2021-08-11: Visiting Montana, Little Bighorn Battlefield, and Custer's Last Stand

Welcome back friends, RV'ers, Geocachers, Jeepers, and fellow travelers. When we last left you, we had just arrived to our next RV park in Bridger, Montana. The last time I was this far up in the northwest was way back in 2008 as a truck driver. While driving a big rig you don't get to see too much except out the windshield. This time we have the GeoJeep to get around and do some sightseeing. Today we start out at the historical Little Big Horn and Custer's Last Stand. So click and follow along as we tour these sacred grounds...

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument Park (GC6F9E) covers an area of about 765 acres. It consists of the Battle of Little Bighorn that took place on June 25th & 26th, 1876 where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Calvary fell against the combined Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapaho force. It also includes the Custer National Cemetery and the battlefield site of the Reno-Benteen skirmish, about 3 miles southeast, with the Cheyenne-Arapaho warriors.

Following the fall of Custer and the 7th Calvary, the 11th Infantry led by Captain George K Sanderson buried Custer and his men on the battlefield where they fell. He also constructed the first monument on the site. From his official report dated April 7th, 1879 he wrote:

    "I accordingly built a mound out of cord wood filled in the center with all the horse bones I could find on the field. In the center of the mound I dug a grave and interred all the human bones that could be found, in all, parts of four or five different bodies. This grave was then built up with wood for four feet above ground. The mound is ten feet square and about eleven feet high; is built on the highest point immediately in rear of where Gen'l Custer's body was found."

In July of 1881, Lieutenant Charles F Roe and the 2nd Calvary built the granite memorial which still stands today on top of Last Stand Hill. About 220 soldiers remains were reinterred around the base of the new memorial, but left the markers in place where they had fallen.

In 1890, the stakes which marked where the soldiers had fallen were replaced with the marble markers you see today. Starting in 1999, the first of many red granite markers for the Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapaho Warriors were set in place where they fell.

To make it easier to spot for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit each year, Custer's marker was given a black background. Custer's remains had been reinterred to West Point long ago back in 1877, as well as many of the other officers remains were moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas or cemeteries across the country as requested by their families.

Custer National Cemetery was first designated as a U.S. National Cemetery on January 29, 1979 to protect the soldiers graves buried there. In December of 1886 it was re-designated as the National Cemetery of Custer's Battlefield Reservation to include soldiers graves of other wars. Eventually the name was shortened to Custer National Cemetery. Buried soldiers of the 7th Calvary, whos remains were discovered on the battlefield after the 1881 memorial was built, were reinterred here and listed as unknown.

The remains from 25 other cemeteries were transferred to here when frontier forts closed at the end of the Indian Wars. The fallen from many famous battles, Fetterman, Wagon Box, Hayfield, Big Hole and Bear Paw, now rest here.

Until reaching capacity in 1978, this cemetery accepted reservations for veterans and their spouses. There are soldiers here who fought in the Indian Wars, Spanish American War, World Wars I & II, Korea, and Vietnam.

There's a great book written by James Donovan that I highly recommend. "A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn: The Last Great Battle of the American West" is a great book put together from survivor accounts, official reports, and battlefield evidence. We listen to a lot of audio books while traveling down the road and this was one of our favorites. After listening to the Park Ranger give a summarized play-by-play of the battle, the welcome center recommended this book. We listened to it over the next couple of days as we drove around Montana.

After our visit to the battlefield site, we decided to go out geocaching and pickup some new Montana counties. The first one was also in Big Horn County in the town of Hardin. It was a travel bug hotel cache (GC4F5XD) located near the office to an RV park.

On the way to our next geocache, we crossed over into Yellowstone County. Along the side of Highway 47 was this old farmhouse that I just had to pull over and get a photo.

