me, Mojo and Mountain Scorpia are boxing...
She had never been to Helen's Bridge.
While stamping in to Helen's Haunt and discussing the fact that GoSox had announced how he went undetected at the gathering etc... we hatched a plan. First was to find internet access... ah yes...Malaprop's bookstore downtown would be a perfect place. Well...long story short here... we planted a "lure". A one day only box and we sat like a pack of rabid wolves (pun absolutely intended) waiting on GoSox to take the bait while we filled out bellies with Asiana cuisine. I really didn't expect it to work...afterall...GoSox was likely home watching football, cooking and drinking a brewsky...but it was worth a try and it sure made our meal a great deal of fun. *laugh*
*sigh*
A handful of us vowed we'd get him "one of these days" and here is where some of us went our separate ways after a fun weekend. Now to get a few boxes with The Little Foxes and to start thinking about that Pub Crawl idea that had been in my head for awhile. Some even felt the pub crawl would be a way to lure GoSox. *nodding* That was a very good possibility... but not my reason for wanting to do it... but a very good secondary reason indeed ;-)
I can never figure myself out.
I mean... sometimes I have patience to last a dozen folks...
other times... I get a determination that has no patience at all.
This was one of those times...
I had to at least try to figure out how to catch this guy and get an exchange.
Surely I could do this... after all... I always wanted to be a detective.
First to pick my own brain...
what do I remember about GoSox and his past emails to me?
Then... to start compiling clues and info from Atlas Quest.
Surely between emails, posts and his profile I can get a bit closer.
In a post just before the gathering I announced the Chicken Alley letterbox and asked people to please don't go at night or alone. Of course GoSox has to go against the grain just a tad and he consequently had given me a time frame and a general area that he is working downtown.
There was barely enough time to let the excitement of the Mystery gathering to die down when I listed Asheville's 1st PUB CRAWL. The NC boards also had an incredibly long message thread going on about the Pub Crawl.
I asked for other suggestions of pubs that are downtown and close in...
we don't want a bunch of drunk...er...fun loving letterboxers trying to drive to and fro to get to the next rubber stamp in a pub. We all know what we will do for a letterbox. anyway... GoSox gave his list of downtown pubs and some were great suggestions I had never heard of.
Then buried within that same bunch of messages was a post that gives me the notion that maybe we will be actually served by gosox as a bartender during this pub crawl. Ahhh.. and there is his first name too. Which... I think it was Mama Fox that had already told me she thought that was his name. Yep...right she was.
ka ching...
maybe I am one step closer yet. I just decided to write and ask GoSox...
are you a bartender? No. He used to be one. Dad gum it! So, I asked what he does do in an email. He replied "See...if I tell you this....I will give away my position.... I do work near Chicken Alley on Tuesday nights..... I work at places you will visit on the Pub Crawl...."
Most of this I already knew...
but now there was one new key element... Tuesday nights
*eye brow wiggle*
about this same time or the next day or so after is when things began to fall into place for me. I also found something within AQ that once I followed it's direction... I was shown his name. *snicker* What about that... now I know his middle initial and last name too. Then I knew I was gonna get him. How long would it be? Hard to say but it was not something that could wait a whole month. *shaking head*
Hey wait...
what was that thing that GoSox says he does?
No, no... not sunbathing nekkid in cemeteries in frigid January weather. That other thing. Oh yeah... there is a post about that stuff but I had the help of a sly Fox in finding it.
At this point I pretty much had all the info in front of me except for one thing...
it was like I had completed a puzzle and all that I had left to fill in was one empty spot...but I had 6 pieces left. Which piece would be the right piece... or shall I say place?
Tuesday rolls around...
this is it. This is the day I give it my first try.
Now... I think I am gonna get close to GoSox and may even nail him but I just knew "he aint gonna have his siggy stamp with him" so I set out on another scheme. Maybe if I called Chicken enough and at the right time... maybe he would take his ink and stamp with him. Oh...and this isn't all the effort and lengths that I went to ;-)
On my way now to Asheville... after a good hour of arguing with Mojo. She wanted to "bust him" as bad as me. Anyway... the whole way I am figuring how in the world am I gonna act in a bar no less. Geez. I quit that scene at least 12 years ago. Only one option... keep mama Fox on my side. We were letting our thumbs do the talking.
My first thing I needed to do was to check in Chicken Alley
to see if maybe I could just catch him there... or maybe I can take a photo or two. There was no one in Chicken Alley. I definitely feel a different sense here sometimes. A few hurried photos here and back off to find parking. Something was happening at the civic center and town was packed with parked cars.I found the place that I had reasoned was my best option as that place I was gonna catch a curmudgeon beer drinking boxer. I walked through trying to decide where to sit. Not at the bar... no way! I settled in the back of a darkened room with red globed lighting and cozy booths. I asked my waiter about their Tuesday night happenings. I liked his answer. Not only will my victim be here on this night but he will not be coming in to hand over some papers and leave as I thought might be the case... but he will be hanging around for awhile. *proud as punch*
Reporting in to my lifeline... Mama Fox... We texted each other the whole evening and this time it was to report that "I think this is gonna work". Her reply was simple but an excited "WOO HOO!"
I sat there a good 2 hours... trying to get my PDA to connect to the in house wifi and drinking diet coke. I watched each person coming and going. At one point I even did get the PDA to connect to AQ and I tried posting. It was tough but I managed a few short messages. One was about Chicken Alley, another was a tall tale and another was just for fun. Sometime after this last post the door of the establishment opened and in came the answer to my hopes on this day. I just knew it was him.
I waited nervously *heart pounding* while I also sat there having to force myself to keep the giggles and snickers under control and quiet. I didn't want these people to call the authorities because I was acting a bit looney.
Now...
how was I gonna approach him? What was I gonna do?
I got it... back on the phone to my life line. I text mama Fox and asked her to search for a mention of GoSox's favorite beer. I knew he didn't just have one cause I had read some of his beer posts but I had never kept a mental note of them. I figured I'd send him a beer with a note attached "From: Dixie" and then I'd just sit and wait on him to look down my way. Ya see... I couldn't see him from where I was but I could hear him doing his job up on the level above me where the bar is. So I giggled as I imagined him looking around to find who he thought might be Dixie.
Mama Fox came through as always and guess what she found... it's a post... called Functional Beer Drinking listing favorite beers with certain foods. She wanted me to try the one he likes with boiled peanuts... the Dixie Voodoo Lager.
*snort*
Did I just do that out loud? in this restaurant?
*more laughs*
You can't make this stuff up... Dixie Voodoo indeed.
*another snort while sitting all alone* That poor waiter.
to be continued...
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