Showing posts with label rest area. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rest area. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2024

2021-07: The Final Week of Our 5300 Mile Road Trip from Texas to Indiana to Florida and Back to Texas

In todays edition of the AwayWeGo's Adventures Blog, we're winding down these last few days of our 5300 mile road trip to purchase our motorhome. These last 2300 miles went by much faster than we would have gone in the past. Driving the big RV we stuck to the Interstates for the most part. I gotta learn how to route plan better so that we can still do some sightseeing and geocaching. We did stop to see a few things on some overnight stops. So climb onboard the big Eagle Bus and let's go for a ride...



After leaving the Cummins shop in Cincinnati, Ohio on Wednesday we jumped on I-75 and headed south. About an hour later getting through the Cincinnati traffic, I pulled into the I-75/I-71 Rest Area in Kentucky to park for the night. Thursday we drove nearly 400 miles into North Georgia and stayed the night in the I-75 Southbound Rest Area near Resaca, GA.

Friday is here and on the way down to Florida, I did stop at a rest area about halfway near Sycamore, GA to stretch my legs and grab a geocache (GC89X9V). We ended the day at a Cracker Barrel in St Augustine, FL along I-95. While there we had dinner with Candy's mother and brother.

On Saturday we drove down to Umatilla, Florida, where my mother lives, and stayed there two nights at the Olde Mill Stream RV Resort. This gave me a chance to spend time with my mother as well as see my two sons down in Orlando on Sunday. But alas it's never long enough time as we had to get back to Texas and back to work. I did manage to grab a geocache (GC46KYD) there in Umatilla before taking off.

Monday morning we said our goodbye's and drove 382 miles up to Troy, Alabama. We boondocked for the night in a Walmart parking lot. I did have some daylight left and drove over to the Bicentennial Park to grab a geocache (GC1C6D5) for Pike County and take these next few photos.









From there I drove the GeoJeep over to Crenshaw County. I stopped at the crossroads of US-331 and CR-50 at what seems to be an old abandoned gas station / country store. Nothing to buy anymore but I did find the geocache for the county (GC55ZNK).





Continuing north on US-331, there was another geocache stop that caught my interest. It had some recent DNF's so I didn't even bother looking for it. But I did want to stop for the photo opp. It was another Veterans Memorial (GC2W9EC) and I took the photo of the GeoJeep underneath the F-16 fighter jet you see at the top of this page. With more DNF's to follow the geocache was eventually archived, but I still added the GC link so you can find this memorial park.

And finally just one more quick geocache (GC5M26B) stop at a fireworks stand on the way back to the RV.

We noticed that the refrigerator had stopped working so I went into Walmart and bought a cooler and some ice. Most of our food went into it. Now I have to figure out where and when I can find a place to get it checked out.

Tuesday morning we left Troy, Alabama driving north on US-231 into Montgomery. There we turned west onto US-80. Arriving in Selma, Alabama, I stopped at a small Sunoco truck stop to fuel up. Not being very busy, we decided a good place to stop for a few while I took the GeoJeep to pickup some breakfast at Hardee's. This also gave me a chance to grab a geocache for Crenshaw County (GC5PYDF).

Continuing westbound on US-80, we eventually picked up I-20 westbound at the Mississippi state line. I eventually stopped again at a rest area in Scott County to stretch my legs and grab a geocache (GC7JVWB). With just over 500 miles of driving for the day, we finally made it to the Texas Welcome Center on I-20 and parked it for the night. I got out to stretch my legs and grabbed another geocache (GC6Z4ZB).

On Wednesday we arrived in Killeen, Texas where my Candy's daughter lives. It was the house my wife lived in for a few years before she started traveling with me. If you've been reading my blogs for a while, you might remember most of my blog posts were about the long drive on Sunday back from Killeen to a jobsite somewhere in Texas.

Candy's granddaughter is now home after her three week road trip with us around the country. And we are able to gather much of our clothes, dishes, and other items we still had stored there and load them into the motorhome. Now our new home-on-wheels feels more like our home.

I did find an RV repair place nearby in Harker Heights to finally get our refrigerator checked out. We boondocked in the parking lot of the old shopping center which they occupied the end of. While waiting, I did drive over to the Pleasant Hill Cemetery and grab a geocache (GC6G1Y5). It is one of the oldest cemeteries in Bell County and dates back to 1855.

