Wanda and Pete's Traveling Letterboxes

Wanda and Pete's Letterboxes - Hitchhikers, etc.

BEFORE YOU SET OUT, PLEASE READ THE WAIVER OF RESPONSIBILITY AND DISCLAIMER..

A Hitchhiker waiting to sail away.

Date of sailing	Piloted by	Launched at
June 24, 2001	Wanda & Pete	Little Red Schoolhouse, RI
Jan 15, 2002	MartianMaggot & K9	Manasquan, NJ
Feb 3, 2002	Vic and Val	?, CT
Aug 21, 2002	Jodi Frank	Punderson Park, OH
Sep 1, 2002	Polly & Garry	?
?	??	Battle of the Bands - Grateful Dead, PA
Nov 26, 2004	Indigo Vulture	Party Line, PA
July 2005	Clueless & Silent Doug	?

10. LITTLE TINY LIGHTHOUSE

A Hitchhiker hoping to light the way.

Date	Lighthouse keepers	Safe harbors
Sep 22, 2001	Wanda & Pete	Final Stretch, RI
Nov 5, 2001	Josef	Cool Down, RI
Feb 15, 2002	Red-Tongued Face	Avery Light, CT
May 31, 2002	Stephani & John	3 Little Pigs #1, CT
Aug 11, 2002	Moonstone Baby	Common Thread, RI
Sep 2, 2002	Jodi Frank	Indian Cemetery, RI
Sep 28, 2002	Boys at Work	?
May 7, 2003	Curly & Rob	Family & Friends #1, RI
May 11, 2003	Armstrongs	Code 1, CT
May 17, 2003	Patrick & Amy	Gerbil Gathering, CT
Jun 7, 2003	Patrick & Amy	MHS Gathering, CT
Jun 10, 2003	Wanda & Pete	RI - safely home

Retired

The following boxes were first planned for the 2001 Burlingame Fall Gathering, but may be available at future events.

21. THE WALKING PUMPKIN

If looking at me, instead of a tree, a pumpkin you see - just ask for the key to the Pumpkin LB.

22. THE GOLDEN TEDDY BEAR

Look for me in a small wooden house near where letterboxers meet and greet one another. (He has also been known to hang out under a frisbie or with a bunch of gummy bears.)

42. SUNNY MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

A Hitchhiker that started out in Key West Florida. It is pictured of page 86 of "The Letterboxer's Companion" and features a tiny carved sunshine stamp on the inside of the cork. (Don't forget to hold the bottle up to the sun to see the beads turn color!)

View the message here.

Date	Sender	Destination
Dec 20, 2002	Wanda & Pete	Mansfield, CT
Jan 6, 2003	Leader of the Pack	East Lyme, CT
Jan 11, 2003	Drew Clan	Groton, CT
Jan 2003	Psychokiwis	Chester, PA
Jan 2003	Mapsurfer	OR
Apr 4, 2003	Wild Woman	Oregon City, OR
Apr 28, 2003	Rands Family	Canby Ferry, OR
May 21, 2003	Dvn2r Ckr	Whale of a Tree LB, WA
May 24, 2004	Dvn2r Ckr	TX
June 2005	Sam	Dallas, TX
July 2005	Ruby Tuesday	Oklahoma City, OK
Aug 5, 2005	Happy Days	??

109. SUNNY MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE II

The first sunny message in a bottle that we sent out in December of 2002 seems to have gotten "stalled out" somewhere in Texas, so we're starting out a new one with a little sand dollar stamp carved by Scarab on the cork's end. Hope this one makes it back home to us sometime soon! (Don't forget to hold the bottle up to the sun to see the beads turn color!)

Date	Sender	Destination
Mar 12, 2005	Wanda & Pete	Seattle, WA
Mar 19, 2005	Amanda from Seattle	Kernville, CA
Mar 28, 2005	Don and Gwen	ID
Apr 10, 2005	Cadenza	NJ
Apr 30, 2005	Letterboxing Bee	Bass Harbor, ME
May 24, 2005	Limur	Dallas, TX
July 2005	Ruby Tuesday	IN
Jul 9, 2005	Scout Dogs	RI
Aug 8, 2005	Wanda & Pete	NC
Aug 10, 2005	Mt. Scorpia	??

54. CIA CODE NAME PERSONAL TRAVELER

Wanda has a new personal traveler carved for her by Scout Dogs for solving a special mystery. All you have to do is figure out Wanda's "CIA code name". (Hint: it is the second part of the name of Scout Dog's biggest dog.)

Retired, but hope to replant this sometime soon!

