Our First Letterboxing Road Trip

Zairabear and I took our first roadtrip this weekend and dedicated most of it to letterboxing.  Trip details are available over at Daddy Aahz, so I'll focus just on the boxes we sought and/or found.

The night before the trip started I went through both the AtlasQuest and LbNA sites and printed out every clue listed for San Luis Obispo County.    Ended up with a 1 inch thick stack of paper.  Zairabear was given two primary responsibilities: 1) Navigate us through our trip and to the starting point for each box, and 2) sort through the huge pile of clues determining which boxes we wanted to do, which were most likely missing, etc.  I had three boxes that were "must dos" on my list: SLO Walking Tour because I love the coded clue format they used; Send Me An Angel because we could quite possibly be the first finders (which would be a first for us as well); and Siberian Dwarf Hamsters on Stone Mountain, because I have a horde of dwarf hamsters living in my house.  Zairabear had looked around AtlasQuest herself and had SLO Walking Tour, The Bookstore, Send Me An Angel, Butterfly Box, and The Woman I Love on her "must do" list.

We got a late start Saturday morning (see other post), but found ourselves in Cambria with a couple of hours to kill, so we wandered off to explore this quaint little town and, perhaps, even find Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings series.  I cannot recommend this box enough to anyone who hasn't discovered it.  The town of Cambria is simply amazing and The Wizard (keeper of the box) is a greatly entertaining character.  (Note: though the box is available 7 days a week, The Wizard himself is only there on weekends).  Unfortunately, the stamp is broken in half, but we were still able to get decent images. 

Our next box, also in Cambria, was Stairway To Heaven.  They don't get much more driveby then this, but it truly is a beautiful spot.  Zairabear says this box should be called simply Cambria, but I think the name fits the hiding spot perfectly.  Be careful though as mundanes can easily stumble upon you without your seeing them coming.  This box is also on the way to East West Ranch.  Neither of us had taken any time with these clues before hunting it, and that hurt us.  We ended up lost in a tangle of residential streets with no idea where we were in relation to the clues, so gave up after about 30 minutes and headed back towards where we'd started the day...

A little further up the coast we went searching for Driftwood By The Sea.  The starting point is much more difficult to find then it has any right to be since the sign indicating its presence is only visible after you've already taken the correct turn off the highway.  But we were able to find the right spot on our fourth try.  Once the correct starting point is located finding the boxes hiding spot was simple enough.  Unfortunately, the box was not there :-(

Eucalyptus Grove, in San Simeon is another simple driveby box in a gorgeous spot.  We found the location without much difficulty and I sent Z into the shrubbery to retrieve the box while I kept an eye out and did my "oblivious parent" routine.  She said the box was just sitting there right next to the camouflage that it should have been under.We stamped in at a picnic table on the beach and watched a dog that was having way too much fun playing in the surf.  Zairabear made sure to rehide the box a little better than it was when she found it.

Our next stop, another small stretch to the North, was Elephant Seals.  We had passed the Elephant Seals in the darkness the night before, so it was neat to get a chance to see them up close during the day.  Another gorgeous driveby location.  I went into "oblivious parent" mode again while Zairabear tromped around in the undergrowth seeking the box.  We're 99% sure she was in the right spot, but it was also occupied by a large quantity of bugs and lizards who were also hidden by the long grass.  She tried hard but was overcome by squeamishness and gave up before locating the box.  Given the number of tourists around and the lack of subtlety in a six foot tall tattooed man a good five feet from any path, we decided I shouldn't go in after it and just spent some time checking out nature instead.

Now it was time to backtrack and head South once again.  Since we'd lost so much time due to car trouble we knew we had to trim our list of prospective boxes.  Dia's Cayucos series (The Bee Box, Dragonfly, and Buitterfly Box) were early casualties as they had been attempted (but not found) by another boxer recently.  But we still stoppe din Cayucos to gather monotonia's Send Me An Angel.  Although the directions to the starting point were a bit vague, we managed to locate the cemetery and the sunken tree.  This tree is certainly a sight to see and worth the stop.  However, we could not locate the box.  The clues stated the box was in the tree, but no openings were apparent.  Two did look as though they had recently been filled with concrete, however, so we think the cemetary caretakers may have discovered (and frowned upon) the box.  We'll have to wait for monotonia's confirmation to be sure though.

Next stop was Morro Bay, just a few short miles down the coast.  By now we were starving, so stopped at a Burger King to reprioritize clues based on time and remaining energy levels. We decided that we'd search for two boxes in Morro Bay then head to the motel for the night.

Don and Gwen's The Gull In The Sky was the first we were seeking as I wanted to teach Zairabear how to triangulate with her compass and this box seemed perfect for the task.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find anyone to tell us where Bay Cafe or the Marina were and we got distracted by a Farmer's Market before searching too hard.  This one is definetly to be sought next time we're down that way, though.

The 'S' box from GSD's aborted Alphabet Series was the second box we were seeking as we were convinced that "the city of the rock" had to be Morro Bay.  Unfortunately, I was hurrying and think I mistook a private driveway for the street we were seeking and we called off this search before I realized my mistake.