Lone Star RV Service eventually was able to check out the refrigerator on Friday. Turned out to be a bad motherboard. Surprisingly there was a recall on it twenty years ago and it had never been completed on that unit. So it would be fixed for FREE! The downside was that it had to be ordered and take a few weeks. But they did show me how to temporarily get it working using a magnet to reset it.

After a few days of boondocking, we needed to dump the tanks and get fresh water. And being late in the afternoon, we decided to wait until morning to get back on the road. So we found an RV park over in Kempner.

Thirty minutes later and about a mile away from the Rocky River RV Resort, the engine temperature gauge on the dash starts to climb and the warning buzzer goes off just as I'm pulling in the entrance. I park in front of the office and steam is coming out the back of the motorhome and the Jeep is covered in engine coolant. The guy from the RV park and myself is looking it over but the Cummins diesel engine is just covered in coolant. He calls a diesel mechanic he knows and the guy is able to come first thing in the morning to check it out. I let it cool down a bit, do our check in, and drive over to our spot for the night.

The mechanic drove over from Waco Saturday morning and was able to diagnose that a freeze plug was leaking on the side of the head. He pulled out the bad plug and drove into town. A couple of auto parts stores later, he was only able to find one of those temporary rubber expandable plugs to install. But it works and that's what matters.

We stayed one more night there in Kempner. Sunday morning came and we finally got back on the road. We headed up I-35 northbound through Dallas and arrived in Bonham, Texas just in time to be back to work on Monday.

Three weeks and over 5300 miles later, this road trip adventure comes to an end. Here's a recap and links to the blog pages if you missed any of it:


To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Friday, December 30, 2022

2021-03-28: Visiting Presidents Lincoln and Reagan in Illinois on Day 6 of Turning a 1400 Mile Road Trip into a 3404 Mile Adventure!

Welcome back friends, family, RV'ers, Geocachers, Jeepers, and fellow travelers of the open roads. In this edition of our AwayWeGo Adventures blog, we pick up where we left off yesterday at the state line entering Illinois from Indiana. We spent the whole day in Illinois as we grabbed new geocaching counties and picked up some Presidents Lincoln and Reagan historical sites. And a really cool college ghost campus along the way! There's no debate about it, we've got lots to show you. So join us as we do some sightseeing along Illinois backroads...



So yesterdays blog focused on the General Lew Wallace Study / Museum and the Ben-Hur story. We did continue on and cross the state line that afternoon, but I wanted to hold those geocaching stops into todays Illinois post.

A geocache needed in Vermillion County was our next stop. Driving westbound on I-74 past Danville, is the Salt Kettle Rest Area. While many may stop for a much needed break at the rest area, few realize that there is a pioneer cemetery (GC35GC9) just a short hike along a trail to the east.

Edward M. Wilson was born 1785 in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1802 at age 17. He served in the Battle of North Point, in Baltimore, MD, which occurred on Sept. 12, 1812 and the following 2 days, the Battle of Baltimore at Fort Henry occurred. During this battle and bombardment on Fort Henry, Francis Scott Key penned the words to The Star-Spangled Banner. In 1832, Edward migrated west, married Caroline Searl on June 29, 1835 (she was born Feb. 23, 1811 in Mass.) and she died April 14, 1867 and is buried next to him here in Searl Cemetery. Edward died Sept. 4, 1840 age 55. Edward bought property in Vermilion County in 1832 and before he died, he amassed quite a bit of property which included this family cemetery.



Moving west along I-74 into Champaign County, the was another cemetery right near the exit. That made for a quick geocaching find for the county (GC2739Z).

Passing through the northeast corner of Piatt County, there was a quick park and grab geocache (GC6CA0A) right at the exit that allowed us to continue moving and putting miles behind us. And the same thing just a few miles further in DeWitt County (GC3X0ZC). I already had McLean County from my truck driving days back in 2008, so we turned north on I-39 in Bloomington to Woodford County. There we grabbed a quick roadside cemetery cache near the small town of El Paso (GC971CA), didn't know there was an El Paso in Illinois.

Continuing north into Marshall County, there was an earthcache (GC1BRDJ) I decided to stop for. An earthcache is a geocache without a traditional container and logsheet. To get credit for the cache, you are to observe something geological there and answer the specified questions within the description on the cache page. At this location in the middle of vast farmland is this huge boulder sitting where it's difficult to find even the smallest of rocks. Supposedly this was carried down to this location on ancient glaciers and left here when they melted.


