2016-10-01/02: Road Trip to Florida; Cowboys Stadium, Cemetery, History, and Duck Dynasty

ROAD TRIP! On today's blog I'll be covering a two day road trip from West Texas to Florida. We hit the road early on the Saturday morning of October 1st. Having 1430 miles to drive in 2 days, add in fuel and food stops, and of course some Geocaching too, we've got a lot of driving ahead of us!

After leaving Monahans around 6:00 AM, a couple of hours later, we pulled into a McDonald's in Sweetwater for some McMuffins. And of course there just happened to be a Geocache (GC38PN6) there too so we had to find it as well. Within a few minutes, we were on the road again. Finally in Abeline we spot a Starbucks near the I-20 exit so we grabbed a couple coffees and another quick Geocache (GCWC1E).

Those first two Geocaches were unplanned and just happened to be nearby when making other stops. Hey, you can't NOT look for them when you're so close right?

But we did have some caches planned. When we got into Ft Worth, TX, we merged over onto I-30 eastbound and into Arlington. There we stopped for our first scheduled virtual Geocache (GC90F2). It was a beautiful statue of three horses surrounded by water fountains at this shopping center. We got the required info needed to claim the find and a few photos with GeoDog Max.

On our way to the next planned virtual cache, we passed by the Dallas Cowboys Stadium as well as the Texas Rangers Field. Well we just had to get a photo there too and grab the cache (GC15RDP) across the street!

Around the corner about a block away was a nice park and another planned virtual cache stop (GC7029). From there we got a good view of Cowboys Stadium. There were also these large Caelum Moor Stones around the park and a multi-stage Geocache (GC30RJB), from which after gathering information from the stones, we were able to find the final stage. The five freestanding granite sculptures weighing a total of 540 tons will enhance the environmental landscape along Johnson Creek in Arlington’s Entertainment District.

The stone monuments range in height from 8 to 30 feet. The Latin name “Caelum” is derived from a constellation in the southern skies known as the sculptor’s tool or chisel. “Moor” refers to the windswept landscapes of Scotland. The celtic names of each of the five groupings reflect the ancestry of the sculptor’s patron. Caelum Moor was commissioned in 1984 by Jane Mathes Kelton, CEO of the Kelton Mathes Development Corporation and heir of the Scottish-American television magnate, Curtis Mathes. According to the sculptor, Kelton wanted the artwork to serve as a centerpiece for a proposed business park development along I-20, reminiscent of the ancient sites of Scotland and England and reflecting of her family’s heritage. From 1986 to 1997, Caelum Moor was located at the headwaters of Johnson Creek along Interstate 20. In 1997, the sculpture was donated to the City and stored to make way for commercial development. Caelum Moor was once listed on the Smithsonian Institution’s National Registry of Art in Public Places. They were relocated to this park in 2009.

Our main reason for stopping here was to get Tombstone (GC62), a multi-cache and the oldest Geocache in Texas! Hidden on September 26, 2000, this cache also fills another empty spot on my Jasmer calendar. It's had over 1500 finds since then. It's placed in Doug Russell Park and is three stages. The last two stages are near the location of the Berachah Home and Cemetery. We walked over to the first stage easy, got the info we needed for the final north coordinates. Then we walked over to stage two and got the needed info for the final west coordinates. That's where my problem began. After frustratingly searching for 30 minutes (Candy and GeoDog Max had long been back to the car with the a/c on) for the supposedly easy final stage, I finally decided to recheck my coordinates. Well the north coordinates didn't save correctly in my phone and therefore I was searching in the wrong place! Once I put the correct coordinates in and began searching the correct location, I found it within minutes. YAY!!

The Berachah Rescue Society was organized at Waco in 1894 by the Rev. J. T. Upchurch for the protection of homeless girls and unwed mothers. Nine years later he opened the Berachah Industrial Home at this site. Ten buildings were located here including a print shop for publication of the "Purity Journal." The cemetery which contains more than eighty graves, was first used in 1904 for the burial of Eunice Williams, one of the residents. The home closed in 1935, but the site was used until 1942 as an orphanage run by Upchurch's daughter Allie Mae and her husband Frank Wiese. Most of the graves here are marked without names or dates. Many more just have a first name and year died.

