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Lake Kegonsa Bluebird - likely MIA LbNA #18187

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Sep 19, 2005
Location:
City:Stoughton
County:Dane
State:Wisconsin
Boxes:1
Planted by:M Clan
Found by: Sunny Side Up
Last found:Sep 17, 2010
Status:FFFFFFFFFa
Last edited:Sep 19, 2005
Signs and clues in the park have apparently changed.

On August 18, 2005 a tornado touched down in the northern portion of Stoughton, WI. One man was killed and many, many houses were devastated.

Stoughton lies just south of a very nice Wisconsin state park. One nice feature of this park is its many bluebird houses and growing bluebird population.

One bluebird was confused, however, after the tornado. Things like the directions to his nesting place were no longer in order. A portion of his journal was recently recovered nearby and left the following notes.

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AUGUST 18, 2005

Wind … rain … clouds … and a tornado. I’ve never seen anything like that before! Somehow I ended up quite a ways from home and I can’t seem to remember how to get back.

Since this map of the park blew down nearby, I might as well take a look and see if anything rings a bell.

Hmmm … “Bluebird Trail” seems like a logical place to start. I’m already at the beach so the trailhead’s apparently just on the north side of the parking lot. I’ll just fly that way and I should find my home in no time at all.

There are a number of bluebird houses along this trail, but I’m not noticing anything familiar. Wait a minute … that sign – the one before I cross the first road – says something. The trails are splitting, but that sign means something and I know I’ve seen it before. It has three words. The first word has five letters, the second has two letters, and the third has ten letters. Why does this look so familiar? I’d better record what it says. With so many bluebird houses around, it must mean something.

Well, I’ve completed the flight around Bluebird Trail. While there were a number of houses, none of them were mine. I’m sort of an odd bluebird. I don’t like the normal residences. My house is something unique.

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AUGUST 19, 2005

I spent last night with some relatives of mine that live along the Bluebird Trail. They were kind enough to take me in for the night. They were quite rattled by the tornado as well, but have managed to find their home and all’s well. A few weeks ago they were invited to my house for dinner and were given a set of directions. Unfortunately, the twister got a hold of the directions and they’re all messed up. They can’t remember what order they go in – and neither can I! Since they lead to my home, my relatives let me borrow the mixed up directions to aid in my return. After reviewing them a bit, I’m not sure how much they’ll help. They’re not very clear. All they tell me is that I’m supposed to pass a bunch of landmarks while going counter-clockwise, but I don’t even know what order I pass them in. I guess all I can do is list the landmarks here and go see what I can find. It’s too bad they’re out of order. I guess that’s what tornadoes do. I’ll just have to make sure I keep my eyes open and check them off as I go, no matter what order I encounter them.

[ ] “Caution” sign #1
[ ] Pine Plantation
[ ] Straight-backed bench
[ ] A seemingly out-of-place number “4”
[ ] Campsites on my right
[ ] Sign reading “Indian Mound – Keep Off”
[ ] Smokey by the Swings
[ ] “Caution” sign #2
[ ] Cornfield and farm visible through the woods on the right
[ ] Bench by a “7”
[ ] Bench by a “3”
[ ] “Indian Mound – Keep Off” sign #2

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AUGUST 20, 2005

Well, I’ll be. It worked. All I had to do is follow that W.O.N.T. trail around counter-clockwise until all the landmarks had been checked off and I was almost there. As I stood by the last landmark, I knew I was close, but I wasn’t sure which direction to go. That’s when I remembered the “Bluebird Trail” sign.

Silly me … our address 2 4 12 4 6 tells us which way to go. (That’s how we bluebirds do these things.) All I had to was convert the numbers to their corresponding letters from the “Bluebird Trail” sign and I pretty much had the direction – 4’s letter just needed to go down one step. I just headed straight in that direction and there was our home, right where the downed one splits. Thank goodness it's well-covered; I hope people keep it that way.

It’s so good to be home, but it’s not good to be alone. My mate was blown much further away from home in the storm. In fact, she was blown over a great lake and onto a pleasant peninsula. Because of an injury, she’s slowly hitchhiking her way back here. If she ever returns, we’ll just stay here together and enjoy life at Lake Kegonsa.