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EAA LbNA #9806 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Puppybreath
Plant date:Aug 1, 2004
Location:
City:Oshkosh
County:Winnebago
State:Wisconsin
Boxes:1
Found by: The Randy Dandies
Last found:Apr 15, 2010
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFaa
Last edited:Aug 1, 2004
This box was planted while I was attending the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) convention in 2004.

For this box you will go to one place to gather numerical clues. Then, you will travel to a second place and use those clues to find the box.

Bring a compass, a paper and pencil to write down numbers, and a calculator or 12-year old who can add numbers.

Gathering the numerical clues takes about an hour, and involves walking about 1/2 mile, mostly on sidewalks.

In gathering the numerical clues, don’t worry if you don’t get the exact number – if you’re close you should still be able to find the box.

Part I – Find the numerical clues:

Go to Menominee Park, which is on Lake Winnebago. Park your car near the Menominee Park Zoo entrance.

Clue A: Just to the left of the Zoo entrance is a park bench. It has a brass plaque above it that says “In Memory of Margie Zimmer”. How many screws are used to mount the plaque to the wall?

Clue B: Walk on the sidewalk on a heading of 330 degrees. Start counting your steps from the brass plaque. After 90 steps you will see a gate in the fence at your right. On your left, in the concrete sidewalk, you will see an inscription: “Peter Rasmussen 5-XX-1980 Oshkosh Wis” What number is XX?

Clue C: Continue on the sidewalk at a heading of 330 degrees. Start counting your steps from the gate. The sidewalk makes a gentle right turn, circling around the Zoo. At 100 steps, stop. Look straight ahead of you. You will see a monument that consists of a large stone globe of the Earth. Go to that monument. On the West side of the monument is the inscription, “In Honor of Our Community’s War Veterans”. Look at the stone box-shaped base upon which the globe sits. There is a pattern engraved in the stone that forms a border along the top edge of the front of the base. This pattern consists of repeated copies of the following motif: a downward-pointing sword within a shield. How many of these downward-pointing swords do you see in this border on the West side of the monument? Count carefully - this number must be exactly correct.

Clue D: Go to the East side of the monument and face to the East. You will see the Cooper Wells Bridge. Walk the 90 steps to the bridge. This bridge was dedicated on a day in July, 1921. What day was it?

Clue E: Keep walking East, following the road. After 200 steps you will see a large statue of Chief Oshkhosh off to your right, on a small rise in the middle of a large lawn. Go to the statue. How old was Chief Oshkosh when he died? (Hint: subtract his birth date from his death date).

Clue F: Stand at the SW corner of the statue. Observe the ground in front of you. How many acorns do you see? (Just kidding! Disregard this clue).

Clue G: Stand at the SW corner of the statue. Walk at a heading of 210 degrees. After 85 steps you will be at a streetlamp. Look at the metal access hatch at the base of the lamp. You will see a 4-digit number. Add the digits to get another number. For example, if the number you see is 3456, then your new number is 3+4+5+6 = 18.

Clue H: Look in the distance at a heading of 200 degrees. You will see the bathhouse, which contains restrooms and showers for the swimmers. Walk 200 steps to that building. Go to the West side of the building. You will see a water meter, which looks like a metal box near the ground. On that box is a small black label that says, “Wisconsin Public Service XXXXXX”, where XXXXXX is a 6-digit number. Add the digits to get a new number. For example, if the number you see is 345678, then your new number is 3+4+5+6+7+8 = 33.

Clue I: Look in the distance at a heading of 300 degrees. You will see a play area for kids. Walk the 100 steps to the entrance of that play area. You will see a sign that says, “Little Oshkosh – Where Dreams Come True”. Look at your feet. You will see hundreds of bricks that have inscriptions engraved into them. How old was Jim Cook when he died? (Subtract the birth date from the death date).

Clue J: How old was L. Jorgenson when he/she died?

Add up all the clues, except for Clue C. Clue C is used for something else. You will be adding 8 numbers. The result will be a number between 0 and 359. This number will be used as a compass heading to find the letterbox. If you are off plus or minus a few degrees it won't matter.

Part II – Find the letterbox:

Drive North about 5 miles to Winnebago County Park. Use the South entrance, which is off East Snell Road.

Follow the road into the park. It curves to the right, and then to the left. About 1/4 mile from the entrance is the Soccer Shelter. Park near it.

Look at the map that shows all the soccer fields. There are a total of 17 fields. You want to go to the field whose number is the same as Clue C above.

At the correct soccer field, go to the goal that’s furthest South. At the goal, go to the West-most pole.

You may want to step a few feet away from the pole, since the metal may influence your compass. Look to a heading of XXX degrees, where XXX is the number you got when you added up the clues. XXX should be a number between 0 and 359.

At the heading of XXX you will see a few tall trees in the treeline. The West-most tree has three trunks. Walk 50 steps to this tree.

In-between the three trunks is your goal.

Please take the time to re-hide the box with sticks and dirt.

Note: I believe the soccer goal posts remain all year. If not, hopefully you can figure out the approximate location of the goal.