Finally back to I-20 heading east. We spent a couple of hours in the Arlington area and now we have to make up some time. So no more stops until we needed another gas stop in East Texas. And of course while the gas is pumping I checked my phone and there was a cache there too (GC4EE5P). A quick find and back on the road. It was soon getting dark and we drove over halfway into Louisiana.

As it turned out the hotel we stayed in was located in West Monroe, LA. And just around the corner was the Duck Commander Headquarters! The location of the Duck Dynasty TV show is filmed here. So before heading down the highway, we had to stop by for a few photos.

We didn't stop much on Sunday because we still had over 760 miles to go. But we stop just before the Mississippi River at Grant's Canal for another virtual Geocache (GCGDM2). During the summer of 1862, the Union's first attempt to bypass the Confederate Army at Vicksburg by digging a canal across DeSoto Peninsula failed. By January 1863, the Union had reoccupied the Louisiana shore opposite Vicksburg. Gen Ulysses S. Grant ordered work on the canal resumed. The canal was to be 60 feet wide, 1 1/2 miles long, and deep enough to float any vessel on the river. Ground was broken on January 30, black work gangs assisted by fatigue details from the Union Army began to work. Later, steam pumps and dredge boats were employed. To stop the work, the Confederates placed several big guns on the shore opposite the canal's exit but the work progressed. On March 7, the upper dam gave way, flooding the entire peninsula. Grant's Canal had failed. After gathering the information we needed to qualify for the cache find, we continued eastbound.

After about 3 1/2 hours later on US-98 in South Mississippi, it was time for a break to stretch our legs a bit. I looked up some caches ahead of us and found a cemetery just off the road with three caches (GC445DQ, GC445DV, GC445DP). 

There was a gas and food stop along the way, but nothing to write about. We arrived in St Augustine, FL about 9:30 PM. A long day of driving. Sleep was soon thereafter!

2016-09-11: What Does an American Hero, Old Cemeteries, and Tarzan Have in Common?

Welcome to our Geocaching Adventures blog. We hope you enjoy our stories and photos. So my question is: What does an American Hero, an Old Cemetery, and Tarzan have in common? Geocaching! Yes, if you are Geocaching in West Texas you'll discover all these things and more. Just follow along...

Today's adventure begins at a new memorial in Odessa, Texas honoring Chris Kyle. Since today is September 11th, we deiced to make our first cache find at this statue for an American Hero (GC6NMK1). Christopher Scott "Chris" Kyle (April 8, 1974 − February 2, 2013) was a United States Navy SEAL veteran and sniper. Kyle served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat. He was awarded one Silver Star Medal, four Bronze Star Medals with "V" devices, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and numerous other unit and personal awards. Kyle was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2009 and published his bestselling autobiography, American Sniper, in 2012. An eponymous film adaptation of Kyle's book, directed by Clint Eastwood, was released two years later. On February 2, 2013, Kyle was murdered by Eddie Ray Routh at a shooting range near Chalk Mountain, Texas. A former Marine with PTSD, Routh was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

After paying our respects, we drove on to the northeast of Midland/Odessa along the backroads to try and finish finding the rural Geocaches north of Big Spring. Our first stop was a small unincorporated community called Tarzan (GC6JCBJ). Tarzan is on State Highway 176 in central Martin County. J. B. McNerlin was the first settler in the area. In 1925 a two-room school was built, and soon after, Tant Lindsay built a store which, along with the school, formed the center of the community. In 1927 Lindsay submitted a list of possible town names to the post office department. Postal officials chose Tarzan and made Lindsay the first postmaster. Both Baptist and Church of Christ congregations met in the schoolhouse until they built their own buildings, the Baptists in 1937 and the Church of Christ after World War II. The first gin in Tarzan, built in 1932, burned just four years later.

