The Eve of TALE 10

I managed to sleep in this morning if you call getting up at 7:30am sleeping in. I got all my things together for the day and loaded the car. Then I had some breakfast and coffee at the hotel. Finally I was ready and I left for my first destination. My hotel was at the intersection of Hwy71 and I35 - so in the southeast part of Austin, somewhat. Close to me was Mary Moore Searight Park and there were 12 boxes to look for there. I arrived at the park around 9:00am and I made my first stop at the field where the Hill Country Aeromodelers Club fly their radio controlled planes which is a little ways before you get to the parking area for the park. I found a place to park and followed the clues to find Mazy Days' Soaring. This was an easy find and I loved the stamps. After stamping in and replacing the box I spent a few minutes watching one person flying his plane. Then it was time to move on. I completed the drive into the parking lot and grabbed my clues and letterboxing bag and headed for the trails. I first tried to find a Silver Eagle box - The Game of Letterboxer Life - TX Edition. But after 15 minutes of reading and rereading the clues I was not having any luck. I think it is possible that the landmarks have changed so I wasn't sure where to look. So I headed out to the other side of the park and began my search for two series of boxes.

A Haunted Mansion

Baseball Mania Series placed by Princess S and Make a Scene - The Haunted Mansion placed by Easterbelle. At the beginning of the trail I read the clues for the first box in each series and headed out looking for the required landmarks. It wasn't long before I reached the landmark I needed to find these boxes. These were the first boxes in each series and they were in close proximity to each other. I found one and stamped into that one and once it was replaced I grabbed the other one and stamped in to that one. Once they were both back in place I read the next two clues and continued on my way. I kept doing this - going back and forth between clues keeping an eye out for landmarks so that I could get both series without having to backtrack and walk the same trail twice. This went on for about an hour or so and when I found the last boxes of both series I had collected 10 stamps. I enjoyed my walk on the trails and never encountered another person. I enjoyed this morning walk and the serenity of the trails. Now that I had found all the boxes I could in this park I retraced my steps back to the car. It was somewhere around 11:00am and I decided to stop to fill the car with gas and then head on over to the Bastrop/Smithville area.
As I drove to Bastrop I debated about where I was going to go first and to tell the truth I was debating about whether or not to got to Bastrop State Park.

Bastrop County Complex Fire

There was a major fire in September 2011 that destroyed 96% of the park - The Bastrop County Complex Fire. I understand that the park is recovering but it still has a way to go. I wasn't sure if any of the letterboxes that were hidden in the park were still there so it would be just to see what the effects of the fire were. In the end I decided to skip Bastrop State Park and head to another location. So I continued driving through Bastrop and past Smithville to West Point. I made my first stopat the Woods Prairie Cemetery to find Baby Bear's Joseph Robinson box. When I was almost to the box I heard a car and turned around to see a truck parked behind my car. I kind of wandered around because I wasn't sure who was in the truck. Fortunately it was another letterboxer - NLW and her LSS. So I went on over and grabbed the box and stamped in while visiting with NLW. We got the box back into place and we headed out. It turned out that we were both heading to the same location to find another box. Anyway, I headed back toward Smithville and turned into a roadside park and overlook area to find Boots Tex's Henry's Lady box. NLW and Kendrick had brought a picnic lunch so they sat at one of the picnic tables and ate while I went in search of the box. It didn't take me long to find it and I have to say I was a little skeptical since the last log in and comment was an attempt and the boxers were sure they were in the right spot. Luckily, the box was right where it should be - the clues were spot on. So I found a nice spot to sit and stamp in. I then put the box back in place and returned to the picnic area. I told NLW bye and hit the road. My next stop was Buescher State Park.
This is the park that the event is being held tomorrow. So I pulled in and stopped at the office and paid my fees and grabbed a map. I then got into my car and figured out where I needed to be for the clues I had in hand. I ended up in the parking area for campsites 61-65 to get to the trailhead for the Buescher Trail. I started hunting for Mosaic Butterfly's Telling TALEs (a series of 10 boxes). I didn't see any other people around so I walked and looked for boxes - I found the first two boxes between the trailhead and the utility easement.

Buescher State Park

As I entered the open space of the easement I saw three people sitting off to the right at the tree line. On closer inspection it was Bell Motel, Frost Maiden and Gryzzled Gryphon. Bell Motel had met up with them and they were stamping in to a box so she joined them. They also gave her clues to a box that they had just hidden. So Bell Motel and I continued on the trail to find the rest of the series while GG and Frost Maiden made their way back up the trail. Bell Motel and I had a great time walking the trails and finding boxes. We found the final eight of the series and enjoyed our visit. Bell Motel also hid a box while we were out on the trail - The Narrative Clue of TALE 8. In addition to the Telling TALEs series we also found three other boxes. Mary Anne by Frost Maiden and Crossed Carbines & Renegade Recharge by The Renegades. Now that we had found all the boxes on this trail we returned to the trail head and our cars. We decided to go to the Recreation Hall and find a few more boxes before heading out to TALEgate. We started looking for a box (Spring Break in Texas 2) but along the way we met up with many distractions. Those being Wry Me, Bluebutterfly, Mothers Love, Lucy Locket and Mr. Open Space. We visited along the way until we finally arrived at the last landmark. We followed the trail and found the right spot (we think) with a SPOR at a stump - but alas no box. Between visiting with fellow boxers and hunting for this box we were out of time. We headed back to the cars and then left the park and headed to Bastrop to the Texas Grill for dinner.

Dinner was great - the food was delicious and there was a lot of it. The night was pretty chaotic with about 40 people talking and stamping and eating. I had a great time but around 8:00pm I needed to leave. I still had to drive back to Austin to my hotel. It had also been a long and busy day and I was getting tired. Now settled in my room and showered I am realizing how great of a day I had. It was a good way to start the celebration of 10 years of TALE. Tomorrow it is back to Buescher for TALE 10 - a Tale of TALEs.