2017-07-04: Driving Back to West Texas Day 1: Florida, Georgia, and Alabama

So today's the day to hit the road and drive back to West Texas. And of course this won't be a boring I-10 forever non-stop westbound trip. No way. I just can't take a road trip without Geocaching and sightseeing. Plus there's another opportunity to pickup some new Geo-Counties! So I'll be taking the scenic byways of US-84.

I woke up just after 5 AM, gathered my things and quickly hit the road. From Umatilla, Florida heading north on SR-19 through the Ocala National Forest, west on SR-40 and over to I-75 northbound to Georgia. First on my Geocaching county list was Echols County, Georgia.

Non-stop express driving all the way up to US-129 in Jasper, FL, taking that exit to head directly north into Echols County. Now when most people travel they book a flight because it's all about the destination. I prefer to drive because it's more about the journey. The destination will be there all the same, but on a journey there's much more to discover. While passing through Jasper, I spotted this old forgotten rusty Jeep sitting out behind this business among other piles of scrap metal objects. Something about the sadness in the way it looked caused me to slow and make a u-turn for a photo capturing that moment and emotion.

Crossing the border into Georgia and Echols County, there were three caches along the route and I needed to find at least one to achieve the "Found County" status.  The first cache (GC4CJNF) on my list was located at the Echold County Museum and Statenville's oldest house. A combination of No Trespassing signs, fenced in property, and the neighbors outside getting ready for a July 4th BBQ, and I decided to skip this one and move on. It has since been archived.

Second on the list was "Down by the Riverside." (GC5Q27T) Just out on the west side of Statenville along the Alapaha River is a boat ramp and my next cache location. After spending about 10 minutes looking without any luck, I gave in and walked down by the riverside for some photos of the calm muddy waters. Two down, one to go.

The last cache along the way and my last hope for a find in the county was a Country Cache (GC5DBXA). Stopping along the road side, I quickly saw the spot that looked like it might have had a cache placed there but without a container. I continued looking around just in case, swatting away mosquitoes on this humid day, hoping that maybe I just overlooked it. But in the end I had to drive away without a smiley, leaving Echols County still unfound. Strike three, I'm outta there.

The next county was Lowndes County where I-75 runs through Valdosta. Having already cached here, I drove through to save some time. It was there in Valdosta where I picked up highway US-84 for my long journey westbound.

Brooks County was next in line where a quick stop at Quitman's Hangout cache (GC39155) gave me my first caching find and first new caching county for the day. Hopefully this would be the beginning of a caching streak!

Continuing west on US-84, I skipped through Thomas County having found a cache there on a previous road trip, I arrived into Grady County. Before I arrived at my next Geocache, I passed by this old small roadside cemetery and just had to pull over to explore. It was the Lester Poulk Braswell Pearce Cemetery. There are 60 interments there with many unknown graves that no longer have any readable markings on them. The oldest known grave is that of a Rev Mann Dutton who died in 1857 at the age of 61. I found an article that said as recent as 2001, this cemetery was so overground with weeds and vines that it took two hours just to walk through and find all the graves. Glad someone has cleaned it up.

A few miles down the road was another cemetery and my next county cache (GC26MCP). Dr. Joseph Griffin was a black physician. In 1935 he began practicing medicine in Bainbridge, Georgia. He built a 50 bed hospital and established the Southwestern Medical Society. In honor of south Georgia's first black physician, the Dr. Joseph H. Griffin Memorial Gardens was created in Grady County.

Another quick cache find in Decatur County (GC152M9) and I was off to the next one. A short detour to the north up into Miller County and a bridge cache (GC5RNRN). Just down from the bridge was this old church and another cemetery. The cemetery is still in use today. I did see this one dead tree that inspired a photo.

After the short detour, I made my way back south to US-84 and into Seminole County to find my next quick cache (GC5Y3A8).

For the last county in Georgia, it was off to picturesque Howard's Mill in Early County (GC27247). I couldn't find anything on the history of the mill. Though it appears to be used as a private home or for special events now.

Arriving in Alabama, the first two counties were Houston and Dale Counties. I had already found caches there so it was another chance to make up some time breezing through. Next on the list was Coffee County and the town of Enterprise, AL. By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and surprisingly this was the only town that was having a 4th of July celebration around the town square. There was a carnival setup in the square and it appeared that the whole town may have been in attendance.

I had three caches on my radar there. The first being a virtual cache (GCAC2D) located at a statue on Main Street as you enter the downtown area. I can't say much more about it because I'd be giving away some answers you need to claim the cache.