The geocache (GCKNZ4) was near a boat access ramp along the Big Horn River at I-94 and Highway 47. The geocache is called Manual Lisa. A little history lesson from the cache description:

    "Manual Lisa was a Cuban native. He lived 1772-1820. He was called Nebr, first white settler. He came up the Missouri in 1807 to start a fur trading venture. He built the 1st Fort Lisa on the Big Horn River. This fort was also called Manual Fort or Fort Manual. Unfortunately, he had to abandon the fort due to pressure from the British and the Indians. He was married to Mary Hampstead Keeney of St. Louis and they traveled between St. Louis and the Bighorn. She assisted the Yellowstone Expedition which had established its headquarters near the Lisa Trading Post. Manual Lisa saw himself as an Indian benefactor not an exploiter. He wrote to William Clark in 1817 (three years before he died) that he had distributed various seeds to help the Indians grow things. Some of these seeds were pumpkins, beans, turnips, and potatoes. He also loaned them traps and arranged for black smithing as needed.

    "There is a stone in this area (unfortunately they are on private land) where he carved his name M. Lisa-1807 and another stone with Colter 1810. They are somewhere around the mouth of the Bighorn. The Bighorn and the Yellowstone rivers flow together in this area. There are pictures of these stones at the cafe/casino in Custer, Mt. The pictures were taken in 1920 and you can clearly see the names. The Chamber of Commerce in Hardin, Mt. is trying to put more information together on historical sites in this area."

Well I didn't get to see the 200 year old names carved in the stone. But I did get a good view of the Big Horn River and an old bridge around the corner.

Going east on I-94, we cross over into Treasure County. Just off the Hysham exit is the Memorial Vale Cemetery and our next geocache (GC51TNW). There was a caretaker out there installing a new headstone. After watching for a few minutes, he didn't seem to care much about our activity. So I jumped out of the GeoJeep real quick, found the cache, signed to log, and went on our way.

 

And finally, the last geocache was further down I-94 into Rosebud County. Just a quick earthcache at a highway rest area (GC1GCXE). Now on back to the motorhome to end the day. Thanks for riding along. 

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: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-08-10: Geocaching Through Wyoming and Into Montana Reaching Our Destination

Well we woke up this morning at the Wyoming Welcome Center just south of Cheyenne. The goal for today is to reach our destination in Bridger, Montana. Hopefully along the way we'll have opportunities for some sightseeing and picking up new counties for our geocaching map. So click along and join us. What did we discover today?

So we set out from the Welcome Center and headed north up I-25. Just over an hour later, I exit into the Dyer Junction Rest Area located in Platte County. After finding the geocache (GC7FP6B) for the county, we read the many information boards and took some photos. To the east we got a distant view of Laramie Peak.

The next four paragraphs are from one of the Historical Information Boards:

    As you journey through Wyoming, you are one of the countless travelers who has looked out to the west and seen the granite rising of Laramie Peak. Near Scottsbluff, Nebraska, approximately 80 miles east of Dyer Junction, emigrants witnessed their first view of the western mountains with the hazy silhouette of Laramie Peak. Although the sight may have been awe-inspiring for the emigrants traveling on the Oregon and Mormon Trails, it also indicated the start of their journey into the mountains ~ a much more treacherous expedition than that across the plains.

    In their diaries, emigrants and other travelers usually noted seeing Laramie Peak. In Chapter IX of his 1891 Roughing It, Mark Twain wrote, "We passed Fort Laramie in the night, and on the seventh morning out we found ourselves in the Black Hills, with Laramie Peak at our elbow (apparently) looming vast and solitary ~ a deep, dark, rich indigo blue in hue, so portentously did the old colossus frown under his beetling brows of storm-cloud. He was thirty or forty miles away, in reality, but he only seemed removed a little beyond the low ridge to our right."

    Laramie Peak, which stands at 10,272 feet above sea level, is the highest Wyoming point in the Laramie Range. Part of the central Rocky Mountains, the Laramie Range, originally called the Black Hills, reaches for 125 miles from the Colorado-Wyoming border to the North Platte River near Casper.

    Visible from over 100 miles away, Laramie Peak is named for the early French trapper, Jacques La Ramie. While on a beaver trapping expedition, La Ramie vanished from what is now the Laramie River. Upon learning of his disappearance, other trappers in the region named the river after him. Soon the nearby mountains, plains, and many other areas also took the name.

Driving further up into Converse County, we stopped at the Orin Junction Rest Area for another geocache (GC33N3D).

Just east of Casper, Wyoming was a T/A Truck Stop. There we fueled up and found another geocache for Natrona County (GC5CHCQ).

