Who would have thought that our biggest letterboxing day ever would
come just last Saturday in conjunction with a great gathering out in
western NY! Talk about tremendous growth, when I drove out that way
just last year on my way to Colorado, I planted RTRW's "Silliness in
Chataugua" because the only other box along that part of my route had
already gone missing! Now, thanks to the efforts of some very
dedicated folks like the Elba Onions, the Sprite and the Highlander,
Team Dakota and others, this area is simply teeming with letterboxes!

Until very recently we weren't even aware of all this "new growth".
We'd heard something about a gathering somewhere out there, but Pete
had said he didn't feel like driving that far, and we thought we'd be
going to the Chatfield Hollow Gathering in CT anyway. It wasn't until
Thursday that we took a look at the NY index and noticed how many
boxes were out there that we finally printed out a few clues. The
combination of meeting the folks who planted all these "thankful
boxes" and letterboxing in a new location at the same time was just
too big of a draw for us, so off we went!

Friday morning saw us dashing through the snow near Binghampton for
the new "Winter Wonderland" boxes, then bursting out into the clear
cold afternoon sunshine of Batavia for some very interesting
letterbox surprises. We stayed the night there and even got to pick
up a few more clues the next morning from the internet access in the
motel lobby!

Saturday morning we went scouting for "thankfuls"(spirit, refuge,
etc.) on our way to the gathering, where we got a nice warm welcome
from the Sprite and others that kept us going - along with the hot
chili - for the rest of that very cold day! We did one big series
after another in the lovely Royalton Ravine, picked up a cute cupcake
on the way, and got back to the gathering pavilion just in time for
group pictures and my 6000th box, the first of the "Thankful for
Donations" series that just happened to be resting for the moment in
a nearby bunk tree. It was Laurette's wandering box called "Where's
Wanda?" that depicts me with my glasses and red beret, and it had
already wandered around the country quite a bit itself - now how cool
is that!?!

Well, by now it was already getting dark, so we finished off that
series and a few more "Thankfuls" along the Erie Canal( and even
drove under it at one point!) as we headed back to Batavia for the
night. In counting up our stamps that evening, we were amazed to find
that we had reached a "grand one-day total" of 75 finds( including 6
hitchers and one personal traveler) and 27 exchanges. WOW-what a day!

On Sunday we "thankfully" boxed our way eastward and even did a
couple of "Thruway boxes", bringing our F-count for the weekend to
well over 100 boxes, for which we are indeed very thankful. We're
also thankful for being able to "reel in" a few of the boxes planted
for the Chatfield Hollow Gathering, too. Even the very last box we
found today was a bonus called "Thank You". So, a great big "thank
you" from us to everyone who helped make this weekend so very special!

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving,
Wanda and Pete from RI
P103 F6051 X767