First, Wanda, I want to belated congratulate you on finding an astounding
25000 letterboxes!



Second, I just want to ask how you did a 100+ boxing day?!?



WOW!!!



Ed Bindler

HikerGuyEd

www.bluarcher.com







_____

From: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com [mailto:letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of wandaandpete
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 3:08 PM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)










Well, to many of the regular letterboxers in southern New England, this is
probably old news by now, but I just wanted to let folks in some other parts
of the country know that I reached PFX 25,000 on Thursday, May 28th at "Off
The Beaten Path" in Shrewsbury, MA! The previous couple of months, after
trips to CA/NV/AZ and TX, had involved some fairly intensive letterboxing,
hiking and traveling on my own, from snowy days in the Smokies to 4 days in
a row reaching 90+ degree temps, including at least one 100+ box day during
that very hot spell in VA! Then, of course, after I got home, Pete kept me
going, even when I was ready to drop, with lots of new plants within a
100-mile or so radius of RI, so I was quickly able to reach PFX 25,000 even
on a rainy afternoon after just having had oral surgery by doing a bunch of
box hunts at a few local libraries!

At any rate, one thing I was really impressed with on my last trip down
south was the proliferation of plants by "letterboxing couples" - folks like
Rottie Love and Kevin in VA, Doug & Denise N10EC, and By His Grace and her
hubby in TN, who seem to take turns planting and share a more equal interest
in letterbox hunting and planting than many of the couples we've met in
other parts of the country, where one member is often far more interested in
letterboxing than the other. One of my favorite memories of this last trip,
however, is bound to be that of reconnecting with my old backpacking friend
"Jumpstart", so called because he began his first AT thru-hike in the mid
80s by parachuting onto Springer Mountain in his late 60s! Well, after some
400 successful parachute jumps and a couple more completed AT and PCT treks,
he just last year, in his late 80s, fell out of a tree and broke a whole
bunch of bones. Since so many of the boxes in his area are "drive-bys",
including one where he used to work for many years, I though I'd try taking
him out letterboxing to a few of them, and - guess what - he liked it! So,
now I'm pleased to say that Robie and his wife Lana are now only the second
(after myself) "radical repeater/multitrail thru-hikers" ever to join the
ranks of letterboxers! (I'm still working on recruiting another fellow
"triple crowner/radical repeater", but that could take awhile! :-)

Anyway, it was great to see the strong hold letterboxing has taken taken all
up and down the AT corridor, and how many folks are getting back to our
hobby's "hiking roots" from that first ever North American letterbox planted
on Max Patch along the AT near Hot Springs, NC on April 26, 1998! ( not to
forget the first ever "drive-by" planted at Prayer Rock in VT just a few
days later!) It is so wonderful to see this trend - the return to the hunt,
the original heart and soul of letterboxing - taking hold even at some of
the recent gatherings we have been attending, where fewer and fewer people
just hang around the tables doing stamping, while more and more get out on
the trails for those real "treasure hunts" - hurray! We're also thrilled to
see the Mansfield area of CT making a real comeback as America's original
letterboxing hot spot with a great new series of carvings from around the
country representing the 50 states, each apparently on a hike of about a
mile or so, which is getting back to what letterboxing in these parts used
to be like - kudos to everyone involved in that great America the Beautiful
project!

So, now June is supposedly my "rest month" before getting ready for some
more mountain adventures later this summer. We're happy to report, however,
that the historic LbNA F500 box, after having disappeared for several years,
is back in operation, and we are once again accepting photos to put into it
from anyone who reaches that milestone. Our PFX clubs ( http://alum.

wpi.edu/~p_miner/Letterboxes.html ) are also still open to anyone who wants
to send us their names and dates for reaching a particular milestone, and we
are pleased to congratulate such recent additions as Magical Music Man for
PFX 500, The Seekers of NC and Sparky Butterfly of CT for F 1000, and
Oldhounder and Siamese of MA for PFX 5000!!! Congrats to all who are having
so much fun with our delightful hobby!

Cheers,
Wanda from RI
P331 F22,929 X2041





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> Second, I just want to ask how you did a 100+ boxing day?!?

Really. A box every 14 and half minutes, on average, is
pretty impressive. It takes me that long just to get the
stupid ziplock resealed :)

Cheers
Randy

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, Randy Hall wrote:
>
>
> > Second, I just want to ask how you did a 100+ boxing day?!?
>
> Really. A box every 14 and half minutes, on average, is
> pretty impressive. It takes me that long just to get the
> stupid ziplock resealed :)
>
> Cheers
> Randy
>

Well, I guess I just still must be moving faster than some people do in those "o-races", putting in A LOT more hours and A LOT more miles (and there were plenty of witnesses to see that I didn't have any trouble resealing those ziplocks or rehiding those boxes carefully either!!!:-) Thanks, Rottie Love, Kevin, and everyone else involved for a wonderful day at Holliday Lake, and thanks to folks all around the country who continue to plant such an amazing array of boxes for us all to find "in record time"!

Which reminds me - I recently went on record saying that I wanted to find as many letterboxes over the course of ten years as the number of miles that I put in during the course of my long ago "backpacking career" - that is, over 25,000!!! (5 AT's, 3 PCT's, CDT, and many many more trails too numerous to mention right now!) Well, even though it's been many years now since I've been able to backpack or do the type of hiking I used to, I do still hope to be able to plant a series to commemorate those old backpacking days called "OTTIE" ("Oh, The Trails I've Enjoyed" - or "Endured", as the case may be!:-), when I reach that "shared backpacking miles and letterboxing finds" goal (25,000 miles/25,000 boxes) in just a couple more thousand box searches!

And speaking of box counts, I was just recently joking with someone about "putting in more miles of hiking doing letterbox hunts than God himself"! Most folks probably know that refers to the "old timer" Godfrey called "God", famous among English letterboxers for amassing, over a relatively small area in England, perhaps some 50,000 STAMPS over 7 decades, starting way back in 1935! Well, from what we've heard regarding some English letterboxing styles (scavenging, pub handouts, and "suitcase stamp swaps"), I think it would be accurate to say that even in less than ONE decade, I've already managed to find almost half as many stamps by doing "REAL North American-style letterbox HUNTS", so we should all be proud of the tremendous progress that letterboxing has made here in this country in such a remarkably short time to make such an accomplishment possible! And, of course, there's no question that I've ALREADY put in far more hiking miles than anyone else, for in addition to my backpacking miles from the 80's and 90's, I 'd done at least double that in just plain hiking miles even before I ever started letterboxing! Even in these much slower hiking years of late, I still can't imagine anyone working harder at going out letterboxing on a continual basis than I have, so I hope others can be proud of my record, just as I am proud and grateful for all the wonderful accomplishments of North American letterboxing in general!
Thanks and cheers,

Wanda from RI

It seems to me that another of your many skills is putting down others in
your efforts to elevate yourself. It is not necessary or desired. Being
proud of your accomplishments is one thing, but stick to your own
accomplishments please and quit tearing down others.



_____

From: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com [mailto:letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of wandaandpete
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 11:01 AM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [LbNA] PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)








--- In letterbox-usa@
yahoogroups.com, Randy Hall wrote:
>
>
> > Second, I just want to ask how you did a 100+ boxing day?!?
>
> Really. A box every 14 and half minutes, on average, is
> pretty impressive. It takes me that long just to get the
> stupid ziplock resealed :)
>
> Cheers
> Randy
>

Well, I guess I just still must be moving faster than some people do in
those "o-races", putting in A LOT more hours and A LOT more miles (and there
were plenty of witnesses to see that I didn't have any trouble resealing
those ziplocks or rehiding those boxes carefully either!!!:-) Thanks, Rottie
Love, Kevin, and everyone else involved for a wonderful day at Holliday
Lake, and thanks to folks all around the country who continue to plant such
an amazing array of boxes for us all to find "in record time"!

Which reminds me - I recently went on record saying that I wanted to find as
many letterboxes over the course of ten years as the number of miles that I
put in during the course of my long ago "backpacking career" - that is, over
25,000!!! (5 AT's, 3 PCT's, CDT, and many many more trails too numerous to
mention right now!) Well, even though it's been many years now since I've
been able to backpack or do the type of hiking I used to, I do still hope to
be able to plant a series to commemorate those old backpacking days called
"OTTIE" ("Oh, The Trails I've Enjoyed" - or "Endured", as the case may
be!:-), when I reach that "shared backpacking miles and letterboxing finds"
goal (25,000 miles/25,000 boxes) in just a couple more thousand box
searches!

