Lights, Cameras, Action

On Saturday we were both up early - so we showered, dressed and grabbed some breakfast. Today was the Movies at Murray! event. By 7:30am we were out on the trails looking for letterboxes. The event didn't start until 10:30am so we had quite a bit of time to do some hiking and letterboxing. We first stopped at a rock shelter that is on the main road of the park and we quickly found Out of Sight. After rehiding the box we drove over to the Pecan Grove area and hiked the trail that goes from Pecan Grove to North Boat Ramp. We were in search for six boxes in the 80's Movie Series - these boxes had stamps carved by different boxers from around the country. We found The Naked Gun, Teen Wolf, Movie Time, Overboard and Steel Magnolias. We didn't find Princess Bride - I think we were in the right place because all the landmarks made sense but there was no box. At this point since we were at the North Boat Ramp we decided we had time to do the For The Kids Series. So we crossed the parking area and headed down the trail. There were six boxes in this series. We had a great hike and found Movie Tickets, Harry Potter's Whomping Willow, Scooby Doo, Yakko, Mini Remy and Dumbo. It was time for the event to start so we made our way back to the car.
We drove to the Elephant Rock/Cedar Cove/Tipp's Point Area and paid the entrance fee and found the Cisco Pavillion. There were already a few people there. We said hi to some familiar faces - Viewfinder, Puddle Splasher, Gryzzled Gryphon and Batty Girl. We talked with Penguin Patrol for a bit and she gave me some information on a good spot to hide my boxes. So we decided to head out and plant the boxes to get that over with. There are two trails at the entrance to this area and they start just before the spot where you pay (so to find these boxes you don't have to pay an entrance fee). My two boxes are hidden on the trail on the right of the road. Thomas and I hiked and quickly found two good spots to hide the boxes - so Harry James Potter and Movie Treat! were ready to be found. I wrote out the clues and double checked them and then we returned to the pavillion. The first thing I did was to recopy the clues and make sure they were correct and then put them out for everyone to get. Then I started to get some exchanges and personal travelers. I met shiloh and got his personal travelers and I exchanged with Penguin Patrol and got her personal travelers. Batty Girl also had two new travelers that I got. Once all that was done we just sat, visited, ate and stamped the event stamp as well as some traveling event stamps. I also got a few pictures (the last event I attended I got so busy that I forgot to take any). Now I was ready to get back out on the trails to find more boxes. We headed out to the Duke's Forest area to find boxes that were in two Temporary Series. We found four boxes in Temporary Series 1 - The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton, Cry Baby and Chocolat - all excellent carvings. Then we crossed the road and headed down the opposite trail and found the boxes in the Temporary Series 2. This series had 11 boxes - The Green Mile, Vertigo (one of my favorites of the day), James Dean, Phantasm, Shag, Schindler's List, Belle, Flounder, Spongebob Squarepants, Frosty the Snowman and Aladdin's Rajah. During the hike for this series we bumped into Puddle Splasher and Viewfinder. And at some point Thomas got tired of letterboxing and retreated to the car to read while I finished the series. When I returned to the car there were three letterboxers waiting for me - losin some fat, Raven Queen and The Monkey Bunch. I missed them at the pavillion and they wanted to do an exchange. So we made the exchanges and they got my personal travelers. Once that was completed they headed down the trail to get the boxes I had just finished and we decided it was probably time to head out.

So Thomas and I drove back to the pavillion and said our goodbyes. Then we headed out. We wanted to at least get to Oklahoma City for the night so that our drive home on Sunday wouldn't be as long. We made one stop at a rest area as we headed north on I35 to find Penguin Patrol's Just Married!!! letterbox. The drive up was pretty uneventful and when we reached Yukon we decided to find something for dinner. We ate a good dinner and then as we were leaving the restaurant we sas a Hampton Inn and decided to call it a night. It had been a long day (a very good day but a long day) so we took showers, read a little and were asleep by 9:00pm.

This morning we woke up early again, got packed, loaded the car and then had some breakfast at the hotel. We had originally planned to go to Red Rock Canyon State Park this morning but as we were loading things into the car we both agreed that it was too cold and way to windy to actually enjoy the park so we opted to just head home. We stopped briefly to fill the car with gas and we were on our way. We made a quick stop at the Beckham County Courthouse (which made a brief appearance in the movie The Grapes of Wrath) and then headed out to Sayre City Park to find the Grapes of Wrath letterbox hidden there by rabbitrabbit. It was a quick and easy find and then we were back on I40 headed to Texas. We stopped again at a rest area near Alanreed. We looked for one box and didn't find it and I had forgotten the clues for a second box (and was unable to get internet connection to get the clue from AQ) so we didn't get any finds here. It was also incredibly windy and uncomfortable walking around looking for boxes. We were only there for a short time before heading out. By the time we reached Amarillo we were both hungry and it was time for lunch. We stopped and ate a quick lunch before heading out - there are a few letterboxes in Amarillo but we decided they would have to wait for another time - the wind was just too uncomfortable to be walking outside looking for boxes and I think we were ready to get home. I did want to stop in Tucumcari for one thing. I wanted to visit the Blue Swallow Motel. We stopped and talked to the owner and I took some pictures. Who knows a letterbox may pop up there sometime soon. After our visit we headed home - no more stops until we pulled up at the house. We had a great weekend trip to Oklahoma and enjoyed the movie themed letterboxing event.