Making good time and now up in LaSalle County, we stopped for a quick geocache (GC473T0), some fuel, and some food. Then a quick geocache (GC17KM8) stop at the Willow Creek Northbound Rest Area.

Then we took the Lincoln Highway east over into DeKalb County for two cemetery geocaches (GC7PRVY, GC8D9GA).


Back to I-39 northbound, we stopped for a quick roadside geocache (GC39RYA) near the exit in Ogle County. But it was missing and we had to DNF it. So I looked up another nearby cemetery geocache (GC4GVX3) that was a little further out and found that one to get credit for the county.

So that finished up Day 5 from yesterday. Today we began in Rockford, IL. Now the original plan for our extended roadtrip going from North Carolina to Texas via the LONGWAY across the northern states, had us jumping up into Wisconsin and Minnesota also. But this morning we were met with an artic blast of temps in the low 30's and an expected high of only 45 degrees! And that was for Rockford. Why would we even want to go further north?? Change of plans...

After some coffee and breakfast, we grabbed a quick parking lot geocache (GC28T0P) for Winnebago County.

Because of the artic blast, I head west on I-90 instead of north. The next stop was a geocache (GC5WQ5A) in Stephenson County. It was outside the old Lincoln School building. The front of the building says Lincoln School. On one side above the door it says Boys Entrance. On the other side it says Girls Entrance. I don't think it's a school anymore. Other than that, an hour of searching the web and I can't find any history on the building.


A few blocks away was the historical Debate Square. In 1858, the Democratic Party was the majority party in Illinois and Douglas was by far the most popular member of this party. Lincoln was not well known because his party, the newly formed Republicans, were still trying to create an organization. As a result, Lincoln had trouble drawing crowds as he canvassed the state in his bid to unseat Douglas.

Finally Lincoln suggested to Douglas that the two of them share their platform and divide their speaking time. Douglas had nothing to gain by agreeing with Lincoln, but loving a good political brawl, Douglas agreed to Lincoln's proposal.

Photo Bomb!

Seven debates were scheduled in each of the congressional districts in which the two had not already appeared in close proximity. Ottawa, Illinois was the location of the first debate on August 21, 1858. On this square in Freeport was the second debate on August 27, 1858.

On the corner of the Stephenson County Courthouse Square is this Civil War Memorial honoring those citizens of this county who gave their lives during the war.



One more county in the northwest corner of the state and we take the very backroads to get to the nearest two geocaches. The first was along a heavily wooded area on the north side of the Ward's Grove Nature Preserve (GC302PR). The geocache was hidden by the rock wall in the back near the shallow cave-like openings. As thick as this looks now, I'm just glad spring hadn't sprung yet and the whole area covered in foliage!



The second geocache (GC8PA44) in this county was further down a rural country road to view a tree carving on the lawn of a farm house. This is a carving of Chief Black Hawk, between this site and the Black Hawk Monument at Kellogg’s Grove is where the skirmish of 1832 took place. Makataimeshekiakiak (“Black Sparrow Hawk”) was known to European-Americans as Black Hawk. Born around 1767 in the village of Saukenuk, he grew up very anti-American supporting the British during the war of 1812. Commonly referred to as “Chief,” he has no official position in his tribe. He did, possess, however, natural leadership skills that caused many warriors to follow him.



Working our way south now towards warmer weather, the next county on the list is Carroll County. I have three geocaches selected here and the first two are in the town of Mount Carroll. The Shimer College Campus (GC8FXG4, GC5FGN9) was originally founded as the Mount Carroll Seminary in 1852 by Francis Shimer. It grew from just 11 students in one room to over 100 students in four main classroom buildings. And it was primarily an all girls school ranging in ages as young as 3 to college students. There were some boys that had attended over the years, but they were only allowed to be day students not living on campus.



In 1896, the school partnered with the University of Chicago and the Baptist Church and became the Francis Shimer Academy. Over the years there were many changes as the college struggled financially and admissions rose and fell. In 1950 the name was changed the Shimer College and it became coeducational school once again. The highest number of students was in the 1960's with just over 500 attending classes. Disagreements with the older more conservative faculty and the younger faculty and students of the late 1960's led to a third of the students and some faculty leaving. Several bankruptcies and school closers later, the yearly student enrollments fell below 100 and around 50 most of the time. In 1979 the school board decided to move classes to the town of Waukegan, Illinois.