And speaking of box counts, I was just recently joking with someone about
"putting in more miles of hiking doing letterbox hunts than God himself"!
Most folks probably know that refers to the "old timer" Godfrey called
"God", famous among English letterboxers for amassing, over a relatively
small area in England, perhaps some 50,000 STAMPS over 7 decades, starting
way back in 1935! Well, from what we've heard regarding some English
letterboxing styles (scavenging, pub handouts, and "suitcase stamp swaps"),
I think it would be accurate to say that even in less than ONE decade, I've
already managed to find almost half as many stamps by doing "REAL North
American-style letterbox HUNTS", so we should all be proud of the tremendous
progress that letterboxing has made here in this country in such a
remarkably short time to make such an accomplishment possible! And, of
course, there's no question that I've ALREADY put in far more hiking miles
than anyone else, for in addition to my backpacking miles from the 80's and
90's, I 'd done at least double that in just plain hiking miles even before
I ever started letterboxing! Even in these much slower hiking years of late,
I still can't imagine anyone working harder at going out letterboxing on a
continual basis than I have, so I hope others can be proud of my record,
just as I am proud and grateful for all the wonderful accomplishments of
North American letterboxing in general!
Thanks and cheers,

Wanda from RI





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>
> Blah....blah... blah...
> Thanks and cheers,
>
> Wanda from RI
>
>

Hooooray for you. You should give yourself an award...

oh, yeah, you already did.

--
Nathan Brown

AKA Cyclonic
Penncoasters.com

The Insensitivity rolls on...

Behind every great man is a great woman rolling her eyes

(oh, how can I resist ;-))

> Well, I guess I just still must be moving faster than some people do in those "o-races",
> putting in A LOT more hours and A LOT more miles (and there were
plenty of witnesses

It is rare to find 100 controls in an O race, tho I have done it (albeit
under contrived circumstances). I hope you don't think I was doubting
your claim. It is clearly possible to cover that much terrain in that
time frame; that is beyond doubt. I certainly don't see any hints of
doubt in my original post.

Anyway, in O, it generally takes less than a second to process a control
(slightly longer in the 24 hour formats), but also in O, the controls
are considered commodity items, intended to be processed as fast as
possible, as they are an artefact of the competition rather than the
point of it. In letterboxing, it really does take me forever to process
a box (I have fat, stubby fingers and just hate those ziplocs that don't
have that slidey thing, and then to get the air out once they are sealed
is another hassle), but more to the point it is fun to sift thru the
logbook looking for hidden this or hidden that, or more fun, placing
hidden this or hidden that, reading the comments, whatever. It
probably takes me about 2-4 minutes to process a box. So, clearly,
I could still get it done on a mere 10 minute mile pace, assuming
the terrain isn't too rugged. I personally never thought of
letterboxing as that sort of sport tho.

> Well, from what we've heard regarding some English letterboxing styles
> (scavenging, pub handouts, and "suitcase stamp swaps"),

Seen plenty of that on this side of the pond as well. Not that it
matters, a box is a box, right? A control is a control. I'm not
coming from a position of doubting the evidence of commodization, but
I am wondering why it matters. Looks like the line is drawn somewhere
near 'boxes I've found', not of the type that that 'God' dude found.

> I think it would be accurate to say that even in less than ONE decade,
> I've already managed to find almost half as many stamps by doing "REAL
> North American-style letterbox HUNTS",

Now, this is actually interesting. Is this term defined on AQ?
Again, I'm interested in line drawing between 15 minute hikes and
pub letterboxing.

> so we should all be proud of the tremendous progress that letterboxing has
> made here in this country in such a remarkably short time

But we all aren't. "Progress" isn't the word I would use. Progress
implies 'movement towards a beneficial goal or direction' or words
to that effect. I think it is one of the most misused words around.
My favorite example is "evolutionary progress" that some laypeople
who don't understand the science of evolution use sometimes. But,
I don't want to go too far off-topic.

I might instead use the words "massive increase in quantity", or, again,
"commodization", that makes such accomplishments possible, and differing
folks can have differing views on the "beneficial" nature of such (I'm
of the camp that it is detrimental, but that is just my opinion which I
impose on no one else).

I will however, admit that having just spent 45 hours (and some
pretty painful hours, some were) developing a clue (and that is
typical; I've spent much longer in the past), that to think the goal
is to whip thru it spending all of 15 minutes on it and processing it
as fast as possible is a bit deflating (as an interesting aside, were
I to have my amateur economist's hat on right now, I might use the
term "inflating", as in the concept of printing lots of things to
inflate away massive things (like your gov't, if you are an American,
is doing right now, and, which if it doesn't work, is going to make
last year's panic look like a walk in the park). But again, off topic.

> there's no question that I've ALREADY put in far more hiking miles
> than anyone else, for in addition to my backpacking miles from the
> 80's and 90's, I 'd done at least double that in just plain hiking
> miles even before I

Interesting that I just recently pulled a AT thru-hiker off the
mountain, and gave her a ride to town. It got me thinking alot
about trail culture recently, yet I guess these comments indicate
I have less of an understanding than I thought; viz. I was under the
impression that this sort of competitive aspect was absolutely taboo
in the hiking world, more suited, well, for O races. But, WDIK?

> I still can't imagine anyone working harder at going out letterboxing
> on a continual basis than I have,

No, I couldn't either. I wonder if I work harder at creating clues
than anyone else? I don't know, never thought about all that much
(but after 45 hours, I've thought it a little lately, especially
knowing the number of groups that will look for it can probably be
counted on one hand). I certainly wouldn't think it boastworthy
were there some way to quantify it, tho. But, IMHO, art cannot be
quantified (such that we are pretentious to think of what we do as
art, but I know some what others do really is).

Anyway, this may be more of big fish in a small pond syndrome. Clearly
the movement required for a 15 minute/box pace is on the scale of AR
or O (assuming that the boxes are not contrived to be three meters
apart, and that is a given based on "real hunts" or words to that
effect), and I imagine those interested in that pace are in those sports
already. Were one to compete in those sports, I'd bet one would find
lots of hardworking people, some, perhaps, that would blow that pace
away, and, were they interested in letterboxing and recruited thusly,
blow these paces away as well. (An interesting experiment was done in
the American O scene, which includes alot of genuinely hard-working
athletes. A rich man recruited a high-schooler who did not know what
O was, and had only two requirements: good grades and on the HS XC
teem. Within 2 years was competing with the best in the country
and missed the World Champs team on a mere non-sporting technicality.
Goes to show there is probably something to this concept).

As for working hard, there are people on this planet who hit golf
balls 8 hours a day (I personally can't imagine anything more tedious),
an activity that produces no economic benefit or common good for
anyone, and they are multi-millionaires, and people who toil in
fields for 16 hours a day, and are destitute (well, that may be more
tedious). So, who is working harder? Does it matter? I would argue
that the person toiling is working harder, as I would measure work
based on calorie expenditure, not on perceived "value" or "boastability"
of the work.

Now, why would I write such a post. Clearly, I will be flamed. Fans of
Ayn Rand might even accuse it of being 'Tooyism'. But, I am not
motivated by either of those things, and neither is the point. I
like to write.

Firstly, while I had no problem with the first post, and my comment
about the 15 minute pace was pretty much at face value (I recently
really did have quite a tussle with an ornery ziploc), I am not the
biggest fan of boasting, and do feel the post I am responding to is
a touch over the top. I agree with the thru-hiker that this is not a
competitive domain. There are plenty of other domain -- I'll go one
on one in a 24 hour O race anyday, name the place and time. I think
you are competing with, well, no one. I, speaking for myself only,
simply don't want to, despite having the requisite resources, fitness,
and clue solving skill. And, while the first post didn't so much, the
second one clearly came across as competitive. Ok, you win. Lets
play hearts now (and again, I will assure a different outcome :))

But, more importantly than PFX competitions, there are serious points
I like to make time to time about letterboxing, life, etc., just to
offer some perspective, a different angle, etc (that of course have
been made 50 billion times before, but what isn't derivative?). Its
all harmless and in good fun, get the list riled sometimes, and
thats the point. FWIW. When someone boasts, its always nice to offer
a white-hot spotlight. It strengthens the boast in the long run.

And yeah, it is deflating to work 45 hours on something for a
commodity activity. Posts like these are the results, as is less
work on my part :) I wonder if others care that their hard work
on boxes are being treated to be blown thru like commodities, as
fast as humanly possible? I wonder why I do? It will pass. I'll
just do something else that is more meaningful.

Cheers
Randy

Now, really. How can you say your comment about the 15 minute pace was at face value? Surely the finder was moving at a much faster pace than you gave her credit for! So, the result was 100 boxes in a day. Let's assume the first box was found at 6am and the last one at 10pm. That gives us 16 solid hours of letterboxing.... or 960 minutes... or one box every 9 minutes, 36 seconds. (Actually, must've been even faster than that, if there were more than 100 boxes found that day.)


