For those of you heading south of the border, the City Directory now includes Mexico. =) http://www.atlasquest.com/lboxes/directory/mexico/

Some of those Mexican towns can be hard to find since we don't have no clue what the states there are and I just made up abbreviations to fit anyhow. Hopefully having click-through maps will make it a bit easier to find boxes in the area you go! Even the city names aren't always what you might expect. (e.g. Ciudad Juarez instead of just Juarez) Also helps to figure out the city and state when it comes to listing boxes.

Darn it feels good to finally get that map done. I actually created the map over a year ago but never put it up because about five or six of the links to towns didn't work and I never got around to fixing them. It's about time I finally finished this! Now if I can just get Canada done..... (I haven't even started Canada, though, so that'll still take awhile.)

The city directory link will still default to the United States, but there's a link on the page now to take you to the Mexico map.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

Funny... I was thinking go look for the box first, THEN mention it. LOL

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Funny... I was thinking go look for the box first, THEN mention it. LOL

I always go for the "mention it to THEM first, then go look for it" route! I don't want anyone to get busted for not knowing. :-)

Does that big question mark mean that all underwater letterboxes in the Pacific have to be mystery boxes? Or should we record the nearest port town?

Mama Cache

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Does that big question mark mean that all underwater letterboxes in the Pacific have to be mystery boxes?

*rolling eyes* =)

-- Ryan

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but when someone plants one and isn't in the least discreet about it, it just made me wonder.

Thanks.

JPMcD

If someone plants a letterbox and calls it by the name of the National Park or some outstanding feature in that park and also lists it at LbNA then it won't be long before it gets googled and a nasty letter is sent out by the NPS. The box will also be confiscated. There are boxes that have been planted in NPS areas that are still around but they are usually mystery boxes, coded boxes, or have their titles masked in some fashion. Without discression the box will have a short life on its own. We have one called "Yosemite" and while the NPS is mentioned, the box is not on NPS turf. We have another planted outside of a National Park boundary, but the title is masked due the area (through agreements with BLM) being patrolled by NPS. NPS would probably pull the box even though BLM doesn't have letterbox restrictions.

Don

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through agreements with BLM

Who is BLM? Somebody Land Management?

FG

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Who is BLM? Somebody Land Management?

Bureau of Land Management - good on the Land Management part... ;)

AGJ

We did a series that is spread out. Each box has a different name (that was part of the fun) but we added a series name behind the name of the box. For example: Finnegan's What? (JABR series) So if someone want to search for all the boxes in the series they can search by the series name. We also mentioned in the clues that they are a series.

Seems like it'd be neat to name the boxes after the niece or nephew . . . or a nickname or characteristic or something special to them. What a neat idea you've come up with!

Good luck!
Kurious Jo

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Bureau of Land Management - good on the Land Management part... ;)

AGJ

Actually I think they are probably not so good on the Land Management part, but as most governmental agencies they are terrific on the BUREAU part.

Don

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Actually I think they are probably not so good on the Land Management part, but as most governmental agencies they are terrific on the BUREAU part.

Oh I was not referring to the agency being good - but the poster who had figured out the last two letters of the initials as Land Management. I would agree that the bureau part is always pinnacle above the land management. :-)

AGJ

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Is there an official AQ policy regarding boxes planted on NPS property and specifically listed as such?

I would suggest that if someone did plant such a box WITH permission, that it should clearly say so in the clues. Otherwise, just don't plant it there, period.!!!!.

I always assume that a boxer may not be aware that planting on NPS land is discouraged (I didn't know when I first started out, but quickly learned from posts on AQ, WOM, etc.). So a friendly e-mail with this information is just that, a friendly e-mail.

Sahalie

Well, someone moved quickly because the box details were missing already this morning, so within 24 hours, the clue was pulled.

spring and snake (who is just beginning to peek my head out of hibernation)

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since we don't have no clue what the states there are...

EEEK, Ryan.. you're killing me!

