Triple H

I thought I had Hitchhikers all figured out but it seems I didn't. I just read the Silent Doug guidelines for Hitchhiker procedure and learned a few things.

I was inspired to read it since I read a few things on the AQ message board about Hitchhiker Hostels, which I also thought I had figured out. I posted a few messages trying to figure out what the problem was with Hostels as they stand. I mean, sure HHs get stuck in them but how can you solve that? HHs get stuck in many boxes, hell, some even get stuck in boxers' backpacks! And I'm no exception. I still have a HH to place that I have had since October, Columbus Day Weekend. It was going to go into a box of mine that has gone missing. So now I have to put it somewhere else.

Anyway, that's my problem, and that's not what this was about. It was about the "trade rule" of hostels. About perhaps, eliminating it.

I have had to bow out of the conversation and just let it go. I just have to let it go...I must remember that everyone plays a little differently. But I have always held a firm belief in "rules". I am not a rule breaker; I am a rule abider. Maybe that cuts off my creativity alittle, maybe it makes me boring. But I really think rules are in place for a reason. Someone must of thought this through somewhere along the way and this was what worked.

But in my research with Silent Doug's article and some looking into the AQ glossary, I'm willing to let it all go. Things need to be taken patiently and I am glad that I refrained from posting more messages that would no doubt be dissected, line by line, and shown how foolish it is of me to think that a Hostel should be anything other than a pain in the ass and should not be endorsed by any letterboxer worth his salt.

Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with a HH Hostel that is well planted, and well-maintained. I think it is a good oppurtunity to swap out some HH for ones that you haven't seen and maybe can help move along. And I do think the "trade rule" should stand. But I'm lettting it go...I'll play my way and hope that it really is okay for most boxers out there.

I also learned that it is really okay for me to stamp into a HH without moving it along. See, I thought just the opposite. I figured the reward for me to move the HH along was the fact that I got to stamp into it. Apparently, this is incorrect. I can still log it as a find but not pick it up. It seems "rule bending" to my rigid "obey all rules" instinct but I can see the value of it. That way it doesn't end up in my backpack for longer than it takes someone else to find the box that it would have been left in. But I don't see the benefit for the HH. If we all did that, the HH would never move...just stay in one spot and collect stamps. I always thought of the HH as an exchange between BOXES.

One box is planted and the HH comes up and says "Hey, how ya doing? Still dry?" The Plant says, "Well, it was a rough winter but I got plenty of room." The HH says, "GREAT! Let's exchange!" The stamps get exchanged and the HH waits for someone else to take it to the next exchange. And we lowly letterboxers get to stamp into both logbooks as the transport vehicle. When you have a HH you need to place, it's like having another person with you since you have the business of swapping stamps just for the HH.

So I learned about HH, even though I don't know if I'll consider it a rule. It still seems weird to me. I don't know if that's what I want for my HHs but that's the way it is. But I found very little about HH Hostels. On the AQ glossary, it said that it was an event box! The trade rule makes sense in this case but what about those hostels out in the wild? I have only visited one Hostel and that's the only one I've seen or have experience with. So I surely don't know the in's and out's of it. So I'll do some more research and figure out how I want to approach this unique type of box.