Xipe-Dee-Doo-Dah
Erin Rhode
Once the solver expands the animated gif, they'll find 18 postmarks with the following information: a city or town name, a date, and a zipcode. Upon reordering the postmarks by date, the first letter of each city name spells out "BITTERSWEET WALLEYE," which is an 18 letter synonym for red herring. A little research will determine that the cities don't match the zipcodes. Taking the proper city for each given zipcode, ordered by date gives:
90280 | South Gate, CA |
17534 | Intercourse, PA |
62899 | Xenia, IL |
27936 | Frisco, NC |
04473 | Orono, ME |
13503 | Utica, NY |
41365 | Rogers, KY |
25183 | Sharples, WV |
56649 | International Falls, MN |
45385 | Xenia, OH |
38801 | Tupelo, MS |
56201 | Willmar, MN |
79765 | Odessa, TX |
84773 | Teasdale, UT |
53811 | Hazel Green, WI |
49341 | Rockford, MI |
06333 | East Lyme, CT |
99578 | Eek, AK |
The first letter of each of these towns spells out: "SIX FOUR SIX TWO THREE" which is the zipcode of Bosworth, MO, thus giving the answer "BOSWORTH".