Found after 4 long years!

I had planed on staying home today until the children started attacking each other.  We had to get out of the house or I would go crazy.  We went to check on a box that we just planted.  One of our good friends couldn't find it so we looked to make sure it was still there.  It was part of a 12 part series from the stamps we used at Girl Scout Day Camp.  The first finder told us that the stamps in boxes 2 and 3 were in the wrong order so we were going out there any way.  Also, a boxer planted a new box there but we couldn't find it.

Angel Mounds Boat Ramp 

After that we had lunch; we went looking for 2 boxes and it was an adventure :)  The road that I wanted to use was closed so we had to turn around.  Then we missed the turn for boat ramp that we were going to and had to turn around again.  The place had two parking lots and of course we went to the wrong one.  Once we finally got on the right path we had no problems.  We found the first box and went back to the car.

For the second box we drove around again.  I was trying to read the clues and drive at the same time.  The clue was talking about a path in the woods and I thought it was in a different area.  As I am reading I realize that it is talking about the exact same area that we were just in.  The first box was at the beginning of a fence and the second box was in the middle.

We park and go back in the woods where we came from.  This is at the edge of the river which floods every year.  The box was planted in 3/2009 and was last found in 8/2009.  So if we could find it we would be the first people to find it in 4 years!

Kids on the trail. 

It took a while but we did find it and it was in bad shape.  The box was an index card box and we found it laying open on it's side with dirt inside.  The bag was laying outside the box.  The logbook was triple bagged but still completely soaked.  We wiped the stamp off and replaced the fabric.  We took the wet logbook out and added a new one.  Then we replaced the plastic bags and put everything back where it went.  I contacted the planter and I will probably change out the container next month when I plant a box in that area. It was really exciting to find that box that had survived several floods and not washed away.

After that I let the kids play on a playground for a while.  Then we went to replant a box that had gone missing.  I am not sure if it was muggled or washed away.  It was near a creek that often floods but I thought it would be safe in it's hiding spot.  We found another spot where it will not be washed way.

Pretty busy boxing day :)