74. LITTLE TINY CAT IN THE HAT

A Hitchhiker.

Date	Driver	Left At
May 16, 2004	Wanda & Pete	Birthday Blossoms, RI
Jun 20, 2004	Phantom Phiddler	Ghoti and Debauchery, RI
Apr 27, 2005	Warrior Woman	? MA

101. HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

Just ask Pete where his doggie is.

Retired.

This stamp was created for the Mansfield Monster Mash held in October of 2004. It was part of the Who Let the Dogs Out? series. Pete will be carrying it around for a while as a personal traveler for those who were not able to attend that event.

122. STUMPED EAGLE

A Hitchhiker.

An unknown stamp that was found without a logbook which we released as a hitcher in Eagle Idaho.

219. FUDGE ANYONE?

A little surprise for "fudgy folks", wherever they may be!

Just look in the gourmet fudge container for a sample of OUR "sweet-toothy recipe"!

241. PETE'S HOPPY KANGAROO

A special gift box from Chuck for Pete's F 10,000 party.

Pete so liked the kangaroo stamp that Chuck carved for his F 10,000 party (his actual 10,000th find was a Chuck's "In Search of the Phantom Kangaroos"), that he has decided to carry it around with him as a temporary personal traveler until such time as he decides where to plant it. Meanwhile, all you have to do to receive this stamp is congratulate Pete for reaching 10K!

243. SPECIAL KITTY (aka THE LAUGHING COW)

A joke on tabletoppers that ended up turning the tables on us to get the last laugh (but then we got to count it as a plant! :-)

Even though we basically started the tradition of tabletoppers many years ago with our "Little Dippy", we certainly had no idea that such an item, instead of a rare anomaly, would take over to become almost standard fare at gatherings. So, as a joke against the tabletopper explosion that has proliferated in recent years, we decided to leave a little container of Laughing Cow cheese lying around at a gathering with nothing in it except kitty litter ("Special Kitty" - the kind our cats refuse to use, as opposed to the A&P brand we get when visiting our "A&P Rock"!) Perhaps, very few of the newer letterboxers would even get the joke about tabletoppers that we were implying. However, some industrious soul actually put a tiny stamp that looked like a slightly larger than average piece of kitty litter into the cheese box, thereby turning it into a bona fide letterbox! So you see, the joke was on us and there's no stopping the lengths to which some people will go to collect another "stamp", no matter what it represents!

281. JUST A PRETTY BOX

A sequined box ... but where's the stamp?

As far as letterboxes go, this one may be barely hanging on by a hair! However, if you really really want the stamp, just tell us the Polish word for "Christmas Tree"!

282-3. KAELI'S ANGEL & EMILY'S TREE

A couple of box-shaped stamps with destination unknown.

Last seen hanging on the Compass Cuties' Christmas Tree!

310. MIALA BABA KOGUTA

A little mascot rooster tucked into a rather weathered old boot

"Miala baba koguta" is a famous old Polish folk tune - and one of the few that Pete can actually sing along with me on! It means "the old lady had a rooster", and the next line is "wsadzila go do buta" (translation: "so she put it in her boot!").

It always seemed like such a whimsical song to us, but now has even more special meaning. In addition to my wearing out dozens of boots backpacking over 25 thousand miles of long distance trails in the 80s and 90s (fortunately the Hi-Tec company supplied many of them after my first 10 thousand miles in return for using my name in a bit of advertising!), it now seems that I am famous for "crowing" about my reaching over PFX 25,000 in letterboxing! So, since this "old lady" just happened to find one of those old worn-out boots still kicking around in the garage, I decided to put a cute little rooster that I once bought at the Old Cider Mill in Vermont into it, and made "the rooster in a boot" my new mascot! (thanks to a great little suggestion from Ryan that everyone needs a mascot or a gimmick! ;-)

Anyway, if anyone sees my "mascot" hanging out at a gathering and wants my crude folkloric carving of the rooster, just either congratulate me on my PFX 25,000 or sing me "the old lady had a rooster" song - in Polish, if you dare!

"Miala baba koguta, koguta, koguta,
wsadzila go do buta, do buta, hej!

O moj mily kogucie, kogucie, kogucie, kogucie, kogucie, kogucie,
Czy ci dobrze w tym bucie, w tym bucie, w tym bucie, w tym bucie ... jest!?!"

BEFORE YOU SET OUT, PLEASE READ THE WAIVER OF RESPONSIBILITY AND DISCLAIMER..

You can find information about this hobby at Letterboxing North America (LbNA)

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