________________________________
From: Randy Hall
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 2:57:33 PM
Subject: Re: [LbNA] PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)






(oh, how can I resist ;-))

> Well, I guess I just still must be moving faster than some people do in those "o-races",
> putting in A LOT more hours and A LOT more miles (and there were
plenty of witnesses

It is rare to find 100 controls in an O race, tho I have done it (albeit
under contrived circumstances) . I hope you don't think I was doubting
your claim. It is clearly possible to cover that much terrain in that
time frame; that is beyond doubt. I certainly don't see any hints of
doubt in my original post.

Anyway, in O, it generally takes less than a second to process a control
(slightly longer in the 24 hour formats), but also in O, the controls
are considered commodity items, intended to be processed as fast as
possible, as they are an artefact of the competition rather than the
point of it. In letterboxing, it really does take me forever to process
a box (I have fat, stubby fingers and just hate those ziplocs that don't
have that slidey thing, and then to get the air out once they are sealed
is another hassle), but more to the point it is fun to sift thru the
logbook looking for hidden this or hidden that, or more fun, placing
hidden this or hidden that, reading the comments, whatever. It
probably takes me about 2-4 minutes to process a box. So, clearly,
I could still get it done on a mere 10 minute mile pace, assuming
the terrain isn't too rugged. I personally never thought of
letterboxing as that sort of sport tho.

> Well, from what we've heard regarding some English letterboxing styles
> (scavenging, pub handouts, and "suitcase stamp swaps"),

Seen plenty of that on this side of the pond as well. Not that it
matters, a box is a box, right? A control is a control. I'm not
coming from a position of doubting the evidence of commodization, but
I am wondering why it matters. Looks like the line is drawn somewhere
near 'boxes I've found', not of the type that that 'God' dude found.

> I think it would be accurate to say that even in less than ONE decade,
> I've already managed to find almost half as many stamps by doing "REAL
> North American-style letterbox HUNTS",

Now, this is actually interesting. Is this term defined on AQ?
Again, I'm interested in line drawing between 15 minute hikes and
pub letterboxing.

> so we should all be proud of the tremendous progress that letterboxing has
> made here in this country in such a remarkably short time

But we all aren't. "Progress" isn't the word I would use. Progress
implies 'movement towards a beneficial goal or direction' or words
to that effect. I think it is one of the most misused words around.
My favorite example is "evolutionary progress" that some laypeople
who don't understand the science of evolution use sometimes. But,
I don't want to go too far off-topic.

I might instead use the words "massive increase in quantity", or, again,
"commodization" , that makes such accomplishments possible, and differing
folks can have differing views on the "beneficial" nature of such (I'm
of the camp that it is detrimental, but that is just my opinion which I
impose on no one else).

I will however, admit that having just spent 45 hours (and some
pretty painful hours, some were) developing a clue (and that is
typical; I've spent much longer in the past), that to think the goal
is to whip thru it spending all of 15 minutes on it and processing it
as fast as possible is a bit deflating (as an interesting aside, were
I to have my amateur economist's hat on right now, I might use the
term "inflating", as in the concept of printing lots of things to
inflate away massive things (like your gov't, if you are an American,
is doing right now, and, which if it doesn't work, is going to make
last year's panic look like a walk in the park). But again, off topic.

> there's no question that I've ALREADY put in far more hiking miles
> than anyone else, for in addition to my backpacking miles from the
> 80's and 90's, I 'd done at least double that in just plain hiking
> miles even before I

Interesting that I just recently pulled a AT thru-hiker off the
mountain, and gave her a ride to town. It got me thinking alot
about trail culture recently, yet I guess these comments indicate
I have less of an understanding than I thought; viz. I was under the
impression that this sort of competitive aspect was absolutely taboo
in the hiking world, more suited, well, for O races. But, WDIK?

> I still can't imagine anyone working harder at going out letterboxing
> on a continual basis than I have,

No, I couldn't either. I wonder if I work harder at creating clues
than anyone else? I don't know, never thought about all that much
(but after 45 hours, I've thought it a little lately, especially
knowing the number of groups that will look for it can probably be
counted on one hand). I certainly wouldn't think it boastworthy
were there some way to quantify it, tho. But, IMHO, art cannot be
quantified (such that we are pretentious to think of what we do as
art, but I know some what others do really is).

Anyway, this may be more of big fish in a small pond syndrome. Clearly
the movement required for a 15 minute/box pace is on the scale of AR
or O (assuming that the boxes are not contrived to be three meters
apart, and that is a given based on "real hunts" or words to that
effect), and I imagine those interested in that pace are in those sports
already. Were one to compete in those sports, I'd bet one would find
lots of hardworking people, some, perhaps, that would blow that pace
away, and, were they interested in letterboxing and recruited thusly,
blow these paces away as well. (An interesting experiment was done in
the American O scene, which includes alot of genuinely hard-working
athletes. A rich man recruited a high-schooler who did not know what
O was, and had only two requirements: good grades and on the HS XC
teem. Within 2 years was competing with the best in the country
and missed the World Champs team on a mere non-sporting technicality.
Goes to show there is probably something to this concept).

As for working hard, there are people on this planet who hit golf
balls 8 hours a day (I personally can't imagine anything more tedious),
an activity that produces no economic benefit or common good for
anyone, and they are multi-millionaires, and people who toil in
fields for 16 hours a day, and are destitute (well, that may be more
tedious). So, who is working harder? Does it matter? I would argue
that the person toiling is working harder, as I would measure work
based on calorie expenditure, not on perceived "value" or "boastability"
of the work.

Now, why would I write such a post. Clearly, I will be flamed. Fans of
Ayn Rand might even accuse it of being 'Tooyism'. But, I am not
motivated by either of those things, and neither is the point. I
like to write.

Firstly, while I had no problem with the first post, and my comment
about the 15 minute pace was pretty much at face value (I recently
really did have quite a tussle with an ornery ziploc), I am not the
biggest fan of boasting, and do feel the post I am responding to is
a touch over the top. I agree with the thru-hiker that this is not a
competitive domain. There are plenty of other domain -- I'll go one
on one in a 24 hour O race anyday, name the place and time. I think
you are competing with, well, no one. I, speaking for myself only,
simply don't want to, despite having the requisite resources, fitness,
and clue solving skill. And, while the first post didn't so much, the
second one clearly came across as competitive. Ok, you win. Lets
play hearts now (and again, I will assure a different outcome :))

But, more importantly than PFX competitions, there are serious points
I like to make time to time about letterboxing, life, etc., just to
offer some perspective, a different angle, etc (that of course have
been made 50 billion times before, but what isn't derivative?) . Its
all harmless and in good fun, get the list riled sometimes, and
thats the point. FWIW. When someone boasts, its always nice to offer
a white-hot spotlight. It strengthens the boast in the long run.

And yeah, it is deflating to work 45 hours on something for a
commodity activity. Posts like these are the results, as is less
work on my part :) I wonder if others care that their hard work
on boxes are being treated to be blown thru like commodities, as
fast as humanly possible? I wonder why I do? It will pass. I'll
just do something else that is more meaningful.

Cheers
Randy



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> Now, really. How can you say your comment about the 15 minute
> pace was at face value?

I assumed a full 24 hours of hunting, or 24*60/100 = 14.4 min/box
over the 24 hour period. It really doesn't matter, exactly, for the
points I was attempting to make.

I'll admit that a 9-10 minute per box pace does start to strain my
credulity under the premise of "real hunts", that, as yet, undefined
term, which I am construing loosely as "something other than a
contrived hunt", or at least 90 of the boxes in question were listed
on a bona fide letterboxing-related web site beforehand and somewhere
in terrain and not in a pub setting, etc.

15 minutes, yeah, 9 minutes, well, not so sure on that one, that is
some amazing density, but I'm no expert on these things, that's for
sure!

>I will however, admit that having just spent 45 hours (and some pretty painful hours, some were) developing a clue (and that is typical; I've spent much longer in the past),

Well, frankly I'm relieved to hear it. Having enjoyed considerable time (in some cases, several years) spent in solving your clues, it would be distressing to think that the fun you had in creating them lasted only 15 minutes each! ;-)

Sheba







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Congratulations Wanda! Way to go!! I was so glad to see your post. It made me think of our Easter letterboxing day. Glad you're still enjoying the hunt.
Beachcomber

Hey Randy,

We'll (the one handed people) would prefer one of those 45 hr boxes over something commoditized any day.

Viva SPOR!

