At 03:18 AM 9/4/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>Let me add my appreciation to Bill and Val and to Amy, especially for
>planting those boxes so close to my home! On Sunday afternoon, the Crew from
>Collinsville (the CT branch, not the IL branch!) - consisting of my friends
>David and Sarah, their kids Rebekah (a/k/a Tiki) and Josh (the Squash), and
>me - were the second group to lay claim to these letterboxes. As new as these
>boxes are, I just had that funny feeling that we wouldn't be the first ones
>to find them. Sure enough, I was right: when I saw that ESAK had stamped in
>right before us at each of the five letterboxes, I smiled and nodded
>knowingly. (Both ESAK and the Crew from Collinsville live one town away from
>Sessions Woods, but in opposite directions.) One benefit, however, of
>stamping in after ESAK was getting to see their brand new, personal
>letterboxing stamp; it is most attractive and very colorful! Definitely one
>of the nicest I've seen on the trails.

We had every intention of also seeking those boxes out on the very same
Sunday. My son was participating in a soccer tournament in Farmington all
weekend. His Sunday schedule had a game at noon, leaving us a few hours to
letterbox at nearby Sessions Woods. Alas, Matthew was too tired after his
game, and it went long anyway, so we decided against it. However, his team
won that game and qualified for the semi-finals on Monday morning. Sad to
say, they lost the Monday morning game, but it left us another chance at
Sessions Woods. This time we made it. We also found all 5 boxes and the
kids thoroughly enjoyed the Smokey the Bear box at the Summer House. It was
an active day for hikers too, so we had to wait around, being discreet,
especially at the Tower, where cars passed us on the way there! On the
trail! What a freak out that was. Turns out they were Scouts doing some
work on the Tower.

What a beautiful WMA too. We have several of them in eastern CT but none
I've been to were as well laid out as this one. We loved the Boardwalk,
although when the kids realized what the blind at the end of it was for,
they weren't too happy.

Thanks for the great series, Bill and Val, and Alan is right, the new stamp
for ESAK is cool.

Mark
of the 4-hearted Fittons