Oh, gosh, you're right! The date shown is Apr 30, 1989. Great little typo, that should have read 1998. It was karma I think that we finally got up to Vermont to replace this box on Apr 30, 2090 :)

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, Randy Hall wrote:
> Without wading into this morass, I will point out that the date listed
> on LbNA is horribly wrong :)

Wow - we have a special story about Prayer Rock to share as well! Back when Erik Davis passed away over 6 years ago, we had tried to organize a little group to go up there to Prayer Rock in his memory. (see messages #29197/#29527,etc.) Back then, of course, there were so many fewer letterboxers, and even fewer willing to travel such long distances or even realizing the significance of making such a "pilgrimage" at that time, so only a small handful of us actually planned to gather together there that day - July 12th, 2003.

The amazing thing, however, was that when we arrived at Prayer Rock that afternoon, there was a woman seated with two children involved in what looked like cutting something at the picnic table. Turns out it was Erik's wife Susan, and their children Anna and Benjamin, carving what turned out to be a sort of "memento vitae-event stamp" that has remained for us something even more precious than the Prayer Rock stamp itself: a glowing heart-shaped sun setting between the mountains of Appalachian Gap, a road winding down the mountains with Vermont Viking's name on it, passing by Prayer Rock to his life dates below, between a swan for Susan and two moccasin flowers for their children, a very moving and symbolic letterboxing legacy indeed!

We were also pleased to meet, at that very same time there at Prayer Rock, the writer of that original 1998 Smithsonian article, "They Live and Breathe Letterboxing", generally considered responsible for getting things rolling letterbox-wise here on this side of the pond. We talked about some of the early boxes, Valley Quest (my own personal stumble onto "the hunt"!), and Susan herself mentioned a box in NC, which we didn't even know about yet at that time, as having supposedly been planted just a few days before the one at Prayer Rock. It wasn't until sometime later that "mapsurfer" actually gave us something of a "tongue-lashing" for promoting VT priority and for not knowing about the Max Patch box planted there first along the Appalachian Trail near Hot Springs, NC, and so we went along with the "squeaky wheel". However, as can be seen in our historical sketch for the "LA-LA" (Lifetime Achievement Letterboxing Award) from several years ago, we consider both those boxes - and many others - to be important and worthy of celebration, so I still like to call the way letterboxing developed in this country as starting out "on a wing and a prayer"!

And that's our Prayer Rock story - one we will certainly never forget either! Best wishes and fond memories,

Wanda & Pete

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "wandaandpete"
wrote:
. . . I still like to call the way letterboxing developed in this
country as starting out "on a wing and a prayer"!


Now that's a great thought!
(Imagine 50 years ago when small planes took off and landed atop Max
patch.)
http://www.summitpost.org/list/174869/appalachian-trail-mountains.html

sewsewbizzy



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