Homerdoodle 2021

This past weekend Boxing Turtle, Daddy's Favorite Princess, Lil Ewok and I attended the Homerdoodle event.  We left home at 8:30 Friday morning and drove up to Moonshine, Ill.  The princess and I had stopped here a few years ago with friends.  There were 2 boxes here but they have both gone missing.  We enjoyed some Moonburgers, got t-shirts, and planted a box.  

Then we headed to Casey.  The princess and I had been here before but they have added several new things since then.  And there were a few new letterboxes to find too.  We planted the first boxes here.  One of them has been marked missing and I checked on it while we were here.

Then we headed north to St Joseph.  We found 1 and planted 1.  I as hopping to get more boxes here but we were running out of time.  I had promised the kids that we would only box until dinner time and then the kids could swim at the hotel.  

We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel and got a box there.  We checked into the hotel and the kids swam for about 30 minutes.  They were pretty tired, we went back to the room, and I logged my finds and posted the clues for the 2 boxes I planted. 

Saturday, we got up, had breakfast at the hotel, and set off for Homer.  We checked in and hit the trails.  I wish someone would have remined us to use bug spray.  The mosquitos were horrible.  After walking the first trail, my younger two said they would spend the rest of the day in the car.  But we did get them out again and they enjoyed the nature center.  

We boxed until 5.  I told the kids we would have dinner on the way home.  We stopped in Paris and had pizza.  We got another box while we were close.  Then I drove until we got to Vincennes and Boxing Turtle drove the rest of the way.  He has his permit and needs night hours.  We got home about 9:30 pm.

For the two days, we found 146 boxes and 3 hitchhikers.  It was very different from a normal letterboxing event but we had a good time once we got the bug spray on.  

First Carve & New Sig Stamp

My youngest son, Lil Ewok, has been letterboxing since before he was born.  We started boxing in 2010 and he was born in 2012.  My other children were interested in boxing and stamp carving right away.  The Princess carved her first stamp when she was 4 years old.  For some reason, Lil Ewok has just now got the stamp carving bug.  He carved his first stamps this week.  He really likes turtles, so I transferred this image to rubber for him and he did the rest.  Then he got into my scrap bucket and carved 3 other stamps that he drew himself.  He is pretty proud :)

Lil Ewok has been using the same signature stamp forever.  In 2016, we went to a Homerdoodle event.  On the way home, my kids complained about having to stamp their stamps and write their trail names in all of the tabletop boxes.  I decided I would carve them new stamps with their names on them.  At this time, my 2 older kids changed their trail names and everyone got a new stamp but Lil Ewok.  We are going back to Homerdoodle this weekend and I have carved a new sig stamp for Lil Ewok.  Hopefully the rain they are forecasting will keep away.