A Fury of Letterboxing Before a Graceful Exit

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift - that's why we call it the "present." 

Eleanor Roosevelt

This quote was a favoirte of Hi Desert and was on her profile page on Atlas Quest.

 On April 3, 2012 the Santa Fe and New Mexico letterboxing community lost one of our own. Hi Desert with all her enthusiasm for life and letterboxing passed gracefully from this world but not before making a big impression on all of us here in New Mexico. During her short letterboxing stint (about two years) she embraced the hobby with more gusto than I have ever seen. She planted 23 boxes in New Mexico, Texas and Colorado and she found 296 boxes in New Mexico, Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Colorado, Georgia, South Carolina, California, North Carolina, Michigan and Italy. I know she met many letterboxers along the way and I am sure each has a great story about the meeting. I have a couple of stories myself.

Hi Desert (Jane Gaziano)

One of those was when she was in Savannah with her family and was having trouble finding a letterbox that I had found a short time before. She called Astro D to asked if she thought I might be able to help her. So Astro D called me and gave me Hi Desert's phone number and I called her to see if I could help. Now this box wasn't a mystery box or anything - there was just a little problem with the step count (well really the length). Hi Desert was a vertically challenged letterboxer and her steps took her no where near the letterbox. I told her what I had to do to find the box and in no time she had found it. I can't tell you how appreciative she was. She went on and on about me taking the time to call her and help out when I didn't think it was any big deal.

The other is of our one and only meeting. We met for lunch with Astro D and rubberpeace at Mucho's here in Santa Fe. Her enthusiam about this hobby was infectious and her energy (in the face of her health issues) was inspiring. She embarrassed me a little because she gushed about my boxes she had found and how much she enjoyed finding them and then she got up and came around the table and gave me a big hug. Thinking about it now makes my eyes water.

Here are some links related to Hi Desert.

Meeting Hi Desert
Another Dam Letterbox
Hi Desert AQ Profile Page
Hi Desert AQ Tribute Page
AQ New Mexico Board Thread from Astro D
AQ New Mexico Board Thread from Wronghat
New Mexican Obituary
Berardinelli Obituary
Berardinelli Tribute Wall