2016-01-10: Geocaching Around Lubbock Texas

Because it was so cold yesterday, today we decided to stay local and do some urban Geocaching around Lubbock. Our first stop was to see the Buddy Holly Center and Museum. It was closed this early, but we did get to see the giant glasses (a virtual cache GC6E04) and the memorial statue (GC640VA). Buddy Holly's hometown was Lubbock, Texas and they certainly pay tribute to him.

Not too far away over at the Eastlawn Memorial Gardens, is another virtual Geocache (GCC1AB) at Buddy Holley's gravesite next to his parents. There'a another Geocache here (GC1KJJV) highlighting the supposedly haunted aspect of this cemetery. This cemetery is one of the largest in Texas with over 60,000 graves and was established back in 1892.

Also while in the cemetery and with all the snow on the trees, Candy couldn't help it but to go over to one of the trees and shake all the snow off the branches! By selecting one of the taller branches, that also meant it comes down on her head too.

Exiting the backside of the cemetery brought us out to the Canyon Lakes Park. Within the city limits of Lubbock is the Yellow House Canyon, a narrow and shallow channel. The city created a series of small dams that created a series of narrow lakes. And Canyon Lakes Park was created. There's also a series of eight Geocaches around the lake as well. And of course we can't just leave them without looking first!

From there, we drove over to the campus of Texas Tech. Since it was Christmas Break, there weren't many students still here which made Geocaching a little easier. Though most of the ones we looked for, we could not find. We did see some very nice statues.

So that was it for today. We did learn a lot about the local history. Now time to go back to the apartment and thaw out again.

2016-01-09: Geocaching Through the Snow and the Cold

OK, so the high temperature for the day is only in the 30's, there's still plenty of snow on the ground, and what are we to do but go Geocaching! There are new places to explore, new counties to get, and more caches to find.

So we start off by going east on US-82 and our first stop was the Ralls Cemetery for a cache (GC2WF1M). The cemetery was blanketed in snow, but we were determined to get to it. Having all the snow made for a very picturesque visit as well. We didn't go checking out different headstones, but they did have this huge monument of The Lord's Prayer near the cache site.

From Ralls, we continued west towards Crosbyton and then northbound on Hwy 651. Next stop was the cache at Lakeview Cemetery (GC5MA3G), followed by the cache at Forest Lawn Cemetery (GC5MCGX). The road going up through here leads into the canyon and with the recent snow makes for a good photo.

We made our way on up to US-62, west to Floydada and then back south to Ralls again. Along the way we picked up four more Geocaches, but it was just too cold and we headed back home. We got to explore a little bit of the area and pick up a new county. Hopefully it will warm up soon.

2016-01-03: Moving Day! Geocaching From Jasper to Lubbock Texas

Today was moving day! Our time here in Jasper is over and it was time to move on to the next location. Candy's next job assignment is across the state over in Lubbock, TX. Even though we're staying within the same state, Texas is a BIG state! So we got an early start this morning, heading out about 6:30 am.

We drove our usual weekend route up US-69 to Lufkin, stopping at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then Starbucks for coffee. From there we continued north up to Jacksonville. Hey, we're back in Florida! No not really... we passed through Jacksonville, TEXAS. There, we turned onto US-175.

A few more miles up the road, we came to our first Geocaching stop in the town of Poyner. Located in Henderson County, another new Geocaching county for us. The Poyner Cemetery cache (GC1N6A2) was a quick find and once again we were on our way.

Continuing even further and our next new county needed was another cemetery cache. Located in Van Zandt County Texas, was the Cedar Creek Cemetery. There were two Geocaches in this cemetery (GC4FBJA & GC1986Y) and we found them both.

We finally reached I-20 in South Dallas and headed westbound. Our next county needed was Parker County, just west of Fort Worth. It was a quick park and grab cache (GC633FF) at the gate of a closed church right off the interstate.

Next stop was some history in the ghost town of Thurber, TX. The reason we like Geocaching is this virtual cache (GCB72B) reminding us to exit the highway and step back in time. Thurber was a once thriving coal mining community from the 1800's and once the largest city between Fort Worth and El Paso. The four photos below are the original smokestack from the former power plant, an old office building, the remains of the Thurber Mining office, and that of the old fire house. In it's heyday, Thurber had a population of 10,000. The town was officially dissolved in the 1940's and today's unofficial population is 5 people.

Another quick Geocache on the outskirts of Abilene for a find in Taylor County and a few miles later at a rest area in Nolan County. After passing through Sweetwater, we turned onto US-84 northbound. We passed by this huge windmill farm and pulled off onto the shoulder of the road for a photo opp.

Finally arriving in Lubbock after almost 600 miles and about 10 hours later, we see LOTS of snow on the ground. It seems as though they had a blizzard pass through here about a week earlier. We'll be in a hotel here for a couple of days until they get an apartment ready. Thanks for riding along and we'll soon go exploring and Geocaching around West Texas.

2015-12-28: Geocaching Through a Few More Cemeteries

Today I'm going Geocaching on my own. Candy is working and we'll be leaving the area this weekend headed to West Texas. There's a few more cemeteries that we haven't found yet and I wanted to get a few.

So I head north on US-96 up to San Augustine. From there I turn west on the historic El Camino Real, otherwise known as Texas Hwy 21. A few miles down the road I get to my first cache called "Turn Here!" And so after a quick find, I turned here. Back around and the direction of home.

The next stop is the long forgotten Woolen Cemetery (GCW9WC) and next Geocache. The sad and overgrown cemetery dates back to the late 1890's and early 1900's. Probably the only people that come out to the cemeteries to remember those laid to rest are Geocachers.

Next stop along the highway was the cache at the Saunders Cemetery (GCPF6Z). Still in use today, this cemetery has a few headstones dating back to the 1800's with the oldest at 1875.

The last cemetery today was the Thomas Cemetery (GCNNVT). In 1822, North Carolina native Benjamin Thomas, then in Alabama, read and advertisement calling for families to settle Stephen F. Austin's colony in Texas. Between himself as head of his family, his wife Mary Ann "Polly" (Dickinson), eleven children and seven slaves, he qualified for more than 3,000 acres. The family reached Natchitoches, Louisiana in Feb 1822 and stayed there until July waiting for Austin to escrort them to their new home.

However, Austin never came, so the family continued their journey along El Camino Real and founded the Thomas settlement in San Augustine County. Other early settlers included the Davis, Teel, Horn, Price, King, Brooks, Fitzgerald, Polk, Bate and Mathews families.

The Thomas Cemetery comprises two acres in the James W. Moss survey, near where the Thomas Plantation home stood.Benjamin Thomas died in 1834 and Mary died in 1840. Their graves and many others are believed to be marked by native fieldstones. The oldest dated grave is for Sarah Moore Fitzgerald (1795-1840).

The last geocaching stop was for the Historic Hwy 21 roadside picnic area build in the mid-1930's.

That was it for my quick Geocaching drive for today. Thanks for riding along.

2015-12-26: Geocaching and Following Yesterdays Route

So today we decided to go back up to Lufkin again and again for another Starbucks. This time we found a few more local urban caches around town as well. After three local caches, we continued following yesterdays route up towards Nacogdoches. This time Geocaching up in the north side of town and this old silo.

Several more caches later and driving down this backroad, we passed by the foundation of where a house used to be. The only thing that remains was this chimney!

Another place of interest, was this park in Timpson, TX. There were four caches here, but I really liked the grounds here with the old rock wall.

We ended the day with 24 Geocaching finds and a couple of new counties as well.