You know how some hats have those strings through them with that ball thing and if you push on it you can adjust it and tighten it up by your neck? I've always hated those. For the first time ever, I've been very happy to have one of this things. I bought this hat at the Walmart here were I'm staying in Florida. The Walmart was pretty cool. They had a bunch of cool stuff that our Walmart in Ohio didn't have, like my new hat. Well, I really like my new hat and I don't usually wear hats. My mom says it looks very Australian and it suits me. That's probably why I chose it. I work in the Austrailian region at the Columbus Zoo during the summer and I would really like to visit there.
Anyways, I've been wearing this hat while letterboxing. It has some advantages but also some disadvantages. Like, it helps keep the sun out of my eyes, but every time I bend over I wack my hat on the tree and such which, in turns, wacks me in the head.
If you go on AQ you will see that there are a bunch of letterboxes hidden in Englewood, Florida. The only issue is, over half of the boxes listed are unknown or missing. That only left us with a handful of boxes.
Recently I have been using the letterboxing app and taking my iPad out. It saves paper and you can save the clues so you'll have a bunch. Plus, you can still use the map without Internet connection. This came in handy... for the most part.
Yesterday we found a couple of boxes. We found two of the four we searched for. They were both drive bys and store bought stamps. One of them weren't even a legit stamp and was one of those foam stamp things. The box it was in was a lot cooler than the stamp itself. While searching for these boxes we had my grandpa along. He has letterboxed a few times but he doesn't quiet understand things and tries to rush. The clue said "3 feet up" and we knew it meant "3 feet up in the tree" but he thought it meant "3 feet up a small incline on the ground" in the wrong spot... That's why he didn't come with us today.
Yesterday it was pretty windy, but today... today was like a wind storm. My mom and I started off looking for a series along the beach. It was out lucky day and parking was free. The wind kept trying to blow my had off and I used that handy dandy ball thing and tightened it up by my chin. That had never got away once. We quickly found the first box and had to take it up to the women's bathroom to stamp in. After that we made our way out onto the beach. I'm so happy I got hiking shoes this past December. We walked, and walked, and walked down the beach. There we were, walking against the wind up the beach. I felt like I was in a sand storm and would be swept away any moment. It was crazy. We were getting closer to the next box but we couldn't get to the next location. Even though it was low tide, the wind was too crazy and pushed the current in too much. The waves blocked our path and we had to give up on our search.
The next box we went after took about 45mins to find. The clues weren't straight out clues, but hidden within a story. That's fine and all but we had to find this trail. We drove all around the parking lot and walked all along the beach area looking for the trail. Then we drove down to the next beach thinking we hadn't gone far enough. I'm pretty sure we looked like a couple of mad women driving around everywhere. Well, we had to stop and got on the Internet and checked out the clues online. We looked through the comments and found out the trail entrance was in the parking lot! We went back and found the trail and the rest was a breeze. The stamp was neat and all but when I put it back, I got stuck by this little bush! It really hurt! Oh well.
We then went searching for a box in Stump Pass Beach Park. It was a very beautiful park but still windy. We walked quiet the way a long this trail. There was even a group of teen guys who ran past hottin' and hollerin' with their surfboards. We found the location of where the box should have been, but I only found a toad, which peed on me (which really isn't pee, it's a storage of water they release hoping that they will be released). The stumps were so torn up and was clear that it had been awhile ago. I also got attacked by a small thorn stick that was hidden in the hallow log. That was not fun.
After our walk back we were starving. Both my mother and I looked awful from the wind, but that doesn't stop you when you are hungry. We went to a restaurant called Howard's. It wasn't all that great. The last time I was down here the food was great! But now... It wasn't so good. My grandparents said they got a new cook and the food hasn't been good since.
When we got home I looked up the box we were looking or at the Stump Pass Park. The one that was pulled up on my app was from LbNA which said everything was okay. However, the one listed on AQ had a different story. It was last found in 2011 and someone looked for I in 2012 and couldn't find it. I wish we would have known that. We paid three bucks to get into that park (which isn't that bad or anything, but it was a waste of time).
I'm so tiered after that. We had to of walked at least a mile today. Usually that isn't that much for me but when you are fighting and walking against the wind, it's like walking twice that.
I'm hoping to go back and look for the series on the beach if the wind lets up. A lot of the odes in Englewood are gone and that leaves me with boxes outside the city, which my mom doesn't want to drive through.
Maybe I'll have some better luck outside Englewood.
Catchow
