The Attempt

Wry Me and I went back to the Bastrop area to pick up the remaining boxes from TALE 10 and visit some other parks and boxes in the area.  We had no trouble finding the remaining boxes at Buescher State Park and the nearby cemetery on Thursday, and we even happened to be in the right place at the right time.  We visited the Lost Pines box again (Wry Me hadn't stamped in on her first visit) and discovered someone had placed a bag around the box.  While some boxers think this helps protect a box, it actually traps water as soon as the bag is punctured.  So we removed the bag right about the time someone else reported seeing a comment about the bag and asked for volunteers to check on it.  Talk about a coincidence!

On Friday we visited Lake Bastrop South Shore Park.  This is was the site of TALE 5, but not many of the boxes have survived.  I had most of the boxes from a previous trip in 2011 but I still needed a few.  One series I missed was the Texas Champion Series by SandiBox.  At this point two of the four boxes are retired and only boxes #2 and #3 are active.  We found #2 just fine, but #3 appears to be missing.  The box was supposed to be in a hollow at the base of a tree...well, it's now a very deep hole!  And if that box is in there it's way beyond the reach of anyone without a shovel.  See for yourself...

and yes we did poke it thoroughly with sticks before Wry Me tried to get to dive in after it!

We had better luck on Saturday when we visited the McKinney Roughs Nature Park while looking for Silver Eagle's Rough Racerunner box.  It was supposed to be in a dead tree about 3 feet off the ground.  We found the tree fallen over and buried in branches and sticks.  Fortunately Wry Me's persistence paid off and we were able to find this one and move it to a new home nearby.  One of Boot's Tex boxes here also lost it's home (another fallen tree) but it was easier to replant safely.

All in all we did have a great time.  I even slept well in the Smithville Riverside park despite the invasion of hundreds of bikers for a biker rally over the weekend!  Here is a shot of the tree above our tent with the beautiful new spring leaves.  I just love that color :-)