The turning point for the town came around 1938, when it was learned that a highway was to be built from Big Spring to Andrews and would pass through Tarzan. J. T. Glaze promptly built a combination grocery and gas station. After World War II local farmers organized the Tarzan Marketing Association. The discovery of oil in Martin County in the 1950s led to the establishment of the Tarzan Hot Oil Company; oil production remains a major industry, and oil wells dot the surrounding area. Throughout the postwar years Tarzan has served as an entry point into Martin County for Mexican braceros, seasonal workers usually employed in the cotton fields. In 1976 the Tarzan gin became cooperatively owned. From 1980 through 2000 eighty people lived in Tarzan.

Going east on TX-176, we come to the Grady Independent School District and our next Geocache (GC1V4G7). The Grady Wildcats school serves the nearby surrounding communities in Martin County.

Continuing east and upon reaching Lenorah, we turned south on C3301 to find a lonely Lenorah Cemetery (GCRAKF). Former Martin County Sheriff Dan Saunders of 40 years, wrote a book entitled "Trails and Trials of a Small Town Sheriff". At the beginning of the book he told of his being raised near Lenorah. He told of helping his mother dress a child who had died and about the "Lenorah Cemetery" located south of Lenorah. In 1933, a young boy Raymond "Tommy" Hopper (age 7) and his baby sister Vita Mae Hopper (21 months) were buried there. Later a grown man was buried there but eventually was moved to another cemetery at Big Spring. Sitting in the middle of farmland, it is surrounded by a chain link fence with gate plus railroad cross ties at each corner to protect the fence.

The center of the cemetery! Weeds are 4-5 ft tall!

This next cemetery was probably the MOST neglected I've ever seen! Knott Cemetery (GC11A6B) was so overgrown I could barely get through to the center where the cache was hidden. The cemetery is on 5 acres of land which was originally deeded for a school. At some point a school was never built and began to be used for a cemetery. Once maintained by the surrounding farmers, it has since been overtaken by mesquite, weeds, and blowing sand from the farmland. My research has also found that it was segregated with Mexicans on the west side and Whites on the east. At this point it was so bad that in the little time I had to explore, I only spotted two headstones and a rebar cross for a third grave. Maybe sometime in the future I can setup a Geocaching CITO cleanup event.

Bench near the center of the cemetery.

Mary A Kirk died 1911

This headstone was the first I saw when entering near the edge.

Upon leaving the cemetery going down the dirt road, we encountered this rather large mudhole! Now most folks out here drive trucks and this wouldn't be much of an issue to go through or even up the embankment through the field as you can see some had. But we are in a Toyota Prius which isn't exactly made for off-roading. Though as some of you know I give it my best shot! Well I got out and walked down the left path and the dirt was compacted enough that I didn't think I would get stuck. The angles didn't seem to bad either going up and on the ditch at the far end. So with a slight bottoming out, we made it through without having to backtrack several miles! I still want a Jeep though...

Heading north on US-87 on the way to the next ghost town, we made a quick park and grab Geocache (GC39GT5) at a roadside picnic area. A few miles later and we arrived at an old building and the next cache (GCTGYK). W.P. Soash was a land developer from Iowa who contracted with C. C. Slaughter to develop and sell 300,000 acres of land owned by Slaughter for the purpose of developing a farming community. His ability to market and promote had interested buyers coming by train to Big Spring from the East Coast and the Midwest. He transported them from Big Spring to Soash in 18 new Buick's and put them up in the Lorna Hotel, which was named after his daughter. To further impress potential buyers, Soash erected a reinforced concrete building housing the Bank of Soash, a school building, and electrical generating plant and water works. He put out the money for potential buyers to attend a barbecue in his new town for July 4th, 1909. Over three thousand people attended. By the end of 1909, a post office was established along with the increasing flow of new settlers and all was looking good for W.P. Soash.

But the drought that began in 1909 and continued for three years made it difficult for crops to grow. And combine that with a promised railroad line which never materialized caused the town to begin to grumble and townspeople moving away. And when the Santa Fe Railroad finally laid down its tracks through Lamesa, 22 miles northwest, that pretty much put the nail in the coffin. Soash declared bankruptcy in 1912 and the unsold land went back to Slaughter. The post office closed in first in 1916, reopened again in the early part of 1917, but only for a few months. With another drought during the 1917-1918 months, the town officially died. Only the skeleton of the Bank of Soash remains standing.