LB

>
> And yeah, it is deflating to work 45 hours on something for a
> commodity activity. Posts like these are the results, as is less
> work on my part :) I wonder if others care that their hard work
> on boxes are being treated to be blown thru like commodities, as
> fast as humanly possible? I wonder why I do? It will pass. I'll
> just do something else that is more meaningful.
>
> Cheers
> Randy
>

Congratulations Wanda on your achievement of 25,000+ PFX.!...Chuck, Chickabirdie and Amy of WWW

--- On Sun, 6/21/09, wandaandpete wrote:


From: wandaandpete
Subject: Re: [LbNA] PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 2:00 PM








--- In letterbox-usa@ yahoogroups. com, Randy Hall wrote:
>
>
> > Second, I just want to ask how you did a 100+ boxing day?!?
>
> Really. A box every 14 and half minutes, on average, is
> pretty impressive. It takes me that long just to get the
> stupid ziplock resealed :)
>
> Cheers
> Randy
>

Well, I guess I just still must be moving faster than some people do in those "o-races", putting in A LOT more hours and A LOT more miles (and there were plenty of witnesses to see that I didn't have any trouble resealing those ziplocks or rehiding those boxes carefully either!!!:-) Thanks, Rottie Love, Kevin, and everyone else involved for a wonderful day at Holliday Lake, and thanks to folks all around the country who continue to plant such an amazing array of boxes for us all to find "in record time"!

Which reminds me - I recently went on record saying that I wanted to find as many letterboxes over the course of ten years as the number of miles that I put in during the course of my long ago "backpacking career" - that is, over 25,000!!! (5 AT's, 3 PCT's, CDT, and many many more trails too numerous to mention right now!) Well, even though it's been many years now since I've been able to backpack or do the type of hiking I used to, I do still hope to be able to plant a series to commemorate those old backpacking days called "OTTIE" ("Oh, The Trails I've Enjoyed" - or "Endured", as the case may be!:-), when I reach that "shared backpacking miles and letterboxing finds" goal (25,000 miles/25,000 boxes) in just a couple more thousand box searches!

And speaking of box counts, I was just recently joking with someone about "putting in more miles of hiking doing letterbox hunts than God himself"! Most folks probably know that refers to the "old timer" Godfrey called "God", famous among English letterboxers for amassing, over a relatively small area in England, perhaps some 50,000 STAMPS over 7 decades, starting way back in 1935! Well, from what we've heard regarding some English letterboxing styles (scavenging, pub handouts, and "suitcase stamp swaps"), I think it would be accurate to say that even in less than ONE decade, I've already managed to find almost half as many stamps by doing "REAL North American-style letterbox HUNTS", so we should all be proud of the tremendous progress that letterboxing has made here in this country in such a remarkably short time to make such an accomplishment possible! And, of course, there's no question that I've ALREADY put in far more hiking miles than anyone else,
for in addition to my backpacking miles from the 80's and 90's, I 'd done at least double that in just plain hiking miles even before I ever started letterboxing! Even in these much slower hiking years of late, I still can't imagine anyone working harder at going out letterboxing on a continual basis than I have, so I hope others can be proud of my record, just as I am proud and grateful for all the wonderful accomplishments of North American letterboxing in general!
Thanks and cheers,

Wanda from RI



















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Congratulations on your milestone, Wanda. That is quite an accomplishment!

Enjoy!
donutz716

--- On Fri, 6/19/09, wandaandpete wrote:

From: wandaandpete
Subject: [LbNA] PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, June 19, 2009, 3:07 PM





















Well, to many of the regular letterboxers in southern New England, this is probably old news by now, but I just wanted to let folks in some other parts of the country know that I reached PFX 25,000 on Thursday, May 28th at "Off The Beaten Path" in Shrewsbury, MA! The previous couple of months, after trips to CA/NV/AZ and TX, had involved some fairly intensive letterboxing, hiking and traveling on my own, from snowy days in the Smokies to 4 days in a row reaching 90+ degree temps, including at least one 100+ box day during that very hot spell in VA! Then, of course, after I got home, Pete kept me going, even when I was ready to drop, with lots of new plants within a 100-mile or so radius of RI, so I was quickly able to reach PFX 25,000 even on a rainy afternoon after just having had oral surgery by doing a bunch of box hunts at a few local libraries!



At any rate, one thing I was really impressed with on my last trip down south was the proliferation of plants by "letterboxing couples" - folks like Rottie Love and Kevin in VA, Doug & Denise N10EC, and By His Grace and her hubby in TN, who seem to take turns planting and share a more equal interest in letterbox hunting and planting than many of the couples we've met in other parts of the country, where one member is often far more interested in letterboxing than the other. One of my favorite memories of this last trip, however, is bound to be that of reconnecting with my old backpacking friend "Jumpstart", so called because he began his first AT thru-hike in the mid 80s by parachuting onto Springer Mountain in his late 60s! Well, after some 400 successful parachute jumps and a couple more completed AT and PCT treks, he just last year, in his late 80s, fell out of a tree and broke a whole bunch of bones. Since so many of the boxes in his area are
"drive-bys", including one where he used to work for many years, I though I'd try taking him out letterboxing to a few of them, and - guess what - he liked it! So, now I'm pleased to say that Robie and his wife Lana are now only the second (after myself) "radical repeater/multitrail thru-hikers" ever to join the ranks of letterboxers! (I'm still working on recruiting another fellow "triple crowner/radical repeater", but that could take awhile! :-)



Anyway, it was great to see the strong hold letterboxing has taken taken all up and down the AT corridor, and how many folks are getting back to our hobby's "hiking roots" from that first ever North American letterbox planted on Max Patch along the AT near Hot Springs, NC on April 26, 1998! ( not to forget the first ever "drive-by" planted at Prayer Rock in VT just a few days later!) It is so wonderful to see this trend - the return to the hunt, the original heart and soul of letterboxing - taking hold even at some of the recent gatherings we have been attending, where fewer and fewer people just hang around the tables doing stamping, while more and more get out on the trails for those real "treasure hunts" - hurray! We're also thrilled to see the Mansfield area of CT making a real comeback as America's original letterboxing hot spot with a great new series of carvings from around the country representing the 50 states, each apparently on a hike of
about a mile or so, which is getting back to what letterboxing in these parts used to be like - kudos to everyone involved in that great America the Beautiful project!



So, now June is supposedly my "rest month" before getting ready for some more mountain adventures later this summer. We're happy to report, however, that the historic LbNA F500 box, after having disappeared for several years, is back in operation, and we are once again accepting photos to put into it from anyone who reaches that milestone. Our PFX clubs ( http://alum. wpi.edu/~ p_miner/Letterbo xes.html ) are also still open to anyone who wants to send us their names and dates for reaching a particular milestone, and we are pleased to congratulate such recent additions as Magical Music Man for PFX 500, The Seekers of NC and Sparky Butterfly of CT for F 1000, and Oldhounder and Siamese of MA for PFX 5000!!! Congrats to all who are having so much fun with our delightful hobby!



Cheers,

Wanda from RI

P331 F22,929 X2041































[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Congratulations!

While I'm not into this hobby/game for the counts I can certainly understand those that like that aspect of Letterboxing.

Interesting how Letterboxing caters to so many different ways to play!

Some love the count, some love to plant, some love to find, some love to write devilish clues. Me...Im in it for the snack food Gwen takes on our searches.

Don

> Congratulations!
>
> While I'm not into this hobby/game for the counts I can certainly understand those that like that aspect of Letterboxing.
>
> Interesting how Letterboxing caters to so many different ways to play!
>


Oh, it's so interesting to see all the different personality types involved in this hobby, too: the sweet, the gracious, the jealous, the pugnacious! Oh, how many different revealing types of responses one can get just from sharing one's joy about one particularly hot and happy day... or whole bunches of them...it just makes me chuckle thinking about it!!! Oh, did I forget to say that my recent VA 100+ box day was also a gathering day, which I just happened to decide to attend at the very last moment because I knew I wasn't going to be able to get back far enough north in time to go looking for a "mapsurfer box" or some such thing with Lightnin' Bug and Pink Panther in PA that day, as originally planned? And, oh, did I fail, as usual, to mention that I was the first, and at some perhaps the only finder that day, of many of the boxes I found in that lovely big park around the lake, so I didn't have to take time to stop and read every entry the way I usually like to do? And, oh, did I neglect to say that many of those boxes had hitchhikers in them (like those old "evil ones"), and, that going by those old "mapsurfer guidelines" (although not by the more recent AQ separation of categories), hitchikers actually count as finds? And, oh, did I not add that I could have found even more boxes that day had I continued on to the "official night boxing" over at the farm, but I opted instead to do my own version of nightboxing just so that I could find every single box that was then in the park, plus a few outside the park as well, which really did take me quite a few hours in the dark! Oh, I could go on and on, but it's just too funny thinking that some folks could get themselves so worked up trying to figure out how many minutes it took me to find each box that they missed the whole point - that I was just grateful for being able to do what I did that day, and that I simply had a blast!!! (as I do on most every letterbox day, however big or small!) My quip about "o-races" was meant merely as a joke for Randy to consider the possibility that, despite my own personal feelings of inadequacy about my current state of "decrepitude" (which I, of course, expected him to share - I know, "low self esteem"!), there might somehow be someone in orienteering I could actually still be faster than! I know next to nothing about "o-racing", nor have I any interest in it (other than if a signpost were to help me find a letterbox!:-), so it never even occurred to me that Randy could possibly take my quip as a personal challenge to Himself! O, how things can get misinterpreted! And, oh, the "male ego"! (this is just another light-hearted jab at Randy, in case he can't tell! :-), but it really does seem to me that he just has a case of "sour grapes" because, with all the other terrific boxes now available in beautiful places all around the country, we just no longer have much vested interest in going looking for particular boxes as we did when they were practically the "only act in town" (although I do have to admit we were a bit intrigued by the recent piquant travel tales of a certain investigator!;)

