The Desert

So much time... So few boxes to find

There has been one big downside to leaving the Arizona desert with its heat and prickly, poky, bitey things and coming to SE Washington with its more mild spring/summer/fall and green things without being oppressive. Tucson has in the neighborhood of 175 individual boxes with more being added everyday. Prosser has 10; all but 2 planted by myself or my grandchildren. Actually 11, but one that was planted still has no clues and is in too public a place to start prowling through every bush without attracting attention. Prosser is a letterboxing desert. There are no real hiking trails. There is a walking/biking path that runs from Prosser to Sunnyside (12 miles) which will have to have some boxes, but how to plant them will be the challenge. There is a gravel road on a hill that some locals use for a hike it is about 1/2 mile, very steep. With the car in 1st gear I still had to ride the brakes all the way down. Now how many boxers are going to want to try that one eh? However we will not be dissuaded. There needs to be a couple of Treasure Hiker worthy boxes.

Being a road traveler, I know that a good number of traveling through boxers look for what they can snag on their way by and don't always have a lot of time to do the hikes or search in obscure places. With that in mind, I am creating "The Tourists Guide to Prosser". It is an ongoing work and each box will be listed individually. This series of boxes will be highlighting a variety of interesting places and tourists tra.... er stops. After having searched out some of the geocaches in the area to see the kinds of planting places they thought worthy, I'm taking this tact so the finder's response won't be, "And you put this here why?"

There was some chatter on one of the Letterboxing message boards about a business planting a box at their business to promote their business. However after reading the clue, more power to them. The only line the seemed a real promo was the last one about coming inside to look at their wares. The rest seemed a regular box clue. This series of boxes may strike some as promotion as well. Let it be known, I have no vested interest in any of the places these boxes are/will be planted other than they seemed like kind of cool places and I thought others might like them too. Not of all the boxes will be business related, but a significant portion and you will not be required support the business to get the box.

Learning to plant here presents a learning curve in planting. In the Arizona desert, your choice was mostly, "do I plant under this rock or that rock?" Rocks don't always blend into the scenery as well in urban Prosser, and are not always in the best configuration. So I'm seeking new ways to camouflage the box. Recently, a boxing friend sent me a couple of "hanging" boxes for hanging in trees or shrubbery. I decided a Nursery wasn't the best place for one of these since one never knew if that tree was one to be dug up and shipped off to a new location. There is also running water around here. I have to be much more conscious of potential flooding of the box than in Tucson.

Yet, in spite of such great needs weighing so heavily on my mind, I throw caution to the wind and take off for part of the weekend. Miss T and Baqash are headed to Spokane for the 1st annual Spokane Boxing Bash. There we will feed the need to find, meet new friends, chow down, and come home tired, but hopefully at least temporarily satisfied.

However, we cannot leave you without adding this exhortation. We are frequently told, "If you plant them, they will come." Alright all you in letterboxing land, planting season has started in Prosser. Help feed the need!