Thanks to Maude and everyone who helped make It’s About Time! a wonderful gathering in Iowa last weekend! Terrific carvings, an excellent park, tasty food, live music after dinner, guessing raffle, and much more. Our schedule didn’t allow for night boxing, but we were very tempted and enjoyed reading the anytime part of that series! The weather was just right and we still haven’t figured out where Maude hid the mosquitoes.

We enjoyed spending time in Iowa with our new and long-time letterboxing friends from Iowa, the Great Lakes area, and more far flung locations.

On the trail and elsewhere in the park, in addition to letterboxes, letterboxers, musicians, and muggles, we saw: a fascinating caterpillar; an interesting beetle-like creature with a round, green back with black dots, lots of butterflies, dragonflies, and a mink (we think) crossing the road.

The Christmas Elves

Does anyone know this boxer or anything about this box?

https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?boxId=235779

It appears that they were only active for a short time under that account and the box has never been found. It could be out there under a tree somewhere after all this time.

GreyCrazy

We found the other 2 boxes in that cemetery but could not figure out this box?!!! It would take forever to check out possible spots in even a cemetery that small size??

OH I see...was this a clue that came from the other boxes? It's not listed as a bonus box, I didn't think of that.

GreyCrazy

I have planted 138 letterboxes so far this year (actually 139 counting the one I've yet to list), and only 50 of those have been found, almost all of those found have only been found once. A few of those 138 have 0 clue hits.

I do really love to plant where there are no letterboxes because I'm a small-town, back-roads kind of person in general. Plus I love this hobby and I think more people would get into it if there were nearby boxes to find. But as I sit here carving my next batch of stamps for some no-one-vacations-there towns, I begin to question many things. Like, am I all alone in the world? Even in this small group of like-minded adults, am I still so far out on the fringes that what I do benefits no one else?

*sigh* Choices and consequences.

Regardless of what others get out of it, I enjoy exploring the map, creating the boxes, and the time I spend with my kids on these planting trips. I have to try not to worry about what I can't control, like finicky finders. ;-)

We tried an experiment in WA a few years back. Someone compiled a list of every town that didn't have a letterbox, and planters rallied to the cause, planting in about half of the "desert" places. I planted in two of them. Only one got found before both went missing. I think most of the boxes in those areas met a similar fate. Whether there are no boxers in those areas because nothing has been planted, or whether nothing is planted because no one goes through there, I don't know, but it was a lost cause. I would love to see more boxes in out-of-the-way places, but they are likely to have few, if any, finds.

That's interesting. You would think that the same planters that rallied around the idea of planting in those small towns would have also gone to other small towns to find boxes planted for that purpose. Personally, I prefer to look for boxes in small towns even though I'm close to Dallas. There are boxes on the other side of Dallas that I haven't yet found because driving 45 minutes through crazy traffic seems more daunting that driving two hours on back roads. But that's me.

I have also heard a lot of people say they really want nice hikes, and I think boxes at the end of nice hikes are lovely. But I have planted a few like that in Tennessee and they have had very few, if any, finders. I figured that was because there weren't many local letterboxers. But then I planted a series along a long hike here in Texas with similar results. I blamed that on the heat. But who knows? I can't make sense of what gets finds and what does not. For my own peace of mind, I think I should try not to care so much. ;-)

I love planting and finding out of the way and off the beaten path letterboxes. They almost always take me somewhere I have never been before.
I have planted several in out of the way places that get very few finders, if any. They are in places I love to go.
Right now I am carving stamps to be planted in Oregon Ghost towns and most of these are way off the beaten path. The old ghost towns have so much history and Oh! the stories they could tell. My hopes are that they might get a few finders and take people some place they may never have gone before.

I have a retirement Bucket List wish to visit every one of the 121 Pennsylvania State Parks and to plant a box in each one. My hope is that there would also be boxes to find in each park. I have visited 36 parks at this point and all but two of them have existing boxes. However, this weekend, I will be headed to SW Pennsylvania for a group of 8 state parks that are clustered fairly close together. Most of them have no boxes in them so my guess is that there are also no boxers in the immediate area. I am going to plant my little treasures anyway. I never expect my boxes to last forever so if these last until someone takes up the hobby in that area, I will be happy. If they go missing, oh, well, I had my fun with them. To those who will tell you....if you plant them, they will come....I say, BALONEY! So, just enjoy visiting the different areas and planning your boxes and hope that some day, someone will take up our hobby in your area.

I asked 7-18:Is there a limit of how many pages or messages that can be archived?

You answered, Ryan:No. No limits. =) If it's in your archive folder, it should never be deleted.

The reason I asked was because I had archived around 4 more pieces (new Ok.boxes clues to look at later) but upon looking in my archives I found they were not there. No new page for them, nor at the top of the list where I would assume a new message would be placed. Into a black hole, I assume????? Unless there is another reason they didn't archive as expected.??
Oh, btw, I like that new widget. :-)

Thanks

I've wondered about this one for some time. Put a watch on it in the hopes that something would change. Thought maybe they just forgot to post clue. I see someone logged on from the account last year.

Thanks for the applause, Everyone! I had a great time getting ready, with carving and all the rest, and had wonderful last-minute backup help from Mashley (my son & his new wife), son Jonathan, and daughters Mimi and AnnieWalnuts.

Boxes on It's About Time trail will be slightly modified after I return the three stamps which were loaned for the event, but the other time stamps will stay put, as will A Midsummer's Odyssey, Trail Signs (with written clues instead), and the Ding Darling trail. I will collect my PT trail and Intro To Letterboxing as time permits.