Anyway, I really do think that some people take themselves far too seriously sometimes, myself included. Just as my backpacking days meant so much to me because I was recovering from a fractured spine and it just astounded me that I could do it at all, and therefore made a point of counting every backpacking mile, so, too, now with letterboxing I stay focused on counting my finds because it just means so much to me that I can still keep myself going that way sometimes in spite of the bouts of fibromyalgia, PTSD, and other problems. However, it should go without saying that if it were just about the numbers and that I didn't really still love so many aspects of this hobby, I would have quit long ago! And as much as I love the idea that letterboxing, like backpacking, is essentially a private noncompetitive undertaking ( that's actually why I chose them both!), and I basically boycott those activities (road rallies, geocaching contests and such) that encourage "racing" (other than simply to stretch toward reaching one's own personal goals), I suppose it would be just as naive of anyone to maintain that letterboxing has no experience levels as it would be to insist that there is no distinction between "weekend warriors", " thru-hikers", "radical repeaters" and "triple crowners" in the backpacking world. (And the thought of Randy "pulling" a woman off the AT is, of course, absolutely terrifying! :-)

Anyway, we set up our PFX clubs to acknowledge the hard work most people do to reach particular letterboxing levels, once again sort of following "mapsurfer guidelines", suggesting that we set the next rung - (after F500, for which Randy even initiated a special box!) - at F2500 - "to give others the chance to catch up"! (Yup, it's in the archives! hmm..sounds a bit more "competitive-oriented" than"acknowledgement-oriented" to us, Randy!:- ) Anyway, quite a few folks wanted an intermediary step of F1000 to gauge their progress, so we gladly complied, and we're happy to see that the system has worked quite well. Of course, some of the newer folks may prefer those AQ "Halls of Fame", which don't, as far as I know, give dates for any sort of historical context. In any case, though, some people nowadays could do 500 local "drive-bys" (yes, it's imperative to focus on that verbal aspect!;-) and still get the same "credit" as someone doing big hikes all around the country, but who cares? Whatever a person wants to get out of the hobby is up to that individual, and I don't feel like I'm boasting if I want to share my joy about getting such a lot out of this hobby in so many different ways and accomplishing something that just a few years back I wouldn't have even thought possible! I guess I can understand how that might be upsetting, though, to some folks with even lower self esteem than I have, but that's more of a reflection on them than on me, and perhaps includes those who think that only they should be allowed to brag about what boxes they've found or that only what they have to say matters, those who desire instant gratification without putting in the time and effort of working their way up the ladder, and those seemingly inherently so full of themselves and their own superiority that they refuse to acknowledge that any ladder even exists because they are already simply the "best"! These are the folks I personally have the most trouble with, the narcissists, whereas, I happen to be at the other end of the spectrum, always thinking that no matter how much I do, it's never going to be good enough to please that "witch of an inner critic", and that I'll never find enough boxes to gain acceptance from the "letterboxing demons"! So now I just have to say thanks again, not only to the planters who keep me striving to at least try to be that "good enough letterboxer", who could finally find enough boxes to appease those horrible demons (probably never happen!), but especially to those folks with such high self esteem that they could actually "ego-afford" to be happy for me and congratulate me rather than just trying to find ways to shut me up or put me down! Oh, you wonderful, wonderful people - you'll probably never know just how much that has meant to me! Now maybe I actually can take a little break and rest in peace, at least for a little while....Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!
Love,

Wanda

>Oh, did I forget to say that my recent VA 100+ box day was also a
gathering day, [....] And, oh, did I fail, as usual, to mention that I was the
first, and at some perhaps the only finder that day, of many of the
boxes I found in that lovely big park around the lake, so I didn't have
to take time to stop and read every entry the way I usually like to
do? And, oh, did I neglect to say that many of those boxes had
hitchhikers in them [....] And, oh,
did I not add that I could have found even more boxes that day had I
continued on to the "official night boxing" over at the farm, but I
opted instead to do my own version of nightboxing [....]

Well, Wanda, yes, I guess you did forget to mention some of those things! I think people were thrown by the fact that after you joked about being fast, most of the rest of your post had to deal with how you were doing actual "hunts" in contrast to English pub boxes. Glad you've cleared that up.

Still an interesting discussion to be had on whether the "gotta get 'em all" philosophy is beneficial or detrimental to the hobby, I think, but not for me right now (stupid work...).

Sheba







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Congratulations on a game well played.? Glad I was there for some of those boxes a few times, lastly being up on Clingmans Dome. We almost joined you for that extra early hike that day but I do not suffer mornings well.? I believe you were spending four weeks in the Smokys at the time hiking.? Seems that you are the Lance Armstrong of the boxing world taking pot shots from the French.

Pioneer Spirit
F count = Wanda's count divided by 10.







-----Original Message-----
From: wandaandpete
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, Jun 19, 2009 3:07 pm
Subject: [LbNA] PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)



































Well, to many of the regular letterboxers in southern New England, this is probably old news by now, but I just wanted to let folks in some other parts of the country know that I reached PFX 25,000 on Thursday, May 28th at "Off The Beaten Path" in Shrewsbury, MA! The previous couple of months, after trips to CA/NV/AZ and TX, had involved some fairly intensive letterboxing, hiking and traveling on my own, from snowy days in the Smokies to 4 days in a row reaching 90+ degree temps, including at least one 100+ box day during that very hot spell in VA! Then, of course, after I got home, Pete kept me going, even when I was ready to drop, with lots of new plants within a 100-mile or so radius of RI, so I was quickly able to reach PFX 25,000 even on a rainy afternoon after just having had oral surgery by doing a bunch of box hunts at a few local libraries!



At any rate, one thing I was really impressed with on my last trip down south was the proliferation of plants by "letterboxing couples" - folks like Rottie Love and Kevin in VA, Doug & Denise N10EC, and By His Grace and her hubby in TN, who seem to take turns planting and share a more equal interest in letterbox hunting and planting than many of the couples we've met in other parts of the country, where one member is often far more interested in letterboxing than the other. One of my favorite memories of this last trip, however, is bound to be that of reconnecting with my old backpacking friend "Jumpstart", so called because he began his first AT thru-hike in the mid 80s by parachuting onto Springer Mountain in his late 60s! Well, after some 400 successful parachute jumps and a couple more completed AT and PCT treks, he just last year, in his late 80s, fell out of a tree and broke a whole bunch of bones. Since so many of the boxes in his area are "drive-bys", including one where he used to work for many years, I though I'd try taking him out letterboxing to a few of them, and - guess what - he liked it! So, now I'm pleased to say that Robie and his wife Lana are now only the second (after myself) "radical repeater/multitrail thru-hikers" ever to join the ranks of letterboxers! (I'm still working on recruiting another fellow "triple crowner/radical repeater", but that could take awhile! :-)



Anyway, it was great to see the strong hold letterboxing has taken taken all up and down the AT corridor, and how many folks are getting back to our hobby's "hiking roots" from that first ever North American letterbox planted on Max Patch along the AT near Hot Springs, NC on April 26, 1998! ( not to forget the first ever "drive-by" planted at Prayer Rock in VT just a few days later!) It is so wonderful to see this trend - the return to the hunt, the original heart and soul of letterboxing - taking hold even at some of the recent gatherings we have been attending, where fewer and fewer people just hang around the tables doing stamping, while more and more get out on the trails for those real "treasure hunts" - hurray! We're also thrilled to see the Mansfield area of CT making a real comeback as America's original letterboxing hot spot with a great new series of carvings from around the country representing the 50 states, each apparently on a hike of about a mile or so, which is getting back to what letterboxing in these parts used to be like - kudos to everyone involved in that great America the Beautiful project!