The second cache on my list was at the old train depot (GCT3MX) built in 1903. The first freight shipments and passengers came here on the Alabama Midland railroad in 1898 immediately after construction of the roadbed. That was also the year when most of the brick business buildings downtown were completed.

The one that caught my eye was the Rawls Hotel. This original two-story brick structure also built in 1903 by Japeth Rawls, developer of some of the earliest turpentine plants in Coffee County. This building was remodeled in 1928 and three-story wings added by Jesse P. Rawls, founder of the first electric power system in Enterprise. The Rawls Hotel was the center for business and social gatherings until its closing in the early 1970's.

My last cache to see in Enterprise was at the old jail (GC2FKAY). Unfortunately it was closer to the town square and busy with people coming and going for the festivities. And me being in a large U-Haul, I figured it be best to just pass on this one until next time in the area.

Covington County was the next to enter and my last cache of the day. It was just a quick and easy WalMart cache (GC24TFV).

I ended the day in Evergreen, AL after 431 miles of driving. Claiming some new counties for my Geocaching list, seeing some sights, and learning some history. Tomorrow is a new day. I hope to make it across and into Texas, but there's still 1300 miles to get all the way back. At least halfway would be good.

See you then.

2015-09-07: Labor Day Weekend Geocaching in Georgia

YAY! It's a long 3-day weekend for Labor Day. That calls for a Geocaching road trip! Hmmm... where to? One of our goals is to complete our Geocaching by county map. With Florida already completed, the next closest is Georgia. So a Georgia road trip is the order of the weekend. So we pack the bags, head up I-4 to I-95 north. When we arrive in Jacksonville, we exit onto US-23 up to US-301.

Our first stop is in Folkston, GA and Charlton County. We continued up US-301 north picking up caches within each new county. Reaching Statesboro, GA, we decided to call it a day. On day #1 of this weekend road trip, we picked up 9 caches.

Yesterday started out with a few VERY creative caches put out by one cacher down the same dirt road. Even though we already had the county, there are some you can't bypass. I won't explain them, but the next few photos are the caches. A couple of them took a little detective work figuring out how to get them open and finding the log sheet in order to sign it.

We stayed on US-301 all the way up towards the SC state line in order to get a cache at the Georgia Welcome Center. This is the OLDEST welcome center still in use in the country, opening in 1962!

After the Welcome Center, we did a u-turn back south to GA-25 west. Then following some rural back roads we found another creative cache using a gator head at McKinneys Pond and Mill Creek. On the property was also this old house about to fall into the creek.

A few more caches here and there picking up new counties, we made our way over to the town of Jackson. There along Lake Jackson and the Lloyd Shoals Dam was the "Cache Across America" for Georgia. It was a nice little hike through the woods. Even the GeoDog Max got in on the action here. From there we drove down to Macon and called it a day, having found 14 more caches and more counties.

This morning waking up in Macon, it was the last day for our weekend road trip. We had some more caches and more counties in the works before arriving at home back in Florida. We followed US-80 south down to GA-26 over to US-23 south. It was a great weekend. We found a total of 32 caches for the weekend and 20 new counties for Georgia. A lot of history, some hiking, and some unusual and creative caches. 

 

2015-06-28: Road Trip Day #9 The Last Leg Home

Well today was the last day of our summer road trip. Tomorrow we go back to work so we can rest from our vacation. We started out with a little more than 400 miles yet to go. There were still some Geocaching counties left along the way so we just grabbed some quick ones. None really worth mentioning except for this Veterans Memorial Monument in Dawson, Georgia.

WOW, what another GREAT summer road trip! We drove 3,496 miles through 7 states, 227 Geocaches, lots of photos, great memories, history, sights, and much more. We can't wait for the next one!

2015-06-20: Road Trip Day#1 Geocaching Georgia and Tennessee

YIPPEE! It's Vacation Time!! Time for another week long road trip! This year the destination is Mackinaw Island, Michigan. We left Orlando last night after work driving I-75 all the way to Valdosta, Georgia where we stayed the night.

This morning after breakfast, we continued up I-75 and stopped in Macon to start Geocaching. Macon, GA is in Bibb County which we needed to complete our Geocaching county map. While we're traveling, I try to find caches of interest in a county instead of just getting the first one we come across. This allows us to do some sightseeing too. A quick way to figure out caches of interest is to look for virtual caches. Macon had a LOT of virtual caches too!