During the 1980's, a group of Mount Carroll residents organized the Restoration College Association which later became the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies to prevent the campus from being broken up. As I walked around this campus, the more than a dozen buildings appeared to be abandoned. I kept thinking to myself that these would be cool to own, restore and turn them into something useful. Well that is currently the intent. It is now call Shimer Square and more than $30 Million will be invested over the coming years to convert building to housing, business, and community amenities. You can read about the future plans and progress here.

OK, back to geocaching. From there we drove over to State Road 84 which follows along the banks of the Mississippi River, stopping for a quick cemetery cache in the town of Ayers (GC8C16J).



Continuing south into Whiteside County and the town of Fulton, we stopped at Calvary Hill Cemetery for our next geocache (GC39WDR). Resting atop the hill overlooking the great river is a historical headstone of presidential significance. Buried in this cemetery are President Ronald Reagan's paternal Irish ancestors. His great-grandparents, Michael and Catherine Mulcahey Reagan, emigrated in 1856 and after Michael's 1884 burial in Calvary Hill Cemetery, Catherine and three children moved to Fulton. One son, John, married Jennie Cusick. Both died in their thirties and left four orphans. One of those was Jack, whom became the father of the future president. A total of 16 Reagan relatives are buried here.


From there we drove over to the town of Tampico. The geocache (GC90AHG) happen to be missing at the time of our visit so we did have to log a DNF. But we did find some more presidential history. From the historical marker: "On February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in an upstairs apartment at 111 South Main Street. His father, John "Jack" Reagan, of Irish-Catholic ancestry, was a clerk in the H.C. Pitney Store also on Main Street, and gave Ronald the nickname "Dutch." His mother, Nelle Wilson Reagan, was of Scots-English background."



"The small town atmosphere of Tampico played an important role in Reagan's formative years. As a child he played on a cannon in the park. Both of Reagan's parents were known for their acting ability in productions at Burden's Opera House on Main Street. Ronald Reagan became a sports announcer, a well-known movie star, served as Governor of California from 1967-1975, and then President of the United States from 1981-1989. He died in 2004 and is buried at the Regan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California."



Unfortunately the Reagan Birthplace Museum was closed while we were here and we didn't get a chance to take the tour.

Now back over to the banks of the Mississippi River, we entered Rock Island County and the town of Rapids City. There we made a quick roadside geocache (GC33PJR) find for the county.

Being so close, we took the I-80 bridge across the river into Iowa to check off a bucket list item. The American Pickers is a popular TV show and they happened to be based right there Le Claire, Iowa, just outside of Davenport. There's also a geocache hidden there too (GC3MYET)! Well, we found the geocache but arrived just as two girls were locking the doors to leave. I didn't recognize either from the show, so no autographs.




Jumping onto I-74 eastbound, which in reality goes straight south through three counties, we stop at the rest area in Henry County for another quick geocaching find to claim the county (GC2BVRR).

Our jump over into Iowa for the cache at the Antique Archeologists put us back on track with our original planned route if we had gone up into Wisconsin, Minnesota and then down into Iowa. We would have then crossed back into Illinois to where we are now.

That's it for a long day today. Join us again next time for Day 7 as we continue finding more President Lincoln history and make our way over to the Historic Route 66.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditParlorTwitterRVillageGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

2018-01-21: Geocaching Counties in South Texas

Hello and welcome back to my Geocaching Adventures blog. If you've been following regularly, you may recall that my wife had flown out to Philadelphia on a business trip. So It's just me for the weekend and I decided to go chasing counties in South Texas. Originally from Florida, I completed finding a Geocache in every Florida County several years ago. We were working on Georgia and had passed the halfway mark when we moved out here to Texas. So been working on the 254 Texas counties since November 2015. Well as a goal anyway. I already had some finds in Texas since my very FIRST Geocache was in Texas while on vacation way back in 2006. Then picked up a few more during my truck driving days from 2007-2010.

