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.
Back in the fall, my boxing buddy was telling me about giant stuff she saw on TV in Casey, Ill. I saw it too and said we had to go in the spring. My kids are on Spring Break this week so I took off one day to box and one day to clean. On Tuesday G-MA, Puppy Love, Daddy's Favorite Princess, and I ventured up to Casey.
According to Atlas Quest there were no boxes in Casey but one nearby in a place called Moonshine. It didn't look too far out of the way so we stopped. Moonshine is famous for their Moonburger. We all had one, got a tshirt, and looked for the box. We couldn't find the letterbox but enjoyed our short time there.
World's Largest Rocking Chair
We got out on the road and finished the trip to Casey. It was probably 2.5 hours away and it rained almost the whole way up. Our first stop was the World's Largest Wind Chime and World's Largest Rocking Chair. The rocking chair is huge! It was my favorite big thing :)
We also went up in the World's Largest Mailbox. We mailed a few letters and postcards from there. The flag on the side slowly goes up when you drop your mail in a slot at the top. In the Candy Depot directly behind the mailbox is the World's Largest Wooden Shoes. While we were close, we checked out a big bird cage and pencil.
Big pencil and World's Largest Mailbox
Then we got back in the car and drove to the country club to see the World's Largest Golf Tee. And drove a little further to see the World's Largest Pitchfork. I planted 4 boxes in town- at the rocking chair, mailbox, golf tee, and pitchfork. Casey is a very clean place and I hope the boxes last a while for folks to find them.
The Princess @ the
sculpture park
We drove down the interstate to Effingham to get a few boxes. We looked for 4 and found 3. Then we went on to Mt Vernon, Ill and got two boxes at an art center and sculpture park. We arrived at the sculpture park 30 minutes before it closed. We had a good time finding the boxes but wish we would have had more time to explore.
We had dinner at a Steak and Shake in Mt Vernon and plotted our trip home. We couldn't decide if we should stop for rest area boxes on the way home or not. It was raining again and we passed them by. We did stop in Carmi at a cemetery in the dark, and in the rain to grab a box that I already had, but my boxing buddies needed. The princess kept saying zombies were going to get us for being in the cemetery at night.
Even thought it rained most of the day we had a great time. We got to see some really cool stuff. I found 5 boxes, planted 4 and a hitchhiker. It was a wet day but a lot of fun :)
Here is the story we saw about Casey on CBS Sunday Morning:
And here is Bill Geist, CBS Sunday Morning and his visit to Moonshine:
