Santa Fe to Colorado Springs (Letterboxing along I25)

Little Rock Church

We were up early and on the road around 6:00am leaving Santa Fe behind and headed for Colorado Springs. Not too far up the interstate we decided to stop in Las Vegas for some breakfast before continuing our trip. It was a nice drive from Santa Fe to Raton - I25 was quiet, very few cars and beautiful views. We arrived in Raton and took the exit for Hwy 72 headed east towards Folsom. We drove about 17 miles and enjoyed the area. At this point we arrived at St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church on Johnson Mesa. We walked around the building and then searched for a letterbox - Little Rock Church. It took us two tries to find it - we seemed to be having compass troubles or the directions were wrong - not sure. But anyway we found it and stamped in. After the box was hidden again we returned to I25 and continued our drive north.

What a View!

Our next stop was in Trinidad. We were looking for two boxes Mazel Tov and Ring-a-ding-ding. We stopped at Temple Aaron for the first box - a quick drive by and then at the City Hall for the second box - another quick drive by. We found both boxes, stamped in, got them hidden again and we were back on the road in about 35 minutes. Talk about drive by! Then just 30 minutes up I25 we exited and made our way to Aguilar. We didn't actually drive into the town we just stopped at the town sign just before reaching town. Here we found Al Capone. I stamped in while sitting in the car and then returned the box to its hiding spot. I guess Al Capone hid out in the area at some time - nice history lesson. We now made our way back to I25 and headed to Walsenburg. Once we were in town we stopped to fill the car with gas and got a suggestion for lunch. We ended up eating at Huerfano Cafe. It was a good lunch of three beef tacos made with corn tortillas. After eating we began our hunt for two letterboxes. For the first one we had to drive about 20 miles west of town on Hwy 160 to a scenic area. Here we found beautiful views and Golden Aspen Leaf. I stamped in and then rehid the box and it wasn't long before we were back in Walsenburg. We then stopped at the Old Huerfano County Jail which is now a Mining Museum. The museum was closed but I had a little laugh at the stuffed prisoner in an upper floor window above the door. I found City Built on Coal in an old coal cart just outside the museum door. I was a little confused by the stamp though. It was a tombstone for Jesse James - not sure what the name of the letterbox had to do with the stamp image. Anyways, I stamped in and put the box back in place. Thomas and I then got back in the car and headed north again.

We drove for a little over an hour before we reached our next destination - Fountain. Once in town we headed for the Fountain Valley Historical Society & Museum. It is only opened on Saturday from 10 to 3. And we arrived in town around 2:30pm. So as not to miss the box here we headed there first. There were two women at the desk and I asked them for the letterbox. They had no idea what I was talking about. After a five minute lesson on letterboxing and some searching in the desk drawers we found the box. While I stamped in to History's Memory Keepers the women kept asking me questions. The whole time I was distracted and I should have been paying more attention.  

 Let me explain - I found a bag in the box and without opening the bag I read on the cover of the journal "hitchhiker". I have the habit of just putting hitchhikers in my letterboxing bag and dealing with them at the end of the day and that is what I did with this one. I then proceeded to take a store bought stamp out of the box and stamp it into my journal and then I stamped my stamp into the letterbox's journal and put everything back in place. I also noted that I was the only one that had stamped into the box (and it was placed back in 2010. I also got the women to stamp the Museum's stamp into my journal. Tonight in the hotel I looked closer at the hitchhiker and noticed there was no stamp in the bag and upon examining the title of the hitchhiker I noticed that it matched the store bought stamp from the box. Now I am confused because I didn't see another stamp in the box. So I am wondering if the Museum's stamp was suppose to be the box's stamp image and the store bought stamp was for the hitchhiker. Anyway I will contact the placer and see what they say but I noticed that they haven't logged into AQ or LbNA in a while - I will see if this mystery get solved or not.

Beanie Baby Cat

So after leaving the Museum we head for the next stamp in town. This one is hidden behind an old one room jail near the library. We found the jail and followed the clues to the back of the building. I found a rock but no box. I then searched in and around all the trees coming up empty handed - well I didn't find the box but I did find a Beanie Baby Cat hanging in one of the trees. I started looking around and saw a logbook like the one in the box at the Museum on the property next to the jail. The property had a No Trespassing sign but Thomas decided to jump the fence and get the logbook. He also found a plastic box wrapped in black tape so he looked for a stamp but didn't find one. During all this time all I could think about was Thomas trespassing and then being arrested and put in this one room jail. Finally I decided to find a rock and use that as a stamp - oh, did I mention that the name of the letterbox was Jailhouse Rock - so the rock seemed appropriate. I inked up a rock and stamped into my logbook. I then put the journal into the plastic box and put that under the rock I had originally found and called it a day. Oh, and the women at the Museum told us to drive by the library since it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's granddaughter - Elizabeth Wright Ingraham.

One last stop before heading to our hotel for the night - Fountain Creek Regional Park. We followed the clues for two boxes (and as I write this and look at my list I realize there was another box just a little further down the trail). We parked at the Nature Center and walked the trail following the clues. We eventually found Bottle of . . . and Colorado Columbine. We enjoyed the park but we did get a little wet. It drizzled most of the time we were out on the trail and did rain pretty hard for a short time (during this we hung out in a viewing shelter until it slacked). Once back at the car we noticed it was 4:30pm and we decided to call it a day. We drove to the hotel and checked in and got some suggestions for dinner. After getting settled in the room we headed out for a bite to eat. Now we are settled in and relaxing and we had a long (but fun) day. We will now rest for whatever tomorrow brings.