So far I've got most of the state covered with a few scattered here and there. But this weekend I'm hoping to finish up the southern tip in the Rio Grand Valley of Texas. So having charted a course already and had my bags packed, after work on Friday I hit the road to the south.

My first stop wasn't for a new county but for a virtual geocache called "Davy Who?" (GCE612). Located in Ozona, Texas, which is the county seat for Crockett County, was this statue of Davy Crockett (1786-1836, died at the Alamo) whom it was named for. Formed from the Bexar Territory, the county was created on January 22, 1875. After several reconfigurations, on March 15, 1887 it was reduced to its current size and finally organized on July 7, 1891. I also stopped for another geocache at a native plant interpretative trail called "What's the Interpretation?" (GC5EVXE).




After grabbing a bite to eat, I continued my driving down to Three Rivers, Texas where I found a hotel in my first caching county on the list, Live Oak. But for now it's late, it's dark, and after working all day and driving another 372 miles 6 hours after that, I'm tired!

Saturday morning first thing, I drive over to the Three Rivers Cemetery (GC4GE3G) for my first cache in Live Oak County. The community was first named Hamiltonburg when Annie T. Hamilton paid the San Antonio, Uvalde, and Gulf Railroad to build a depot there on her land in 1913. Since mail for the town was often mistakenly sent to Hamilton, TX, the local residences asked for a name change. Charles R. Tips, who'd be called a realtor today, suggested naming the town for the location near the rivers. Three Rivers was approved by the Post Office department on May 1st, 1914.


From there I headed west on TX-72 into McMullen County to the town of Tilden. Boot Hill Cemetery (GC26GM0), one of the only two authentic cemeteries of its kind in the southwest, was named Boothill because so many of those who were interred there died violently, "with their boots on." Many of the early graves were those of people killed in accidents, murdered, died of cholera during the cholera epidemic in 1869, but some were known to have died of natural causes.

The cemetery was established sometime after Frio Rio came into existence in 1858. Frio Rio has gone through several name changes; Dogtown, Colfax and finally Tilden when it was established the county seat in 1877. The cemetery is located behind the bank 1/2 a block north of the courthouse plaza on highway 72 and 1/2 block east of State Highway 16. Tilden was on the caravan route between San Antonio, Dogtown, Fort Ewell, Laredo and Mexico. Some time during the Civil War a stage route was also added and saloons began to spring up in Dogtown. These all brought many undesirable characters to the town as well as men who were on the run from the law that used the surrounding area and brush to hide. Some of these undesirables provided quite a few occupants for Boothill.

In 1877 Boot Hill Cemetery was abandoned in favor of the present Hill Top Cemetery. Hill Top Cemetery was originally called Graveyard Hill and many early setters as well as several generations of their descendants have been buried in Hill Top. Hill Top Cemetery still serves the community today. Boot Hill Cemetery was neglected for more than half a century. During this time the "old timers past away, the markers deteriorated, fell down, became lost and more and more of the Boothill lore and history went with them. In 1955 when the Cenizo Garden Club was organized they began at once to clean up and restore the cemetery. They cleaned the plots, cleared out the brush, and located as many graves as possible. The grounds were enclosed by a low border of native stone and the Boothill Cemetery Sign with a large boot made of masonry mounted on a huge slab of a petrified palm stump was added to the cemetery grounds. They were also instrumental in obtaining a Historical Marker, which stands at the entrance of the cemetery.

Some of those buried here are: Dick Gosset killed in Ft Ewell gunfight Feb 1869; E. M. Crain a Confederate veteran and one of 4 cholera victims of 1869; John Smithwick murdered 1870; Jim ? assassinated in from door of Old Rock Store (2nd photo below) in 1872; Unknown killed in gun battle while standing in front of Old Rock Store 1873; Unknown killed unintentionally by Clabe Young while playing a prank; S. Glenn Greer thrown from a horse 1874; Unknown Negro drowned in the Nueces in 1875; Unknown murderer of James Minter, presumed to have been a Dalton Gang member; Lige Harrison Jr killed at age 17 in a hunting accident 1876; Samuel Wm. McCreery murdered at his sheep ranch 1877; Pemanio Palacios and Phelix Wheeler (infant) both died of natural causes.



Going south on Hwy 16, I arrive in Duval County and the town of Freer, Texas. To claim the county, I grab the geocache in Hahl Cemetery (GC21AYW) and see the most unusual headstone / marker. This person must have been a bird lover.



