Letterboxing Amusements

Knoebels Amusement Resort lured us to Cyclonic's 3rd annual gathering of letterboxers. We had a hard time getting all of our camping stuff out the door as our kitten thought he was going with us again this year. We reminded him how he gets all introverted around people lately, must take after me, and he allowed us to go. Because we were cat free we were looking forward to riding some rides and playing DDR at the arcade.

On route, RGBisME and I had a great time finding a couple of boxes near Montoursville. The first took us to a park we knew nothing about; the best kind of letterboxing experience is finding a new cool local place. The walk was decent and the history was very cool. The second box was a bit more remote and hidden near the great Loyalsock Trail. A hand carved stamp with a appropriate theme made us remark pleasantly. Being on the trail made us want to keep on hiking in our soul filling PA wood but our plans took us to Elysburg and beyond.

Just before reaching our destination, we saw a local church with a memorial Field of Flags that made us turn the car around and stop to recognize the loss of life that has occurred. The death of our many folks in the US military are recognized as individuals, one flag each. Seeing a number, a big number like 4,163 is never easy to visualize as a physical volume or presence but this memorial brought it home. The flags flapping freely in the breeze reminded me that just as many individuals, each someone's baby, was no longer able to move or live their lives. I am grateful that I am free to move and live.

Setting up camp was fun. It was so cool to use the big canvas BSA tent my Toolman Luke gave us. We brought so much stuff, even an extra tent. Having an electric hook up expanded the list of things we had brought along. We felt a little goofy stringing up purple lights but were glad when it got dark to have a way to clearly find our spot. A hammock was another thing that felt like a silly indulgence but between JBZfarm (our camping neighbors) and us, it got a lot of use.

A trip into Ashland with some of the others that were camping made for a nice change of venue. We took over a large table in the back of Devito's resturant where we enjoyed a good meal with Schizokeet, Cyclonic, JBZfarm, Pink Panther and Gerania. There was no local girl cat fight as entertainment this year but plenty of good food and conversation was had. Pink Panther treated us all by picking up the tab! A joyful and generous person, thank you Pink Panther I wish we had been able to visit more.

The event in the morning drew folks much farther than just central PA, I sometimes got confused as to where each letterboxer was from so apologize to Schizokeet whom I forgot was from VA not somewhere in NE. I plopped myself down in pretty much one spot to share exchanges and personal travels with many good letterboxers. A highlight of the morning was being reunited with my hiking stick. As was promised, Bibliochicks returned my stick which they has found on a long hike near Ithaca. Amazing coincidence that they found it, picked it up, and located me!

After sitting for so long, we were glad to be treated to some challenging letterboxes. Aweomse boxes planted for the day by JBZfarm, Cyclonic, Phynstar and Felix Felcis were hidden right in the park.

Cyclonic's event series of 4 came together to make an image that reflected the great times we had in the park that day. We will never forget the excitement of waiting and watching to see how each of the letterboxers in front of us jockeyed themselves in line to get the exact car on The Flyers ride to find one of the four event stamps. As we stood in the sunshine Lotus was the first we saw get into the correct car and she had her head down, stamping in, during a long time as the ride spun her car into the air. We minimized the time we would waste by having the ink we needed and log book ready to go, I didn't want to get sick looking down and stamping in the air.

Before the ride started with it's next group of passengers, the sky started to fill with a few clouds and a little breeze picked up to cool us off. We allowed the kids behind us to get go ahead so we would be first in line and have our choice of cars! Sheba and Phynstar had no problem getting into the only car that had the stamp. It looked like they stamped into both of their logs and got them packed away even before the ride started up! Excellent except... was that the sound of thunder? A few drops of rain started to fall as Sheba and Phynstar disembarked from the ride. Would the operator tell us The Flyers were closed for a while?

Even in the light rain the operator oened the gate to us! Thanks to being in front we made a bee line to the #1 car that was secretly monopolized time after time by an odd group of people who insistited on groping the seat of their car the moment they sat down. Near my knee I felt for the 1" x 1" stamp that had a magnetic strip on it's back and success! RGBiMe and I stamped into the framework of the main stamp we had stamped onto 3 separate cards. I had no idea if I was going to mess up stamping on the ride so I wanted a few tries, all three turned out really well. We packed the log away and settled in as the ride lifted us into the air.

We weren't sure if it was raining harder or if it was it that the ride pushed us onto the raindrops with more force. As the wind picked up and whipped the leaves on the trees around the ride, the screams of glee took on a more panicked sound. The skies opened up and we screamed as we were pelted with what could only be classified as stinging rain. I was glad the log books were packed away and I looked down to see the line for the ride clearing out a bit except for a few die hard boxers that were standing there drenched.

We exited the ride and the rain let up some. We stood with Diane von der Insel to watch as her husband Dave handed the operator his ticket for the next go round. Oh no! A little girl made it into car #1 but Dave walked on. From a distance, we watched as he stood and chatted with the girl for a few seconds. She calmly got out of car #1 and walked to another car! RGBisMe, Diane and I totally cracked up into laughter; only Dave could successfully and kindly talk a girl into moving to another car on the same ride. As it turned out, he had told the girl that when he was a small boy that someone had photographed him in that very car and that he was hoping that his wife could take a photo of him in the same car. Would she mind moving? Apparently she didn't mind. Dear Dave, the most disarming spinner of tales we know.

After finding some amazing carvings by JBZfarm and finally riding some rides just for fun. Our evening was filled with visiting at 2 different campfires. The big party had many letterboxers, old and new. The friendship and laughter shared at this campfire was peppered with great stories of good times, letterboxing and otherwise. RGBisMe were a little overwhelmed with some attention and interest we received. It is very amusing to have folks who have never logged any of your letterboxes come up and want to chat you up about your carvings. Personally, I am much more comfortable talking about any of my boxes as a whole experience but have no problem sharing carving and design techniques. I guess my comfort level also increases with smaller groups; quietly sharing a few good stories with the 4Rhines, Wanting Snow and crew, and/or JBZfarm at the campfire near our tent holds even warmer memories for me. Learning how PA Paddler can make some great french press camp coffee and flip a mean camp pancake capped off our very full weekend. Thank you to everyone who came together to make this event what is was.