The first was this statue on a bench of Jesse Mercer, the Baptist founder of Mercer University.

Not too far from there was the Rose Park Labyrinth. They say labyrinths are a way of finding yourself through meditation as you follow the path to the center. I don't know about. I have a GPS.

Next stop was the Holt House, built in 1853 by Judge Asa Holt. It's more commonly known as the cannon ball house because it was hit with a cannon ball during the civil war.

Then we went over to Gateway Park to find this statue of Otis Reading. It was a pretty cool place with benches facing the statue and speakers in the ground playing music.

From there we took a nice stroll along the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail along the Ocmulgee River front. It was a lot of fun! But by now it was getting just past noon and we were not getting very far. So we skipped the rest and jumped back on I-75 northbound.

We picked up a few more caches in new counties on the way up to this historical Confederate Cemetery located in Jonesboro, GA. There are several hundred unknown soldiers here.

The next historical site and virtual Geocache is located in Calhoun, GA. This Cherokee Indian Memorial was erected in honor of the Cherokee Nation in 1931 on the site of New Echota, the last Capital of the Cherokee Indians east of the Mississippi River. At the time, it was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as an independent community and was the only group of American Indians to adopt a Republican form of government based on a written constitution.

Crossing over into Tennessee, another historical virtual cache is another Confederate Cemetery. Less than a mile off of I-75 in Chattanooga, TN, an almost forgotten cemetery with many unknown soldiers buried.

Our next stop heading north was in Cleveland, TN. On October 18, 1871, Dr. Gideon Blackburn Thompson was taking his 7 year old granddaughter for a buggy ride when the horse got out of control and took the buggy into the path of a train. The Dr was thrown from the buggy and survived. However the little girl Nina had died. The entire town was saddened by the news and many came to the funeral. The girls father was a devout Episcopalian and because Cleveland Episcopalian's did not have a church building, he vowed to build one in Nina'a honor. Three years later the church was completed and dedicated on the anniversary of Nina's death. Not long after he had the mausoleum constructed behind the church and her body was laid to rest inside, which you see below.

By now it's getting late in the afternoon. We had dinner and found a hotel for the night. What a busy day! We ended with 20 virtual caches, 7 traditionals, and 1 web cam cache for a total of 28. We saw and learned a lot of history. What's in store for tomorrow? Come back and see.

2015-06-14: Another Weekend Road Trip to South Carolina

This weekend was another road trip up to South Carolina to pickup Candy's grandson at "South of the Border", to spend the summer with us. But we also had a couple of other activities yesterday to attend to before leaving which made for a busy weekend.

Heading out early yesterday morning over to Melbourne Beach, FL, Candy had an appointment there. While she was at her appointment, I decided to go Geocaching (of course) down this trail a few blocks south. Maritime Hammock was about a three mile loop trail and I managed to find two caches there.

After the hike, it was back to pickup Candy and quickly drive back to Orlando. There was the Geocaching event at the Greek Flame Taverna of which I was the host to attend to. However with this last minute trip up to South Carolina, we weren't going to able to stay long. I also made arrangements with cacher friends QQnonrev to be there for the start just in case we were late getting over from Melbourne Beach. Which was the case. We arrived late, greeted everyone, a quick lunch, and we were out the door early too heading northbound.

I knew it was going to be tight on time, however when making these trips you just have to make an occasional stop to break up the time. Plus now that we're trying to complete our Geocaching counties map, there were several along the way to get.

Our first stop was at the same exit for both Liberty and Mcintosh Counties. One stop, two caches and two counties! One more county stop in Georgia and another in South Carolina, we continued up to Dillion, SC and checked into the hotel for the night.

This morning Candy and I drove up to the next exit, at the famous "South of the Border" Mexican themed tourist trap on the border of North and South Carolina's. We managed to find two geocaches there before her grandson showed up with his father at the rendezvous location.

Heading south now back to Orlando, we stopped two more times in South Carolina to find ordinary caches in two new counties. The next stop however was a bit more interesting! A virtual Geocache called Area 51-SC, located in Bowman, SC. Not sure of the story behind this place, but it on the side of this house and I think the owner just went crazy with his utility shed building a UFO Welcome Center! The things you find while Geocaching!

On the way to another cache to pickup a new county, we were driving down this rural road and passed by this house with some really cool metal fabricated yard art. We just had to stop and take some pictures!

Another weekend and another road trip behind us. I guess this was a practice run for our summer vacation which begins next week. I hope you'll join us.