One more cache before leaving town at the Rattlesnake Roundup (GC4XR84) to see the world's largest rattlesnake. The Freer Rattlesnake Roundup attracts more than 35,000 visitors who gather at the Freer Cactus Corral for the biggest party in Texas celebrating the area's most popular resident. Don't worry about getting the photo opp, this one don't bite!


Next up down in Hebbronville and Jim Hogg County was a quick roadside cache called "RJ's txrancher Cache" (GC367D8).

Staying on TX-16 into Zapata County were my next two quick roadside caches: "Zapata County Helper TX-16 #1, #2" (GC3N21V, GC3N24W). A few miles down the road was a small community called Escobas and there was a cemetery and a few old long abandoned houses. There wasn't a cache there but I had to check it out anyway. 

Settled by Mexican ranchers as early as the mid-1700s, it later became part of the colony of Nuevo Santander. Settlement began in the late 1800s and by 1897 the area was populated enough to support a school of thirty students. The town had been known as Laguna de Escobas but when oil was discovered, it was renamed Escobas. The Texaco oil company provided a primary school (to 5th grade) and a post office was opened. Escobas had a single business in operation in 1940 and a population of just 25. The population remained at that level through the 1990's. In recent years it has declined to only 10 residents.



Once in the town of Zapata, I stopped by the cemetery for another geocache (GC6786A). Settlements began in the area in the 1750's. Soon after 1767, the first settlement on the north bank of the Rio Grand River was established here and called Habitación. The name was changed to Carrizo sometime later, after a local Indian group that lived in huts made of cane. Then in 1858 the named was changed to Bellville in honor of Governor Peter Hansborough Bell, who signed the bill officially making Zapata County separate from Webb and Starr Counties. Finally in 1898, the town name was permanently changed to Zapata, in honor of Col. Antonio Zapata, a local rancher who became one of the leaders of the federalist movement and founded the Republic of the Rio Grande back in 1839.

The population of Zapata made a sudden jump in 1913 during the Mexican Revolution when many residents of Guerrero fled across the river. The townsite relocated to higher ground at its present location when the Falcon Dam and Reservoir was created, putting the original townsite under water. Below is a photo of the 1901 Zapata Courthouse from 1939 which now sits submerged under water.

photo from TexasEscapes.com
Moving on down to the south along US-83, I enter Starr County and my next cache called "Roma: Bluffs, Landmark, Rio, Ford" (GC4ZD6Z). It is an earthcache on the Roma Bluffs, a high point along the banks of the Rio Grande River. Also a great bird watching spot, in more recent years a good viewing spot for border patrol agents. Roma and Los Saenz are two adjoining settlements that have incorporated jointly. And they sit directly across the river from Ciudad Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Corrales de Saenz was founded in the 1760's by local ranchers. Later the area became known as Buena Vista and the Garcia Ranch. It is also possible that what came to be known as Roma-Los Saenz and Ciudad Miguel Alemán were originally part of the same city, San Pedro de Roma, Tamaulipas. In 1848, when it became a part of the United States, the name was changed to Roma, suggested by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who founded a mission there in the mid-1850s.

Roma is regarded as one of the best remaining Spanish colonial townsites in the lower Rio Grande Valley. In 1971 it was designated as a Historic District and many of the buildings are adorned with the Texas Historical Markers.



Before I could leave Roma and continue my quest to pickup new counties, I passed by one of several cemeteries. They did not contain a cache but it was still hard to pass up. I've noticed that the Hispanic cemeteries are more colorful and festive. Most gravesites have large headstones and/or statues. Like this next photo for example. This sitting angle was "life-size" for a woman. I've not seen an angelic being before so I'm not sure how tall they really are. But if this statue was standing, she would have been 6 or 7 feet tall.


One more quick cache behind the Chili's restaurant called "Red and Hot" (GC67R7V), just in case my answers for the earthcache were incorrect, so I could get a Starr County find.

Getting late in the afternoon now, I'm trying not to spend much time now enjoying the sites but focusing on getting the counties. A quick "Shop Til You Drop" (GC5M5ZG) geocache in a parking lot got me Hidalgo County.

Going north on US-281, with a quick drive east towards Raymondville over the Willacy County line gets me to a quick "Guardrail on West Side" geocache (GC5JTN6).

