First of all, thanks to Carolyn and Heidi for another wonderful
Mansfield area letterboxing event, and to Chuck and Barbara for the
great photos! We've also been enjoying all the recent "wandaandpete
stories",guys! Just wanted to repeat for the newcomers, though, that
we really did not start out trying to get to boxes quickly in order
to BE FIRST, but rather in an attempt to stem that former wave
of "I'm first"/"1st Again!" type writings that used to appear in the
logbooks! We thought that if we just got to enough boxes to set a
good example by never writing about being first or beating someone
that eventually people would notice and the tide would gracefully
turn. We're so glad to see for the most part that has now happened!

Also, just to set the record straight (and for those folks who really
want to "beat wandaandpete"! :-) - there are actually LOADS of places
we haven't been to yet for letterboxing - like basically EVERYWHERE
between eastern PA and western WA! We had, in fact, been planning to
hit some of that heartland area this month on our way west to do our
annual summer volunteer trailbuilding work on the Continental Divide,
but now it seems that circumstances have once again conspired to deny
us that opportunity, so we'll just have to hope for next year!

Meanwhile, the new boxes that continue to pop up closer to home are
still keeping us hopping, plus we still haven't even had the time to
make it out to places like Cape Cod and Mt. Holyoke that are scarcely
2 hours drive away! So please be patient with us,folks - we really
have been trying to restrain ourselves from the nearer boxes and get
out to the further boxes, but sometimes it's just too hard! Also,
please understand that, try as I may to write mostly nice things,I am
still only human and bound to get tripped up once in a while,
especially with all the strange shoes I've had to wear over the years!

As for purple socks, I wear them whenever I can, but am still more
likely to wear red ones. In fact, one of the as yet unpublished
Valley Quests that I helped to place in Vermont last year contains
precisely that - my carved rendering of an old red sock! So please be
on the lookout for that whenever Steve can get property permission
and his George Knox clues out!

Finally, that 100 boxes in one day may still be a bit of a "Paul
Bunyon story", but it's beginning to look more and more likely that
it could soon be possible for someone! For example, with no prior
planning other than attending the gathering last Saturday afternoon,
and having already gotten most of the drive-bys and quickies aimed at
kids and families on a dozen previous trips to the Mansfield area,
Pete was still able to find 36 boxes in about 6 hours - half of them
after 5 PM! I'd already found some of them earlier, so my personal
record will probably always remain at the 27 I got one day last
August, but anyone willing to do a bit of pre-planning and who
hasn't already heavily hit the area previously could now very
possibly get 50 boxes or more in a single day! So how about it,Jay?
Wouldn't this just be the perfect way to finally get your F count up
higher than that phenomenal P count of yours? We'll even help plan
your letterboxing "triptik"! This strategy could also be a big boost
for anyone new interested in joining the PFX 500 Club, and we know
quite a few of you are getting close, so we hope you all continue to
have lots of fun with this great little hobby of ours!

Happy Hunting!
Wanda and Pete (PFX 1500+ and counting!)
P37 F1331 X178 ( and no V's in our F's!)