Come back and box southeast Iowa again sometime! There are lots more lonely boxes in the area.

Like, am I all alone in the world?

Nooooo!
I had just drawn up a nice list with lots of your plants to find next weekend!
I was so happy there were all these new boxes within 90 miles of Dallas😁

I am wanting to do some crafts with my kids and a friends kids for Christmas. Some projects include duct wallets for men and women where can I get some nice duct tape in different colors and patterns relatively inexpensive... not wal mart they would cost me an arm and a leg. I found some at our dollar tree but now they have colors (which I will get) but no patterns (I had bought some with donuts, paint splatters, stars etc) there before but they are not selling those now. I even tried dollar tree's website.

thank you in advance

Goofy girl Dana : )

Try Five Below. Nothing on their website but I remember a display in our local store. Keep trying back at Dollar Tree as well. Stores like these keep getting new things and sometimes only have them for a short time. What they offer is always rotating.

We live in a letter box desert and love it when new boxes show up. Just noticed one of your new boxes isn't all that far from us. The first chance we have will have to go find. Please keep up your planting.

Most of my boxes are drivebys and they get found every now and then. A couple of years ago, many people were complaining about too many drivebys and not enough hiking to cool places. So I decided to plant one on top of a mountain back on Dec 12, 2015. 3 miles round trip, cool hike, and great view when you get to the top. 3 other boxes there too. NO recorded finds yet. Very little clue hits. I believe people would much rather find drivebys. I've told people about this box, even said I'd go with them. Nope. Nothing. I've wanted to pull it but now I really want to see just how long it takes before some one does find it.

The reason I asked was because I had archived around 4 more pieces (new Ok.boxes clues to look at later) but upon looking in my archives I found they were not there.

Well, I still stand by the no archived mail should ever be deleted comment. Of course, there could be a bug causing it to be deleted that I don't know about, but it seems like I'd hear more reports about missing mail if that were the case.

I will note, however, that there is one minor exception to mail in your archive folder that can be deleted--if the account of the person who sent it is deleted, the message they sent will also be deleted. But AQ doesn't delete accounts from people who've listed letterboxes, so that wouldn't be the case here.

But maybe you clicked the "Archive" button instead of the "To archive" button. (I do that sometimes.) Maybe you accidentally clicked the "To Trash" button instead of the "To archive" button. (I've done that before too. I've also archived messages I meant to trash!) Maybe it IS in your archive folder but you overlooked it among the hundreds of messages you've archived.

I don't really know, but AQ should not be deleting messages that are in your archive folder.

-- Ryan

Having planted in some of those desert places in Washington, I think I can say that is because people
Who letterbox just don't travel there. Some of the finds on my boxes are people who made a point of traveling through that part of the state but out of their normal travel route. Otherwise they are very lonely boxes. On the other hand. When there is a rare find it is relished

Don't panic or anything when I say this but I live in Oklahoma and I'm not sure we have 5 below. I'll will look online and see thank you!

I found we have two stores in Oklahoma City!!! Awesome wonder if they have confetti?!

It would be fun to find out of the way boxes, unfortunately, my life, and I suspect many others, are not set up to drive and spend several days to get a box far away. The above mentioned Oregon ghost town ones sound amazing and I have always wanted to go there, but alas, if I get a drive by every other week I'm doing good.

Hobby Lobby if you have one nearby.

Shiloh

The Angry Birds Series located in Castle Rock has been updated. All 21 boxes are alive and well. All but #219873 and #219874 have been updated. I'm waiting on the planter to contact me so I can get the updates entered on those two boxes. I'll post here when that is finished. But, they are there! If you go to find these before seeing another post from me, just message me personally. I'll send you the updates. I've spent the last few weeks doing maintenance on this trail. Finished everything up today. If you haven't found them yet, now you can!

If you decide to go up Mt. Evans instead, you can go up for free if you have a National Parks Pass. I have a lifetime National Parks Pass as I'm 62 or over. If you have the yearly pass, you can use that, too. Anybody who has the pass can get the carload in for free. Doesn't have to be the driver.

The fee used to be cheaper. When they finished paving the road all the way to the top, it went up - drastically. It is worth the trip up, especially if you've never been there.

Also, if you are only going up to the lake, you can get that far for free. You just tell the Entrance gate that you are only going to the lake. If you change your mind and want to go all the way, you can pay the fee at that point. There is another check point there.

Reduced section sometimes has duct tape at Hobby Lobby

Surely both give rise to the other as a causal loop. When you stop thinking of time in a linear fashion, there is little difference between cause and effect. When a great clue/box combination arises they simply exist in spacetime and their origins cannot be determined.
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Eye of Mara
----<O>----

Define desert...

I enthusiastically looked for every listing in the town I work in-population 105,000.
5 total letterboxes with intact stamp and log book (my favorite has since been retired, so 4).
I slowly planted 10.

Many thanks to the 2 boxers who came in -from Oklahoma- and found 6 of them!

Apparently there are no boxers at all in this city except me; at least, no one is planting.

(although if you are mainly boxing for great stamp artwork, you may be avoiding mine😊)

You are not alone.

But AQ doesn't delete accounts from people who've listed letterboxes, so that wouldn't be the case here.

So does AQ delete accounts without listing? I always wonder this when I see the anniversaries listed.

You caught me at a bad time the first time you asked--I was hiking the Portugal Camino at the time of your post...

Where is the "jealous" button?
:)