Then back into Hidalgo County on TX-186 towards US-281, I passed by and grabbed "Rio Grande Virtual Salt Cache" (GC40A0) and "La Noria Cardeneña" (GC4366). Both were old virtual geocaches from back in 2002. It's hard to pass up on the old virtual caches when you're so close.

I had to skip Brooks County as it was dark now and did not consider it easy nor safe getting the roadside caches along the highway.

I did stop at the "Royal Rest Stop" (GC17BDQ) geocache in Jim Wells County along US-281. That was my last cache for yesterday before heading back to the hotel in Three Rivers. A total of 445 miles, 12 hours, and 9 new counties.

Today is all about the drive back home to Monahans. Reaching the north-west side of San Antonio, I saw an exit with a Starbucks and decided to grab a coffee. Across the parking lot was a quick cache called "Whiskerfish" (GC5RX36), so of course I had to find it also.

Continuing westbound on I-10 for a little while is just what you need after drinking a large cup of coffee, a rest area! Plus there are THREE geocaches here as well for a bonus. "Poppy's Pit Stop" (GC10A6X) and "Rest Stop Nature Walk" (GC380JX) were traditional caches. The nature walk gave cachers a nice birds eye view of the highway. There was also an earthcache located at the rest area. "Plateaus, Mesas, or Buttes" (GC77VYH) gave you a lesson on the types of hills you are able to see from the parking area. (not in photo below)


Making it back to Ozona, Texas, I stop again to find a couple of the remaining caches that I didn't get on Friday. One of them was called "Well Water" (GCZ7DQ) by a historical marker. The other was "A Look 2 The Past" (GC1ZTZV) located at the cemetery.

Another rest area further west on I-10 and another quick cache called "Republic of Texas" (GC2KF2Q).

I exit I-10 in Bakersfield going north on Hwy 11, through Girvin and almost to Imperial getting closer to home. I stop for "Shine Bright Like a Diamond" (GC7H4GB) geocache which was a sneaky little hide out in the middle of nowhere.

One final stop for the "Butterfield Overland Stage Line" (GC7H6EY) historical marker: One of the longest stage routes ever established, the Southern Overland Mail Line (Butterfield Route) which provided semi-weekly service from St Louis to San Francisco, 1858-1861. Followed substantially the route of this highway (Hwy 18) through Ward County.

Several miles later and I finally made it back home in Monahans. Add 430 miles today for a total of 1247 miles on this weekends adventure. I hope you enjoyed the ride while I did all the driving. Until next time...

Monday, December 2, 2019

2018-01-14: Geocaching Through Cemeteries, Scenic Views, and Texas History

Before we get started, let me just say that I've created a Facebook page to help you stay up to date with my blog posts. So if you're on Facebook, be sure to like it so that you'll be notified when I post an update at: https://www.facebook.com/AwayWeGoUS

This morning we drove down from Killeen to Austin, Texas where I dropped off Candy again at the airport. This time she had a business trip to Philadelphia to train some directors up there. So just me and the GeoDogs for two weeks.




Making the drive back from Austin to Monahans, I head west on US-290 to just before Johnson City, Texas. My first stop was at Miller Creek Cemetery (GCRYZK) for my first geocache in Blanco County. From the historical marker: "Born in Tennessee in 1836, Thomas C. Felps came to Texas in 1856. He earned a living by freighting and joined the Blanco County Rangers during the Civil War. In 1863 he married Eliza V. White (b. 1846), a native of Ohio. In the summer of 1869, the couple lived with Eliza's parents while Thomas recovered from a fever. Her father, newly-appointed County Judge S. T. White, had gone to Blanco on July 21, 1869, when Thomas and Eliza were killed by a band of Indians on Cypress Creek. Only Eliza was scalped. The couples orphaned children, Thomas and Caroline, were cared for by Eliza's parents. (1975)"


Next I dropped south down to Bandera County and a very rural geocache along a lonely highway (GC79FB5). Before leaving the county, I made another stop in the Saint Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery (GC3NZ9P). The site, on a bend of the Medina River, had been occupied by Indians, then by white campers making shingles. The founders formed a partnership in 1853 to build a town and water powered lumber mill. The town and county were named for nearby Bandera Pass. Immigrant workers from Upper Silesia from the Polish colony in Karnes County were recruited. These workers arrived in 1855, and each family received purchase rights for a plot of land.

