1121. "Inn of the End" RI HHH
Hopkinton, RI
26 Jul 2020

This original RI HHH, planted in response to and soon after Jay Drew's "Inn of the Beginning" in CT, was only the second in the country to ever be officially called a "hitchhiker hostel", (although our 2001 "Falling Leaves" letterbox had already been serving for quite some time as an unofficial depository for hitchers - one at a time, of course! - that we had found in our travels around the country and wanted to share with other local letterboxers;-) The "Inn of the End" had a good long run along the outskirts of Burlingame State Park in Charlestown, providing a single hitcher resting place and "swap-out spot" (there were certainly no "multi-hitcher lobster traps" full of them back then!;-) and even serving as the final destination for a "Hare and Tortoise" hitcher race to the east coast from the west coast, until the Tortoise finally arrived in 2007 and we retired the hostel - since the Hare had already arrived about a year earlier!;-)

Anyway, what with COVID-19 wreaking havoc, cancelling travel plans and such, we finally decided to reinstate this hostel in a more accessible location, while hopefully providing a place for people who haven't been doing much planting lately to get out and plant some new boxes for other local letterboxers to enjoy as well! (The only other boxes we remember planting in this particular area were some semi-mystery "ice fishing" ones many years ago that we almost forgot about, so this whole area could be "wide open to new letterboxing suggestions", for those who can't think of any other places around here to plant new boxes themselves! hint hint;-)

In any case, to find the new trailhead, which the "Inn of the End" now calls home, just take exit 2 off I-95 a wee bit west to where you may find a furry critter ensconced in a rock cave, if you look closely and it's still there!;-) At this point, head south on route 3 for about 3/4 mile to a large brown sign and parking lot on the right. Just a few dozen steps west along the trail from the kiosk at the southwest corner of the lot is a thick 3' chunk of old cut log on the right side of the trail. Go to the right end of the log and gently move the handle of the "wooden Olympic torch" slightly to the right and withdraw the box from the "perfect fit cubby". Don't forget to stuff the outside of the cubby space with leaves before you leave! And don't forget to look for some new places to plant boxes along these trails or other places you might know, since we're getting old and, if letterboxing is to survive in these parts, it's time for others to pick up and start carrying the "local letterbox planting torch" themselves!

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