Now from what I can gather from the historical information online and some others comments, there seems to be just two families that still live in the area. One of which was just across the street. While we were parked here, I went looking for the Geocache and Candy started taking pictures of the sunflowers alongside the road. When we got a visitor. One of the dogs from across the street came up to inspect what we were doing. This one didn't even bark. The other three little dogs who stayed behind about 300 feet by the house, couldn't stop barking. Fortunately we had some dog treats in the car and gave him a few. The others didn't get any.

Continuing our tour of VERY RURAL West Texas, we come to Vealmoor and our next Geocache (GC1JJXV). It is thought that the town started in 1880 when C.C. Slaughter (same Slaughter as in the Soash story above) established his ranch at German Springs to the east. In the early 1920's, Slaughter's sons Robert Lee Slaughter and Dick Slaughter, his daughter Minnie Slaughter Veal (the towns namesake), and developer William P. Soash founded the new town via their Lone Star Land Company. The town had a post office by 1926 and Mae Zant was postmaster. The 1947 population figure was a mere 20 people which peaked at 190 in the mid 1960's. The post office had closed by 1980 and the population remained at 179 - a figure that's been used ever since. The cemetery has graves dated back to 1936 up to the present day.

Our last Geocache for the day is at the Luther Cemetery (GC1JJXE). There isn't a whole lot of information on the town of Luther, TX. But it received a post office in 1909 which is usually the "official" beginning of a town. The town was giving it name by it's first postmaster, Luther F. Lawrence. Given the date and the fact that it was between Soash and Big Spring, I suspect that Luther was trying to take advantage of the influx of settlers headed to Soash. In the beginning however it didn't take off to well as it still only had a population of FIVE in the 1930's. Though slow and steady does it because official numbers has the current population around 330, whereas Soash has just two families. The post office closed in either 1972 or 1980 depending upon the source. Next to the cemetery was the Christ in the Fellowship Church. It looks like it had recently caught fire and was in the process of being demolished.

Our last stop wasn't a Geocache. But as we headed down into Big Spring to grab a bite to eat before the long drive back home we spotted this old house and had to stop for a closer look. The Joseph Potton home was built in 1901 as an investment by Mr. Potton and was leased until his retirement in 1912. Mr Potton was a Master Mechanic for the Texas & Pacific RR, an early civic leader and proud owner of the first car in Big Spring. Mrs Potton was active in St. Mary's Episcopal Guild and served tea in the English tradition every afternoon in her charming, ornate, quasi-mansion. The house was kept in the family after the Pottons' death as their daughter, Mrs. Henry Hayden and her family occupied the structure in later years. In recent years, the grandchildren have maintained it daily even though it was vacant. It was purchased with a grant from the Dora Roberts Foundation and the Tourist Development Council of the City of Big Spring in 1975.

That's it for today. We hope you have enjoyed another of our Geocaching Adventures and look forward to the next trip out.

2015-11-28: Geocaching Through History and the TX/LA Gulf Coast

For today's Geocaching adventure, we drove down to the most south east point along the Texas and Louisiana state lines. There were a couple of virtual geocaches we wanted to find. So we headed on out down US-69 towards our destination.

Upon arriving in Port Arthur, we saw an IHOP and decided to stop for some breakfast. As we were seated at our table, I opened the Geocaching app on my phone to see what was around.  Lo and behold there was a cache just 127 feet from our table! Right there in the parking lot! So of course that was our first cache find for the day.

After leaving IHOP, we drove on down to Sabine Pass Battleground State Park. This site is where Lt. Richard (Dick) Dowling and a single company of Confederate artillerymen stood their ground and defeated a Federal naval force that attempted to land troops here to begin the invasion of Texas. Though ordered to spike their cannons and abandon their posts by their commanders, Dowling and the mostly Irish cannoneers forced the surrender of the entire Federal force being quite surprised to be defeated by such a small group of determined men.