Population of settlers increased with the arrival of the cavalry at Camp Verde in 1856. After the Civil War the town boomed as a staging area for cattle drives up the Great Western Trail. Construction of a courthouse began in 1890. Looking through the dates on the cemetery, the oldest marked headstones go back to the 1860's. But there are many unknowns as well. The statue below is from one of the many graves.


Another cemetery further to the west and my next cache was the Vanderpool Cemetery (GC5EJYM). Originally called Bugscuffle, settlements began in the 1850's but disappeared in the 1860's because of Comanche Raids. Things began to pick up again and a post office opened for three years from 1886 - 1889. Re-opening in 1902, the name was changed to Vanderpool after the first postmaster L. B. Vanderpool. The town never really took off and the population stayed small over the years.


Just over the line into Real County was my next roadside cache called "A Million Miles" (GC2HWKM). I think I spent more time enjoying the views and taking pictures than it did finding the cache!



Slowly continuing westbound and still in Real County, I stopped by the Leaky Cemetery and another Geocache (GC6BV5R). This cemetery was originally known as the Floral Cemetery and served an earlier community by that name. The cemetery dates to at least 1881 when land for the cemetery was sold by John and Nancy Leakey for one dollar and a cemetery plot.

The oldest documented burials here are those of Sara Catherine McLaurin (b 1849) and fifteen-year old Allen Lease who were killed on April 19, 1881 in the last Indian raid in the Frio canyon area. There are over 900 documented burials here as well as a number of unmarked graves. Those interred in the Leakey Cemetery include pioneers, children, elected officials of Real and Edwards counties, community leader, and veterans. The founder of the town, John Leakey and hes wife Nancy are both buried here.

The next two photos were taken at the Leaky Cemetery. The first is one of the many statues. The second is the grave marker for Lucinda Smith Cope which I found to be an interesting story.



I say this often, but I love Geocaching because of the places it takes you that otherwise you'll never get to see. I mean if I wasn't Geocaching, driving from Austin to Monahans is only 375 miles and about 6 hours. Taking the backroads and siteseeing, I'm already at 4 hours and barely halfway. However, If I had taken the I-10 route, I wouldn't have discovered roadside attractions like these. This farmer / rancher takes their old equipment and sets it out in a field under a banner of "Rust N Peace" (GC3KNN5). The total size is probably 3-times the size as what you see in the photo and includes a few old trucks. But I wanted to get the sign in clearly for you to see.


Driving up Hwy 55, I get to my next quick county geocache called "On the way to Granch" (GC2F18G) for a find in Edwards County. And it gave me a nice photo:


Up in the NW part of the county at the intersection of Hwy 55 & Hwy 277 there's a roadside picnic area (GC1QP0N). Before the Interstate Rest Area/Plaza's with full facilities, many highways just had a safe pull off area with picnic tables. This one was slightly fancier with a round shallow pool and water fountain. Why have such a thing way out in the middle of nowhere? I guess for some cool relief during those hot Texas summers when not many cars had air conditioning. Though now it doesn't look like it has seen any water in a very long time except during a rain shower. Regrettably, I forgot to take any photos. But if you click on the GC# link, you can view the photo gallery there.

My last stop for the day was another one of these roadside picnic areas. But this time is was one of my own Geocache hides called "Because They ALL Should Have One - Dino Tracks" (GC6HYCZ). I've only hidden a couple of caches at these picnic areas and I give them the name "Because They ALL Should Have One" because I was once a truck driver. And I was also a Geocacher during that time. And I had to pass up a whole lot of caches because it's kinda hard to park a big truck pulling a 53' trailer at a roadside cemetery and many others. Of the caches I listed just in this blog, I could probably only have found just the previous picnic cache as a trucker. Maybe the "Million Miles" cache IF I already knew about the little pull off area in advance. More than likely though I would have just stuck to the Interstates.

At this particular picnic area there are also a couple of dinosaur tracks out behind it, so it makes for an even better reason to stop. This cache also went missing as indicated by previous cachers, so I stopped by to replace it. After a few photos of the road home after the sunset, I drive the last hour back to Monahans, Texas. That 375 mile, 6 hour drive turned into a 480 mile, 10 hour Geocaching Adventure. But I think it was worth it!