Hpo Trip 1 Cancel

I found this item among some common FDC envelopes and am a bit at a loss to explain exactly what it is.

The cancel indicates Suff & Raleigh (no state) H.P.O. with a date and the notation TRIP 1. The killer has the letters, PTS, in the centre. And, finally, there is asignature, L A (Wair??), Foreman, in the Upper Left of the cover.

Can anyone explain what is going on with this? My assumptions run along the lines that HPO may be similar in function to the RPO (Railway Post Office) on Canadian covers; Suff may be an abbreviation for Suffolk and Raleigh may indicate South Carolina but I could be all wet.

Comments welcome.

Highway Post Office - Postal service to rural communities between hub cities. I will look it up, I have the HPO cover catalog at home.

While you're waiting for smauggie to check his catalog, here is some background on HPOs.

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhi...hypobus.html

This is Suffolk to Raleigh, NC Route 85A. An estimated 400 covers were issued with this first trip cancel. 1987 Cat value is set at $2.25. If there are cancels on the back, this may increase the value.

Thank you both. That was an interesting link and it's always nice to see that at least a portion of your own guesses are correct. It's another keeper in the collection because, quite honestly, the HPO idea is something that I had never heard of before.

Here's another good link to a study on Highway Post Offices:

http://www.stamps.org/AP/Feature0509.pdf

Another excellent link. Thanks fot it.

I like to find HPO's for my route 66 collection. Here is another topic thread about HPO's
https://goscf.com/t/5429#5429