Our group is planning several informal get-togethers this spring and summer [mini-gatherings?] to serve as icebreakers and as a vehicle to get acquainted before our trip in September. We have had 2 great offers of cottages; one in northern MA in a wooded setting and the second on the shore of CT! Our plan is to spend that time planning our trip, getting to know each other and maybe pick up a few of the area boxes at the same time. Deb Blanchard, who spoke at the Maine letterboxing gathering at Laudholm, was gracious enough to lend us her Dartmoor video that we can all view at one of these locations. Now who carved the mini-event stamp????

Sue and I received a great package from Tony and Sylvia Moore today from England. They are the couple that are in charge of the Catalogue of Dartmoor Letterboxes, which is published twice a year, March and October. Inside the package was - you guessed it, our own Catalogue to take to Dartmoor this September. You cannot believe the number of letterboxes in the area of our accommodations! Fate was with me when I found this place!! There is another, more popular caravan park about a mile away from us that has 12 letterboxes, all behind the bar, which is a common hiding place for the indoor boxes. Can't beat that - a lager and a letterbox! Some of these 12 are only available on weekends, between the hours of 7 and 10pm - so guess what we're doing Saturday night after we get unpacked?????

In the mail today, we received our second letterbox, a HH, to take to Dartmoor this fall. CW Sun Seeker of Utah sent the Travel Bug, which will "hitch a ride to travel far, collecting stamps all along the way before returning home." Thanks, Sun Seeker, we will take good care of this extra "baggage."

We have grown again! Deanne, the Lazy Letterboxer & her husband, Dave, will be joining us on our trip to Dartmoor in September. We all welcome them. There are now 14 of us and the trip is really closed this time! Our airfare, rental vehicles in England, and accommodations in Dartmoor and London have all been finalized. For those of you who could not make it this time, we hope to do this again in 2 to 3 more years and may look at mid August next time. This might help those teacher/letterboxers who wanted to come on the trip this time!

There will be a guest speaker, Deb Blanchard, at the Letterboxing at Laudholm gathering in Wells, ME on Sunday, March 21 at 11am. Deb has been to Dartmoor on several occasions and will present a slide show along with her logbook and other Dartmoor memorabilia. We encourage our trip participants to make this presentation if at all possible. All of those questions of yours can be answered by Deb. Hope to see you all there! Further info on the gathering can be found on our New England Gatherings page.

I received my first letterbox to take to England. At the POE gathering on Sunday, Sadie & Russ gave me their Window on New England HH. Russ is quite a carver who just quietly goes about his craft but his carvings are truly wonderful. . . and those clues, like X-Y Twister are extremely challenging! If you are interested in sending over a permanent letterbox or HH, email me and we can make arrangements. The only favor I ask, if you are out of the immediate CT area, is that you reimburse me for shipping the box back to you if you send a HH. Thanks.

We have grown! Our trip had 11 travelers before yesterday, but we picked up 1 along the way. Cheryl from Team Mad Dawg will be getting married and her husband, Tom will be joining us on the trip. There are also plans underway, if we can pull them off, for 2 additional letterboxers to join us. Still awaiting our Dartmoor hostess for her answers. As they say, the more letterboxers; the merrier! This will be the maximum for the trip. If all goes well, I would like to take another group in 2 or 3 years - by then I should know what I'm doing!!!