HP~Confessed Grammar-geek!~

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Well, someone moved quickly because the box details were missing already this morning, so within 24 hours, the clue was pulled

It was actually more like within one hour for what it is worth...

Who is BLM? Bureau of Livestock and Mining, of course...

Been Letterboxing Much?

Better Letterbox More

For a National Park, 'Discouraged/not allowed' without permission from the Park Superindent is probably a safe approach. That works well for geocaching and other similar hide-and-hunt games.

Other kinds of properties under the NPS have different, sometimes more lenient rules.

Yes, there IS one physical cache in a National Park with full knowledge and permission of the NPS; it is in the Grand Canyon! So anything is possible with enough time and persuasion...

TBC

Is there a location where the ok/not ok locations are listed (that we are aware, anyway) so one could go and check if it is okay to plant before a box is planted? So many different offices have different policies it gets confusing after awhile...

Rhea

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Is there a location where the ok/not ok locations are listed (that we are aware, anyway) so one could go and check if it is okay to plant before a box is planted?

No, there isn't, but I've got an idea about how to implement such a feature. It'll be some time before it's working, but I'm on the job. ;o)

-- Ryan

That would be awesome! I will be looking forward to using it!

Rhea

I would use the list as well. I've not planted any yet because I'm afraid of placing one where I shouldn't.

Ryan,

Here is a page that someone recommended to me for Missouri, in case you want to use/link the info.

Also, perhaps the tutorials could recommend that people check your list before planting.

Thanks!

Not sure where to put this, so here it is:

Many of you may know about the multitude of tragedies that have befallen our friend, PurpleintexKim: Her husband's injury, death in the family, multiple illnesses and now losing almost everything to a tornado.
I want to emphasis up front that she has not asked for any help and did not ask me to post this! But I think it would be nice if we could do something as a community to assist and encourage her and her family. They have two small girls, ages 4 and 7.
I have two suggestions:
1) They have a Wal-mart nearby. Gift cards could be used to purchase almost everything they need.
2) Kim lost all of her letterboxing stuff, including all of the stamps from letterboxes that she has found, traditional and otherwise. I think it would be great if we could replace that for her. If you know she found one of your boxes, would you send the stamp image to her? You can check her logbook online to see what she has found.
She gave me permission to give out her address (it's a PO box), so if you would like to help, please AQ mail me and I will send it.
I hope that you will not think that this is in bad taste, or that I am pressuring anyone to participate. If anyone else would like to make other recommendations, they are welcome!
Thank you!
Stacy

Thank you so much for posting this Stacey. I have a little package of letterboxing stuff on the way to Texas right now.

I cannot even imagine the devistation and loss Kim must be experiencing. My heart goes out to her and her familyl.

Anthrogradjess

Just a question. I was wondering if someone has a paypal account or such. That we could give some $$$ and just get 1 walmart gift card? That way she will not have 5-10 cards to have to keep up with?

I know this can be tricky... Internet, trust, etc But maybe someone has a better idea?

Lisa

BTW... I have a paypal account and don't mind heading out to Walmart to grab a big gift card.

Music Woman

I'd be willing to pitch in money or help buy some supplies, whatever she needs. If someone is gathering the money to get one card, please post so I can do that also. Can you please email me the post office box so I can send something else also? Thanks.


Karen

I'm not really comfortable mentioning this, but there are at least a couple of people who've e-mailed me about doubts about the tornado claim, and to date, I have not been able to find a single reported instance of a tornado in the entire state of Texas on that date. There were reports of "high wind" damage in places, but nothing about actual tornadoes, so it's possible PurpleintexKim suffered damage, but I can't really verify it one way or another so I haven't wanted to say anything about it.

It's the caring nature of others that some people take advantage of, and I cannot be 100% certain this is not the case here. I'd also like to stress that I have no reason to believe PurpleintextKim is out to scam anyone either, but I'd feel absolutely terrible if that turned out to be the case and I didn't at least warn anyone who wanted to help.

-- Ryan