Jet Setting at Sunset

Marty and I had talked about going for a ride on the motorcycle tonight. When he arrived at my office after work I noticed he was driving the work truck and not the motorcycle. He'd left the bike at the shop to haul equipment home for a job tomorrow. So much for a motorcycle ride. We decided to just run a few errands and come home. I don't know how the idea of letterboxing came up but it did and we decided if time permitted we'd see if we could locate any letterboxes nearby if there are any close we hadn't yet discovered. After looking online at atlasquest I determined there are several nearby I haven't found, inlcuding one my friend Erica has hidden.







On the way into town we stopped at Marty's motorcycle buddy Blue's shop to discuss a building addition Marty would be working on soon for him. He had 4 sweet bikes in the shop we all drooled over while we were there.







Just after we left Blue's I looked up at the sky and just as I was about to ask Marty to pull over, he said, "let me guess you want me to turn around?" I had him stop a few more times along the way so I could get out and take pictures. At one point a police officer stopped to ask if all was ok and I just pointed to my camera and he drove on.

Right after that we located Erica's hidden letterbox, "Jet Setting."

Heather and me looking for the "Jet Setting" letterbox.

Heather and I logged the find into our letterbox journals. Marty couldn't be persuaded to join us in letterboxing, even though I told him he could have his own stamp! He opted to take pictures instead.

One last photo of the sky before continuing on with our errands.......

Letterboxes

My friend Erica has introduced me to a new activity she and her kids enjoy: Letterboxing. Letterboxes are a sort of online scavenger hunt in which letterboxers post clues online about the location of a hidden box or container with a stamp and a journal. Each letterboxer also keeps a journal and has their own identifying stamp. When you locate a letterbox, you stamp your own journal with the stamp from the hidden letterbox and you stamp the journal that has been hidden with your own identifying stamp. More information can be found here. You may also follow that link to locate letterboxes hidden in your area. Erica and I have been discussing letterboxes for a few weeks but had not gone "hunting" together.

Early this morning I left to go pick Heather up from camp, where she'd been serving as a Team Servant volunteer. Her boyfriend Michael accompanied me. We decided to head to Hobby Lobby before returning home. Heather and I decided while we were there to find stamps so we can begin letterboxing. She and I had opposing views about what supplies were needed. She called Erica to settle the disagreement. As it turned out, Erica was on her way out the door to take the kids to find letterboxes hidden in our town. After making sure it was ok for us to intrude on their family time, we decided to go with them and get some finds logged into our journals. Here are photos of our first trek into Letterboxing:

Following the clues to find "Blissful Buldog" in Starcke Park:

Cameron logging his find in his journal:

Heather and Michael stamping their journals in Central Park:

Erica, Cam, and Riley on the courthouse steps:

Michael, Heather and I on the courthouse steps:

I found a letterbox!!!! Ssshhhh...don't tell anyone where it is.

Heather, Micheal and I reading the clues to find "Pecan, The State Nut of Texas."

Erica, logging a find:

Heather and Michael studying a clue:

Erica and I stamping our journals:

Me helping Riley spell in her journal:

What a fun day we had! Thanks Erica for sharing your adventure with us!!!

If you would like to try LetterBoxing, look me up on www.atlasquest.com/ as "photosbytammy" or find Erica as"ericastoybox". You can keep checking back to see what letterboxes we've hidden as well.