So, now June is supposedly my "rest month" before getting ready for some more mountain adventures later this summer. We're happy to report, however, that the historic LbNA F500 box, after having disappeared for several years, is back in operation, and we are once again accepting photos to put into it from anyone who reaches that milestone. Our PFX clubs ( http://alum.wpi.edu/~p_miner/Letterboxes.html ) are also still open to anyone who wants to send us their names and dates for reaching a particular milestone, and we are pleased to congratulate such recent additions as Magical Music Man for PFX 500, The Seekers of NC and Sparky Butterfly of CT for F 1000, and Oldhounder and Siamese of MA for PFX 5000!!! Congrats to all who are having so much fun with our delightful hobby!



Cheers,

Wanda from RI

P331 F22,929 X2041


























[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hey Wanda,

I've been blessed to cross your path two times in my New England letteroboxing career.? Both times you were so gracious to stop what you were doing and spend quality time with me or me and my children.? I thank you for yout dedication to the letterboxing community...love and happy hiking and finding to you and Pete.....GlobeBear


-----Original Message-----
From: wandaandpete
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, Jun 22, 2009 8:29 am
Subject: [LbNA] Re: PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)









> Congratulations!
>
> While I'm not into this hobby/game for the counts I can certainly understand those that like that aspect of Letterboxing.
>
> Interesting how Letterboxing caters to so many different ways to play!
>

Oh, it's so interesting to see all the different personality types involved in this hobby, too: the sweet, the gracious, the jealous, the pugnacious! Oh, how many different revealing types of responses one can get just from sharing one's joy about one particularly hot and happy day... or whole bunches of them...it just makes me chuckle thinking about it!!! Oh, did I forget to say that my recent VA 100+ box day was also a gathering day, which I just happened to decide to attend at the very last moment because I knew I wasn't going to be able to get back far enough north in time to go looking for a "mapsurfer box" or some such thing with Lightnin' Bug and Pink Panther in PA that day, as originally planned? And, oh, did I fail, as usual, to mention that I was the first, and at some perhaps the only finder that day, of many of the boxes I found in that lovely big park around the lake, so I didn't have to take time to stop and read every entry the way I usually like to do? And, oh, did I neglect to say that many of those boxes had hitchhikers in them (like those old "evil ones"), and, that going by those old "mapsurfer guidelines" (although not by the more recent AQ separation of categories), hitchikers actually count as finds? And, oh, did I not add that I could have found even more boxes that day had I continued on to the "official night boxing" over at the farm, but I opted instead to do my own version of nightboxing just so that I could find every single box that was then in the park, plus a few outside the park as well, which really did take me quite a few hours in the dark! Oh, I could go on and on, but it's just too funny thinking that some folks could get themselves so worked up trying to figure out how many minutes it took me to find each box that they missed the whole point - that I was just grateful for being able to do what I did that day, and that I simply had a blast!!! (as I do on most every letterbox day, however big or small!) My quip about "o-races&quo t; was meant merely as a joke for Randy to cons


ider the possibility that, despite my own personal feelings of inadequacy about my current state of "decrepitude" (which I, of course, expected him to share - I know, "low self esteem"!), there might somehow be someone in orienteering I could actually still be faster than! I know next to nothing about "o-racing", nor have I any interest in it (other than if a signpost were to help me find a letterbox!:-), so it never even occurred to me that Randy could possibly take my quip as a personal challenge to Himself! O, how things can get misinterpreted! And, oh, the "male ego"! (this is just another light-hearted jab at Randy, in case he can't tell! :-), but it really does seem to me that he just has a case of "sour grapes" because, with all the other terrific boxes now available in beautiful places all around the country, we just no longer have much vested interest in going looking for particular boxes as we did when they were practically the "only act in town" (although I do have to admit we were a bit intrigued by the recent piquant travel tales of a certain investigator!;)

Anyway, I really do think that some people take themselves far too seriously sometimes, myself included. Just as my backpacking days meant so much to me because I was recovering from a fractured spine and it just astounded me that I could do it at all, and therefore made a point of counting every backpacking mile, so, too, now with letterboxing I stay focused on counting my finds because it just means so much to me that I can still keep myself going that way sometimes in spite of the bouts of fibromyalgia, PTSD, and other problems. However, it should go without saying that if it were just about the numbers and that I didn't really still love so many aspects of this hobby, I would have quit long ago! And as much as I love the idea that letterboxing, like backpacking, is essentially a private noncompetitive undertaking ( that's actually why I chose them both!), and I basically boycott those activities (road rallies, geocaching contests and such) that encourage "racing" (other than simply to stretch toward reaching one's own personal goals), I suppose it would be just as naive of anyone to maintain that letterboxing has no experience levels as it would be to insist that there is no distinction between "weekend warriors", " thru-hikers", "radical repeaters" and "triple crowners" in the backpacking world. (And the thought of Randy "pulling" a woman off the AT is, of course, absolutely terrifying! :-)

Anyway, we set up our PFX clubs to acknowledge the hard work most people do to reach particular letterboxing levels, once again sort of following "mapsurfer guidelines", suggesting that we set the next rung - (after F500, for which Randy even initiated a special box!) - at F2500 - "to give others the chance to catch up"! (Yup, it's in the archives! hmm..sounds a bit more "competitive-oriented" than"acknowledgement-oriented" to us, Randy!:- ) Anyway, quite a few folks wanted an intermediary step of F1000 to gauge their progress, so we gladly complied, and we're happy to see that the system has worked quite well. Of course, some of the newer folks may prefer those AQ "Halls of Fame", which don't, as far as I know, give dates for any sort of historical context. In any case, though, some people nowadays could do 500 local "drive-bys" (yes, it's imperative to focus on that verbal aspect!;-) and still get the same "credit" as someone doing big hikes all around the country, but who cares? Whatever a person wants to get out of the hobby is up to that individual, and I don't feel like I'm boasting if I want to share my joy about getting such a lot out of this hobby in so many different ways and accomplishing something that just a few years back I wouldn't have even thought possible! I guess I can understand how that might be upsetting, though, to some folks with even lower self esteem than I have, but that's more of a reflection on them than on me, and perhaps includes those who think that only they should be allowed to brag about what boxes they've found or that only what they have to say matters, those who desire instant gratification without putting in the time and effort of working their way up the ladder, and those seemingly inherently so full of themselves and their own superiority that they refuse to acknowledge that any ladder even exists because they are already simply the "best"! These are the folks I personally have th e most trouble with, the narcissists, whereas, I happen to be at the other end of the spectr


um, always thinking that no matter how much I do, it's never going to be good enough to please that "witch of an inner critic", and that I'll never find enough boxes to gain acceptance from the "letterboxing demons"! So now I just have to say thanks again, not only to the planters who keep me striving to at least try to be that "good enough letterboxer", who could finally find enough boxes to appease those horrible demons (probably never happen!), but especially to those folks with such high self esteem that they could actually "ego-afford" to be happy for me and congratulate me rather than just trying to find ways to shut me up or put me down! Oh, you wonderful, wonderful people - you'll probably never know just how much that has meant to me! Now maybe I actually can take a little break and rest in peace, at least for a little while....Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!
Love,

Wanda








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Congratulations! We thought we saw that you had reached F 25,000 when we read the log book at America the Beautiful..New Jersey. And then followed on to Utah. Hard to believe you made it up to CT and Tolland County before those of us who live here! Keep on boxing! Painterly and 46R







