What do I do with them?

I'm currently working on a lot of LTCs but when I'm done with them, I'm beginning to contemplate what to do with the stamps.

Some of the cards I've done have utilized stamps I had lying around but a few more have stamps that I carved just for the purpose of doing an LTC. So I'm trying to come up with ideas for planting these stamps in the wild.

I prefer to plant traditional letterboxes. That much I do know. I like boxes that are hidden on some kind of nature/hiking trail. I don't mind urban boxes but they don't seem as satisfying to me. I'm not much of a sneak either so some urban boxes (those in really crowded areas) just seem impossible to me. So it seems that these stamps are probably destined to be planted somewhere on a hiking type trail in my area.

Some are small enough to be hitchhikers. Here's my problem with that: it bothers me that I hardly ever hear from the hitchhikers I have already released. So why should I release more? I also have stopped picking up hitchhikers that I know I won't be able to pass along in a timely manner. If I'm on a letterboxing trip and plan to find a lot of boxes, I'll pick one up. If I'm not, I may leave a large hitchhiker behind or even one that just doesn't suit me. It doesn't seem right, I know, because hitchhikers really are meant to be moved but will it move any faster in the bottom of my bag? This has always been a dilemma for me so I finally just decided to play this part of the game my own way. So looking at hitchhikers in this manner...it's not right for me to release a bunch of hitchhikers if I'm not picking up anybody else's hitchhikers.

I suppose some could be cooties. Ummmm...then again...maybe not. I'm not at all into the cootie scene. I find them mostly pointless though I have seen some great carves. It just seems too invasive and I don't like planting them on people. That's just me. I know lots of folks have a great time with them but I don't participate in this aspect of the hobby.

Some could become postal letterboxes, perhaps. But if they are not part of a ring, I'd really want the whole single to be very impressive. I believe in single postals being very elaborate. Not just what you sent around to the ring but a true "letterbox in your mailbox" kind of thing. Postal letterboxing doesn't get you any farther than your mailbox or post office so the "hike" must be replaced with some creativity. I find it a great way to show off! Not that I have too many great skills to show off, yet. It just seems like if I'm going to put some effort into vamping up these stamps to "Single Postal" level, I might as well put my time into developing a great traditional plant.

Sooooo...here's my only problem with traditional plants in my area; there's hardly anyone around to find them. This doesn't really deter me. It only makes me lazy on the maintenance issue. If I don't get reports on my boxes, then I can assume all is well, right? So why go check on them? I do try to check on all of my boxes in the springtime after the snow has melted to be sure that all the boxes are dry. But then, I get lazy and never go back to them until next year. The more boxes I plant, the harder it becomes to check on all of them. I do really believe in maintaining boxes. Sure things happen in between checks or in between finders but who wants to be the finder of an obviously never-cared-for box? One that has a full logbook or a drenched one. A box that has been cracked or clawed into. A box that has sat there like that for months...according to the logbook. When will I have too many plants that I can no longer easily maintain all of them?

I'll keep looking into these questions but I don't think I'll find any hard answers. For now, I just have to have the most fun I can!