It's Event Day!

Today is event day - Growing Up On Westerns hosted by SnakeDoctor. And I ended up being awake at 4:00am. I kind of expected it since I was in bed by 8:30pm last night. Yesterday was a long and fun day but I was wiped out by the time I got to my hotel room. So I tried to go back to sleep but that didn't happen. Then I decided to read for a while and by 6:00am I just couldn't take it anymore so I got up and got ready for the day. Finally, around 7:00am I left the hotel and headed out to find a couple of letterboxes before heading to the event. I drove to the downtown area and found a place to park near where the box was hidden. The area around the courthouse was blocked off for some event and that left me parking down the road about a block away from the box. The box I was looking for was Courthouse Conundrum by cezannie. The clues had you start at the courthouse and then follow around looking at statues. But I did some work on the computer at home before heading out on my trip and I knew where to go for the box. After parking I walked to the place where I had figured the box was hidden and easily found the box. I found a spot to sit and stamp in that was hidden from the workers setting up for the event at the courthouse. After replacing the box I headed to Cuppers. This is where we were meeting up for the first part of the event. When I arrived at Cuppers I put my things on a chair by an outside table and went around the side of the building to find Where's My Coffee? by Tepee-AZ. I took the box back to the table and stamped in. When I was done I put the box back in place and then went back to the car to get my things for the event.

When I got back to Cuppers there were a couple of people there, so I joined them. Eventutally, more people showed up and I got some exchanges. I finally got to meet the CoVicars - an extremely nice couple. The clues for the boxes hidden for the event were given out here as well. After visiting for a bit I was ready to head out to the trails and find some boxes. So Lee suggested that he and I along with Jolly Mon, Wisconsin Hiker and Martini Man all head out together. So we drove to the Peavine Trail off of Sundog Ranch Road and parked. We got our things organized and were ready to hit the trail. We had three list of clues - two of them went to the left and one went to the right. We started with one to the left. We set out to find Growing Up On Westerns To The Left (Part 1). This series consisted of seven boxes - Conagher, The Violent Men, Bonanza, The High Chaparrel, Zorro, A Fist Full of Dollars, and The Magnificent 7. We found all of these with just one minor hiccup along the way. We used an assembly line method for stamping in. One person got the box and opened it. Then another person inked the stamp and handed it around to stamp in and then the person who found the box put it back in place when we were done. If there was a logbook then someone started with that and then we passed it around. It was a very smooth operation. Once that series was done we started the next series in that area - Growing Up On Westerns To The Left (Part 2). This series consisted of six boxes - Maverick, Two Mules for Sister Sara, Man With No Name, An American Tail-Fievel Goes West, The Outlaw Josie Wales, and Tombstone. We did the same with this series as we did with the first and when we had found all the boxes it was almost 1:00pm so we decided to head to the pavilion for some lunch.

There were a few people at the pavilion when we arrived and all the fixings for sandwiches were there and other snacks. So I made a sandwich, grabbed some chips and a banana and sat down to enjoy lunch and visit. I also drank a lot of water - it had gotten hot out on the trail. After about a 40 minute rest we decided it was time to head out and get the third and final series for the day. So we hit the trail again in search of Growing Up On Westerns To The Right. This series consisted of seven boxes - Tonto, The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Dances With Wolves, Have Gun Will Travel, True Grit, and Westerns. While looking for this series we also looked for Watson Lake View. We bumped in to a few people along the way and none of them had any luck finding this box but we were determined. So we found boxes from the series and between The Rifleman and Dances With Wolves we went in search of Watson Lake View. We followed the clues and looked in one area but soon decided that we were in the wrong place. So we continued a little further up the trail and tried again. We all kind of spread out and searched. But it was Lee who actually found the box. The box was a mess - they had put a pink inkpad in with the stamp and logbook and it had leaked everywhere. So Lee wiped it out with water and a few napkins, we replaced the baggies and logbook and we got a trash bag to put the ink pad and inky baggies in to throw away later. After stamping in and cleaning up the box we continued on our way to complete the series. After the last box was replaced we walked back to the pavilion, had some snacks and visited for a bit. Around 4:45pm everyone left the park. I decided to head back to the hotel and take a shower before meeting everyone for dinner. It was nice to get cleaned up after a hot day of hiking and letterboxing.

At 6:00pm I drove to Gurley Street Grill to meet everyone for dinner. It was a great place - I had a baja chicken wrap and onion rings - delicious. At 8:00pm I headed back to the hotel. I was tired and ready for some rest. It was a wonderful event and I had a great time - thanks SnakeDoctor.