--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "wandaandpete" wrote:
>
>
>
> Well, to many of the regular letterboxers in southern New England, this is probably old news by now, but I just wanted to let folks in some other parts of the country know that I reached PFX 25,000 on Thursday, May 28th at "Off The Beaten Path" in Shrewsbury, MA! The previous couple of months, after trips to CA/NV/AZ and TX, had involved some fairly intensive letterboxing, hiking and traveling on my own, from snowy days in the Smokies to 4 days in a row reaching 90+ degree temps, including at least one 100+ box day during that very hot spell in VA! Then, of course, after I got home, Pete kept me going, even when I was ready to drop, with lots of new plants within a 100-mile or so radius of RI, so I was quickly able to reach PFX 25,000 even on a rainy afternoon after just having had oral surgery by doing a bunch of box hunts at a few local libraries!
>
> At any rate, one thing I was really impressed with on my last trip down south was the proliferation of plants by "letterboxing couples" - folks like Rottie Love and Kevin in VA, Doug & Denise N10EC, and By His Grace and her hubby in TN, who seem to take turns planting and share a more equal interest in letterbox hunting and planting than many of the couples we've met in other parts of the country, where one member is often far more interested in letterboxing than the other. One of my favorite memories of this last trip, however, is bound to be that of reconnecting with my old backpacking friend "Jumpstart", so called because he began his first AT thru-hike in the mid 80s by parachuting onto Springer Mountain in his late 60s! Well, after some 400 successful parachute jumps and a couple more completed AT and PCT treks, he just last year, in his late 80s, fell out of a tree and broke a whole bunch of bones. Since so many of the boxes in his area are "drive-bys", including one where he used to work for many years, I though I'd try taking him out letterboxing to a few of them, and - guess what - he liked it! So, now I'm pleased to say that Robie and his wife Lana are now only the second (after myself) "radical repeater/multitrail thru-hikers" ever to join the ranks of letterboxers! (I'm still working on recruiting another fellow "triple crowner/radical repeater", but that could take awhile! :-)
>
> Anyway, it was great to see the strong hold letterboxing has taken taken all up and down the AT corridor, and how many folks are getting back to our hobby's "hiking roots" from that first ever North American letterbox planted on Max Patch along the AT near Hot Springs, NC on April 26, 1998! ( not to forget the first ever "drive-by" planted at Prayer Rock in VT just a few days later!) It is so wonderful to see this trend - the return to the hunt, the original heart and soul of letterboxing - taking hold even at some of the recent gatherings we have been attending, where fewer and fewer people just hang around the tables doing stamping, while more and more get out on the trails for those real "treasure hunts" - hurray! We're also thrilled to see the Mansfield area of CT making a real comeback as America's original letterboxing hot spot with a great new series of carvings from around the country representing the 50 states, each apparently on a hike of about a mile or so, which is getting back to what letterboxing in these parts used to be like - kudos to everyone involved in that great America the Beautiful project!
>
> So, now June is supposedly my "rest month" before getting ready for some more mountain adventures later this summer. We're happy to report, however, that the historic LbNA F500 box, after having disappeared for several years, is back in operation, and we are once again accepting photos to put into it from anyone who reaches that milestone. Our PFX clubs ( http://alum.wpi.edu/~p_miner/Letterboxes.html ) are also still open to anyone who wants to send us their names and dates for reaching a particular milestone, and we are pleased to congratulate such recent additions as Magical Music Man for PFX 500, The Seekers of NC and Sparky Butterfly of CT for F 1000, and Oldhounder and Siamese of MA for PFX 5000!!! Congrats to all who are having so much fun with our delightful hobby!
>
> Cheers,
> Wanda from RI
> P331 F22,929 X2041
>

Hi Wanda, I met you at the Gatlinburg Event this past April. It was such a pleasure to meet you. You were very sweet to me, and I enjoyed meeting and exchanging with someone who enjoys letterboxing in their own way as you do. I hope you got my travellers while you were there. I thought that was such wonderful devotion to our hobby of letterboxing to come all the way to TN for a gathering. It turned out to be a wonderful day.

(Oh, btw, if I were you, I wouldn't take him up on his offer to night box with him. I'm not sure if you would be seen again.)

--- On Mon, 6/22/09, Mwverra@aol.com wrote:

From: Mwverra@aol.com
Subject: Re: [LbNA] Re: PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, June 22, 2009, 1:43 PM

















Hey Wanda,



I've been blessed to cross your path two times in my New England letteroboxing career.? Both times you were so gracious to stop what you were doing and spend quality time with me or me and my children.? I thank you for yout dedication to the letterboxing community... love and happy hiking and finding to you and Pete.....GlobeBear



-----Original Message-----

From: wandaandpete

To: letterbox-usa@ yahoogroups. com

Sent: Mon, Jun 22, 2009 8:29 am

Subject: [LbNA] Re: PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)



> Congratulations!

>

> While I'm not into this hobby/game for the counts I can certainly understand those that like that aspect of Letterboxing.

>

> Interesting how Letterboxing caters to so many different ways to play!

>



Oh, it's so interesting to see all the different personality types involved in this hobby, too: the sweet, the gracious, the jealous, the pugnacious! Oh, how many different revealing types of responses one can get just from sharing one's joy about one particularly hot and happy day... or whole bunches of them...it just makes me chuckle thinking about it!!! Oh, did I forget to say that my recent VA 100+ box day was also a gathering day, which I just happened to decide to attend at the very last moment because I knew I wasn't going to be able to get back far enough north in time to go looking for a "mapsurfer box" or some such thing with Lightnin' Bug and Pink Panther in PA that day, as originally planned? And, oh, did I fail, as usual, to mention that I was the first, and at some perhaps the only finder that day, of many of the boxes I found in that lovely big park around the lake, so I didn't have to take time to stop and read every entry the way I
usually like to do? And, oh, did I neglect to say that many of those boxes had hitchhikers in them (like those old "evil ones"), and, that going by those old "mapsurfer guidelines" (although not by the more recent AQ separation of categories), hitchikers actually count as finds? And, oh, did I not add that I could have found even more boxes that day had I continued on to the "official night boxing" over at the farm, but I opted instead to do my own version of nightboxing just so that I could find every single box that was then in the park, plus a few outside the park as well, which really did take me quite a few hours in the dark! Oh, I could go on and on, but it's just too funny thinking that some folks could get themselves so worked up trying to figure out how many minutes it took me to find each box that they missed the whole point - that I was just grateful for being able to do what I did that day, and that I simply had a blast!!! (as I do on most
every letterbox day, however big or small!) My quip about "o-races&quo t; was meant merely as a joke for Randy to cons



ider the possibility that, despite my own personal feelings of inadequacy about my current state of "decrepitude" (which I, of course, expected him to share - I know, "low self esteem"!), there might somehow be someone in orienteering I could actually still be faster than! I know next to nothing about "o-racing", nor have I any interest in it (other than if a signpost were to help me find a letterbox!:- ), so it never even occurred to me that Randy could possibly take my quip as a personal challenge to Himself! O, how things can get misinterpreted! And, oh, the "male ego"! (this is just another light-hearted jab at Randy, in case he can't tell! :-), but it really does seem to me that he just has a case of "sour grapes" because, with all the other terrific boxes now available in beautiful places all around the country, we just no longer have much vested interest in going looking for particular boxes as we did when they were practically the "only act in
town" (although I do have to admit we were a bit intrigued by the recent piquant travel tales of a certain investigator! ;)



Anyway, I really do think that some people take themselves far too seriously sometimes, myself included. Just as my backpacking days meant so much to me because I was recovering from a fractured spine and it just astounded me that I could do it at all, and therefore made a point of counting every backpacking mile, so, too, now with letterboxing I stay focused on counting my finds because it just means so much to me that I can still keep myself going that way sometimes in spite of the bouts of fibromyalgia, PTSD, and other problems. However, it should go without saying that if it were just about the numbers and that I didn't really still love so many aspects of this hobby, I would have quit long ago! And as much as I love the idea that letterboxing, like backpacking, is essentially a private noncompetitive undertaking ( that's actually why I chose them both!), and I basically boycott those activities (road rallies, geocaching contests and such) that
encourage "racing" (other than simply to stretch toward reaching one's own personal goals), I suppose it would be just as naive of anyone to maintain that letterboxing has no experience levels as it would be to insist that there is no distinction between "weekend warriors", " thru-hikers" , "radical repeaters" and "triple crowners" in the backpacking world. (And the thought of Randy "pulling" a woman off the AT is, of course, absolutely terrifying! :-)



Anyway, we set up our PFX clubs to acknowledge the hard work most people do to reach particular letterboxing levels, once again sort of following "mapsurfer guidelines", suggesting that we set the next rung - (after F500, for which Randy even initiated a special box!) - at F2500 - "to give others the chance to catch up"! (Yup, it's in the archives! hmm..sounds a bit more "competitive- oriented" than"acknowledgemen t-oriented" to us, Randy!:- ) Anyway, quite a few folks wanted an intermediary step of F1000 to gauge their progress, so we gladly complied, and we're happy to see that the system has worked quite well. Of course, some of the newer folks may prefer those AQ "Halls of Fame", which don't, as far as I know, give dates for any sort of historical context. In any case, though, some people nowadays could do 500 local "drive-bys" (yes, it's imperative to focus on that verbal aspect!;-) and still get the same "credit" as someone doing big hikes all
around the country, but who cares? Whatever a person wants to get out of the hobby is up to that individual, and I don't feel like I'm boasting if I want to share my joy about getting such a lot out of this hobby in so many different ways and accomplishing something that just a few years back I wouldn't have even thought possible! I guess I can understand how that might be upsetting, though, to some folks with even lower self esteem than I have, but that's more of a reflection on them than on me, and perhaps includes those who think that only they should be allowed to brag about what boxes they've found or that only what they have to say matters, those who desire instant gratification without putting in the time and effort of working their way up the ladder, and those seemingly inherently so full of themselves and their own superiority that they refuse to acknowledge that any ladder even exists because they are already simply the "best"! These are the
folks I personally have th e most trouble with, the narcissists, whereas, I happen to be at the other end of the spectr



um, always thinking that no matter how much I do, it's never going to be good enough to please that "witch of an inner critic", and that I'll never find enough boxes to gain acceptance from the "letterboxing demons"! So now I just have to say thanks again, not only to the planters who keep me striving to at least try to be that "good enough letterboxer" , who could finally find enough boxes to appease those horrible demons (probably never happen!), but especially to those folks with such high self esteem that they could actually "ego-afford" to be happy for me and congratulate me rather than just trying to find ways to shut me up or put me down! Oh, you wonderful, wonderful people - you'll probably never know just how much that has meant to me! Now maybe I actually can take a little break and rest in peace, at least for a little while....Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!

