinkin’

So even though we are likely moving and I don’t want to leave lots of LB’s behind for someone else to “mind”, I just can’t stop thinking, planning and carving.

I was thinking about Fiddleheads’ Five Cent Christmas Songs in the library in Guelph to use up her small pieces. So I have come up with a Publishers in the Library series. Once again (like the labyrinths and the hubcaps) it turns out to be bigger than life. Just by going around opening books in my house (OK, I have a lot of books. A couple of weeks ago I took 120 boxes of books, mags and files to the storage unit in anticipation of our move. And there are still lots of books here in our house), I was able to come up with 80 symbols for different publishing houses. (In all fairness, some of them did come off the internet). Anyways…. I am going to do 10 per library and finish with a hollow book (holding the logbook, final stamp and ink pad) in the reference section of the library. Owen Sound is all ready to go. I plan to stop in today and visit with the librarian to get the go-ahead. I’d publish a picture (’cause I’m pretty happy with the end result) but I don’t want to post a spoiler for all you Ontario boxers out there!!