Done for the night, we headed back to the motel, exhausted.  A couple of very fun hours were spent poring over the SLO street map and figuring out which boxes we'd hunt for the next day.  Seeing how many boxes were clustered in downtown near the mission we decided to focus on those, with the exception of Dwarf Hamsters on Stone Mountain which was on my "must do" list and located between themotel and downtown.  Besides, theres a donut shop listed in the clues and we would need breakfast :-)

This was more of a hike then we usually undertake, but the reward was exciting enough for us to attempt it anyway.  We enjoyed our donuts then easily found the trailhead.  It only took me four rest stops to get to the top of stone mountain (so much for quitting smoking making this easier).  We discovered several "rocky tops" as described in the clues but couldn't locate a single other landmark that was listed.  No boulders of the appropriate size, no ravine, no chair shaped rock, no eight foot wall.  None of it seemed to be there.  While we pondered the possibility that the measurements were taken from a dwarf hamster's perspective we still couldn't locate any of the landmarks.  After we gave up, we did pass a couple and their dog who were acting rather suspiciously.  We both think thay may have been fellow boxers (or geocachers), but they didn't seem to interested in chatting and we didn't push the issue, so I guess we'll never know for sure.  All in all it was a nice hike, but we both felt like we wasted two hours that could have been better spent finding other boxes.

Our next stop was Mission San Luis Obispo where we would start the Walking Tour.  Zairabear started interpreting the code and looked adorable sitting crosslegged in front of the plaque while toursits milled around her.  She received several positive comments about doing schoolwork on a Sunday.  Meanwhile I went searching for Sierra Sally's Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa box which was located just around the corner from the plaque.  There were several possible spots for this box to be, but I managed to find the correct one on the third try, scooped up the box, and headed back to watch over Z while I stamped in.  We then swapped and I decoded while she stamped into the Mission box.

There was an elderly gentleman who took quite an interest in Zairabear and I while we were at the Mission, regaling us with stories of local lore.  He was very kind, but also curious about what, exactly we were doing.  He was also too polite to ask us straight out.  Unfortunately, I fear he may have spottted me replacing the Mission box.  As much as I tried to be discrete, he snuck up behind me.  As Z and I were leaving the area we lookd back and saw him examining the plaque we had interpreted with more interest then his knowledge of the area implied was necessary.

We were also frustrated by the clues revealed for the Walking Tour.  The plaque directed us to a building by name, but we had no idea where this building was and too little confidence in its name to start asking around.  So, we headed off on our self directed walking tour of SLO town in hopes of stumbling across the building while we were searching out other boxes.  Things worked out, as they so often do, and we eventually discovered the second and third stops on the Walking Tour.  Alas, by then we were running out of time, so we were unable to finish that box on this trip.  We're halfway to it though for the next time we're in town.

Our next box was The Bookstore.  Zairabear had some difficulty in locating the box, but I was able to find it right off.  We headed across the street to stamp in, then returned the box and I picked up a pretty cool book on 8mm cinematography as well.  We then headed out after The Other Building, but Z is still learning map skills and sent us in the wrong direction.  I discovered the mistake before we went too far astray, but by the time we got to the box it had started to sprinkle.  The undergrowth around this box's hiding spot has grown very thick with all the rain we've been getting and Z found it on the stump, rather then behind the stump as the clue described.  She returned it to the same spot on top of the trunk.  The logbook for this box was both full and soaking wet.  The last finders had stamped in on scrap paper and left it in the box, so we followed suit and did the same.  Both the building and the bridge are beautiful, by the way.

We then headed back to the other side of SLO, going after Mr. Chong's Box.  We were only able to confirm that it was missing however.  Luckily Palme d'Or wasn't too far distant and Zairabear was able to retrieve it without arousing suspicion.  We stamped in and then I had the highlight of my weekend: watching a 10 year old girl lean casually against a building, flipping through a Homes magazine, trying to look nonchalant while waiting for the area to clear so she could return the box to its home.  This was classic as she totally looked like a character out of a bad detective movie.  But who ever heard of a 10 year old detective?  I guess we could call it her Nancy Drew moment :-)  More on Nancy in a couple of paragraphs...

It was time to head North once again, but we still had a couple of stops to make.  Our first was in Atascadero, where we discovered Daniel's valentine in the form of The Woman I Love.  This is not only a beautiful sentiment and wonderful stamp in a great location, but the specific hiding spot looks like it was made specifically for the box.  It blends in perfectly and I predict a long life for this box should people take even a single moment of thought while rehiding it.

Did I mention Nancy Drew a bit earlier?  Well, the two remaining boxes in Princess Lea's Nancy Drew Mysteries series were the last two boxes on our list for the weekend.  Unfortunately, we were headed the wrong direction for the Stolen Unicorn box and with the rain and time going against us, the exits were too far apart to take the time to turn around, retrieve the box, and turn around once again.  We did stop in King City, though in hopes of finding the Princess on Parade.  Unfortunately, as pointed out inthe clue, this isn't really a great hiding spot and the box has gone missing.  Z and I are both great fans of Princess Lea's boxes, but none were to be found on this trip.

All in all it was a fantastic journey and we did manage to find another 8 letterboxes, nearly doubling our F count.  We also have firm plans to visit the area again as soon as possible to seek out some of those we missed and finish the Walking Tour.

Tags: San Louis Obispo, missing boxes, rain, road trip, Cambria, San Simeon, Cayucos, Morro Bay, Bradley, King City