Love,



Wanda



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]































[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Wanda, you're obviously totally involved in letterboxing and are ecstatic
about your ever-growing PFX count. And I'm very happy that you're happy.
Being *proud* of counts.........that's a horse of a different color.
Jealous? That seems a strange emotion in letterboxing. I guess I just
don't see anything serious enough about letterboxing counts to be jealous of
them. But that's just me. I think it's fantastic that you've got ample
time to be able to do what you so obviously love doing. Other people have
either other responsibilities or other loves that preclude being able to
spend all their chips at one table.

I guess I just dunno if people actually do "hard work" to reach a particular
letterboxing level or whether they just have more time available to do it.
A matter of responsibilities and priorities. I'm sure that someday I'll
reach 25,000. But I'll be long dead by that time. I'm happy with my
somewhere-around-600. It's what we've had time to do and what we had fun
doing when we did them. And it's also what, with the price of gasoline,
we've been able to *afford* to do. But, for me at least, I've never equated
pride with anything to do with my count. I would be proud if my carving
skills were better, yes indeed I would. I'd be proud if I could come up
with clues like the mapsurfer clues, yes indeed I would.

I guess I just don't understand what counts per se have to do with
self-esteem and feeling like a "good enough letterboxer." But nobody has
ever put me down for not having high enough counts. Your post kinda sounds
to me as if you *have* been put down at one time or another for low counts.
That's just how it sounds to *me*.

The thing that worries me about your pace is emulation. I'm sure you're
totally responsible towards the boxes you're finding. But, in this neck of
the woods, too many boxes turn up missing, and in my opinion, it's often
because people are just moving too fast and get careless and sloppy. It just
kinda worries me that not-so-careful folks might try to emulate you and put
boxes in danger. Which I guess is their responsibility, not yours.

~~ Mosey ~~

-----Original Message-----
From: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of wandaandpete
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 7:30 AM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Re: PFX 25,000!!! (and more!)

Oh, it's so interesting to see all the different personality types involved
in this hobby, too: the sweet, the gracious, the jealous, the pugnacious!
Oh, how many different revealing types of responses one can get just from
sharing one's joy about one particularly hot and happy day... or whole
bunches of them...it just makes me chuckle thinking about it!!! Oh, did I
forget to say that my recent VA 100+ box day was also a gathering day, which
I just happened to decide to attend at the very last moment because I knew I
wasn't going to be able to get back far enough north in time to go looking
for a "mapsurfer box" or some such thing with Lightnin' Bug and Pink Panther
in PA that day, as originally planned? And, oh, did I fail, as usual, to
mention that I was the first, and at some perhaps the only finder that day,
of many of the boxes I found in that lovely big park around the lake, so I
didn't have to take time to stop and read every entry the way I usually like
to do? And, oh, did I neglect to say that many of those boxes had
hitchhikers in them (like those old "evil ones"), and, that going by those
old "mapsurfer guidelines" (although not by the more recent AQ separation of
categories), hitchikers actually count as finds? And, oh, did I not add that
I could have found even more boxes that day had I continued on to the
"official night boxing" over at the farm, but I opted instead to do my own
version of nightboxing just so that I could find every single box that was
then in the park, plus a few outside the park as well, which really did take
me quite a few hours in the dark! Oh, I could go on and on, but it's just
too funny thinking that some folks could get themselves so worked up trying
to figure out how many minutes it took me to find each box that they missed
the whole point - that I was just grateful for being able to do what I did
that day, and that I simply had a blast!!! (as I do on most every letterbox
day, however big or small!) My quip about "o-races" was meant merely as a
joke for Randy to consider the possibility that, despite my own personal
feelings of inadequacy about my current state of "decrepitude" (which I, of
course, expected him to share - I know, "low self esteem"!), there might
somehow be someone in orienteering I could actually still be faster than! I
know next to nothing about "o-racing", nor have I any interest in it (other
than if a signpost were to help me find a letterbox!:-), so it never even
occurred to me that Randy could possibly take my quip as a personal
challenge to Himself! O, how things can get misinterpreted! And, oh, the
"male ego"! (this is just another light-hearted jab at Randy, in case he
can't tell! :-), but it really does seem to me that he just has a case of
"sour grapes" because, with all the other terrific boxes now available in
beautiful places all around the country, we just no longer have much vested
interest in going looking for particular boxes as we did when they were
practically the "only act in town" (although I do have to admit we were a
bit intrigued by the recent piquant travel tales of a certain
investigator!;)

Anyway, I really do think that some people take themselves far too seriously
sometimes, myself included. Just as my backpacking days meant so much to me
because I was recovering from a fractured spine and it just astounded me
that I could do it at all, and therefore made a point of counting every
backpacking mile, so, too, now with letterboxing I stay focused on counting
my finds because it just means so much to me that I can still keep myself
going that way sometimes in spite of the bouts of fibromyalgia, PTSD, and
other problems. However, it should go without saying that if it were just
about the numbers and that I didn't really still love so many aspects of
this hobby, I would have quit long ago! And as much as I love the idea that
letterboxing, like backpacking, is essentially a private noncompetitive
undertaking ( that's actually why I chose them both!), and I basically
boycott those activities (road rallies, geocaching contests and such) that
encourage "racing" (other than simply to stretch toward reaching one's own
personal goals), I suppose it would be just as naive of anyone to maintain
that letterboxing has no experience levels as it would be to insist that
there is no distinction between "weekend warriors", " thru-hikers", "radical
repeaters" and "triple crowners" in the backpacking world. (And the thought
of Randy "pulling" a woman off the AT is, of course, absolutely terrifying!
:-)

Anyway, we set up our PFX clubs to acknowledge the hard work most people do
to reach particular letterboxing levels, once again sort of following
"mapsurfer guidelines", suggesting that we set the next rung - (after F500,
for which Randy even initiated a special box!) - at F2500 - "to give others
the chance to catch up"! (Yup, it's in the archives! hmm..sounds a bit more
"competitive-oriented" than"acknowledgement-oriented" to us, Randy!:- )
Anyway, quite a few folks wanted an intermediary step of F1000 to gauge
their progress, so we gladly complied, and we're happy to see that the
system has worked quite well. Of course, some of the newer folks may prefer
those AQ "Halls of Fame", which don't, as far as I know, give dates for any
sort of historical context. In any case, though, some people nowadays could
do 500 local "drive-bys" (yes, it's imperative to focus on that verbal
aspect!;-) and still get the same "credit" as someone doing big hikes all
around the country, but who cares? Whatever a person wants to get out of
the hobby is up to that individual, and I don't feel like I'm boasting if I
want to share my joy about getting such a lot out of this hobby in so many
different ways and accomplishing something that just a few years back I
wouldn't have even thought possible! I guess I can understand how that might
be upsetting, though, to some folks with even lower self esteem than I have,
but that's more of a reflection on them than on me, and perhaps includes
those who think that only they should be allowed to brag about what boxes
they've found or that only what they have to say matters, those who desire
instant gratification without putting in the time and effort of working
their way up the ladder, and those seemingly inherently so full of
themselves and their own superiority that they refuse to acknowledge that
any ladder even exists because they are already simply the "best"! These are
the folks I personally have the most trouble with, the narcissists, whereas,
I happen to be at the other end of the spectrum, always thinking that no
matter how much I do, it's never going to be good enough to please that
"witch of an inner critic", and that I'll never find enough boxes to gain
acceptance from the "letterboxing demons"! So now I just have to say thanks
again, not only to the planters who keep me striving to at least try to be
that "good enough letterboxer", who could finally find enough boxes to
appease those horrible demons (probably never happen!), but especially to
those folks with such high self esteem that they could actually "ego-afford"
to be happy for me and congratulate me rather than just trying to find ways
to shut me up or put me down! Oh, you wonderful, wonderful people - you'll
probably never know just how much that has meant to me! Now maybe I
actually can take a little break and rest in peace, at least for a little
while....Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!
Love,

Wanda





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