We walked around the park looking at all the monuments, statues, and plaques learning about the history of what had happened here those many years ago.  We gathered the information we needed to claim a find on the virtual cache as well as finding two other traditional caches there.

There was another virtual cache far down at the tip of Sabine Pass, but the road going down to it was full of pot holes. Some of those pot holes were pretty deep and I just wasn't comfortable trying to maneuver the GeoPrius all the way down. I managed to get within one mile, but decided not to go further. We'll have to return another day when we feel like walking down there.

But on the way down and back we saw many oil rig platforms along the Sabine Pass Channel, I assume being repaired for maintenance. These things are huge! Something else we Floridians don't ever get to see are these tall chimneys at the oil refineries with flames burning at the top. These are pretty cool to see at night too! We also caught sight of a huge oil tanker ship headed back out to sea. I assume that with the direction it was headed and riding high on the water, that it had already unloaded it cargo of crude oil. 

We then drove back north to Port Arthur picking up Hwy 82 to cross over the Channel over to the other side. Eventually crossing over into Louisiana, we continued to stay on Gulf Beach Highway until we got right along side the Gulf Coast. There we stopped and took a walk along the beach and gathered the required information to claim a find for an earthcache.

This was also a good chance to let our GeoDog Max out for a walk. Though I get the impression he wasn't too impressed with the whole idea. He has the expression on his face as if he was saying: "There's no trees, no bushes, no fire hydrants... it's just a giant litter box for cats! What am I supposed to do here?"

Starting to head north now to pick up I-10 and head back to Beaumont, we picked up a few more Geocaches along the way. But the mosquitoes were ferocious! We even passed up a hike here at the Creole Nature Trail because of them.  

It was another fun filled day with history, nature, seeing where oil and gasoline is made, and just spending time together. Where are we going tomorrow? Not sure. You'll just have to come back and see.

2015-11-15: Moving From Florida to Texas

Well this weekend was a big move and another road trip. We are picking up roots from Central Florida and moving them to Texas. Candy has accepted a new job as a Traveling Occupational Therapist and her first assignment is in East Texas. It was sad to be leaving all our family and friends behind, but it was time to begin a new chapter, opening new doors, and explore new areas of the country.

So we stuffed everything in our two cars and what didn't fit went into storage. Yesterday morning we started out up the road and stopping off in Winter Garden. My youngest son (18) will be coming out with us for a little while. So we dropped off my car with him to drive out, while Candy and I rode together. He wasn't ready just yet but did manage to catch up with us last night at the hotel in Lafayette, LA.

Yesterday we had only made one Geocaching stop, a virtual cache at a cemetery in Tallahassee, FL. It involved finding the gravesite for Paul Dirac, the English physicist who won a Nobel Prize for predicting the existence of antimatter.

Also, when we left Florida yesterday we had two long days of driving ahead of us and little time for stopping. The initial destination was Sweetwater, TX which was another 8 hours further west. But as yesterday progressed, some complications arose with the facility and the assignment was changed to Kirbyville in Southeast Texas. So this morning we only had several hours of driving to do which gave us more time to explore and go Geocaching.

This morning after checking out of the hotel, we found a Starbucks and a nearby cache. That also gave us a new county find in Louisiana! A couple miles down I-10, we found a Cracker Barrel for breakfast and another quick Geocache.

Continuing further west, we pulled off and stopped in Rayne, LA to grab a cemetery cache. Here's another great reason to go Geocaching! The initial interest in Rayne was for the cemetery cache. But one we started driving through town, we found out that Rayne was the Frog Capital of the World. And all around town were these dressed up frog statues. Here's a small sampling of the many frogs around we saw.

 

Oh, and let's not forget the cemetery which was the initial reason for stopping here in Rayne. It's the St. Joseph Cemetery and dates back to the mid-1800's.

A few more stops in Louisiana to pickup new counties and we arrived in Beaumont, TX. We checked into a hotel here even though Kirbyville was almost an hour north of us. But it is such a small town, there isn't a hotel there that accepts a small dog. Oh yeah, Max the GeoDog is coming with us too. So we'll be here in Beaumont until her company finds an apartment for us to stay in.