Still headed north on I-25, we stop at the Kaycee Rest Area for a geocache in Johnson County (GC8BC7Z).

Now driving on I-90, we make one last stop at the Wyoming Information Rest Stop in Sheridan County for our final geocache of the day (GC97JGC).

We finally crossed over into Montana via I-90 up through Billings. We don't have much further to go, therefore I skip geocaching counties because it would be much easier in the GeoJeep vs the big motorhome. So it's I-90 to Laurel, then turn south on US-212. At Rockvale, turning south on US-310 a few more miles and arrive in the town of Bridger.

But just as we pull into town I noticed the RV's temperature gauge starting to climb. Luckily we're just 3 blocks from the City Park RV Park. I quickly pick a spot and park. Then I head to the bedroom and lift up the bed to get a good look at the top of the engine. Sure enough, another freeze plug on the side of the head has sprung a leak! That makes the third one!

OK, so there's only two auto repair shops in town. One is practically right across the street. I go there first. Nope, they only work on cars plus they're booked solid. So then I drive around the corner to Carbon Equipment Repair. Yes, they do work on diesel, big rigs, and farm equipment. But they too are booked out for a month. And we're only here for two weeks. I say we can't go anywhere and we're pretty much at their mercy. Nothing to do now but to wait and see.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting for the other surveyor to show up. So that means a free week. Sounds to me like a geocaching road trip around Montana might be in the making. I hope to see you back again soon.

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: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-08-09: Road Trip from Colorado to Wyoming in the Motorhome While Geocaching

A few days into this road trip from Texas to Montana and it has already been an eventful road trip to say the least. Within a few hours of starting out in Texas, I had an air suspension issue that I luckily was able to fix myself in a parking lot. Then the next day made it up into Colorado and was able to do some sightseeing and geocaching before another breakdown. This time a blown freeze plug leaking engine coolant everywhere. That brings us to waking up this morning in a little town called Kit Carson, Colorado. Is the one mechanic in town able to get us back on the road today or are we stranded until who knows when? Let's hop into the Jeep and see if he's even open...

Following the directions from the RV park owner, the shop is behind his house on the edge of town. I get there at 8:00 in the morning and he's already underneath a pickup truck. He says he's got a full work load and working alone doesn't really do mobile repairs. But he understands my predicament and says to give him an hour or so to get the truck's fuel tank re-installed so that it doesn't fall off the jack. Then he'll drive over to the RV park and check out the leak. GREAT!

Having a little bit of free time before he gets to the motorhome, I decided to grab the two geocaches in town. The first was over at the Kit Carson Cemetery (GC1EF8H). Then back to the center of town at the Kit Carson Railroad Depot (GCV3R5). From the historical marker: "Built in 1904, this depot has survived intact and is not significantly changed. It is one of a handful of surviving railroad depots of the period in Colorado and may well be in the best condition of those remaining. In addition to housing the station agent and his family, this rectangular depot accommodated the daily activities of train passengers, freight, and the telegraph, and is a distinguishing feature of this depot."

 

Shortly after arriving back at the RV, the mechanic shows up too. The coolant leak from the bad expansion plug is up top on the exhaust side of the head on the Cummins diesel engine. To work on the top of the engine you have to go inside the coach. Opening the "hood" of this motorhome is lifting up the bed.

So I show him where the leak was coming from and he checks it out. He pulls out the bad plug, cleans up the hole, and installs a temporary rubber adjustable expansion plug. Getting the correct size steel or brass would have to be ordered and may take a couple of days. This rubber one will work for a while and until. Hopefully I will eventually be able to find a shop that has the time to replace them all. Anyway, he got us fixed up and able to get back on the road. AND when I tried to pay him, he refused to accept my money and wished us well on our travels.

Now back on the road heading north on US-287, we eventually merge onto I-70 westbound. Once in Elbert County, I had found a geocache (GCQTWZ) by an off/on ramp that had a big enough shoulder to park the RV for a few minutes. See the first photo at the top of this blog. I made the quick find and then also noticed the old farm house and barn at the top of the hill. That made for a nice photo too.

A few miles up I-70 in Arapahoe County, I found another exit ramp with a geocache (GC8CD7) that had good parking. Turning onto I-25 northbound, another exit ramp geocache for Larimer County (GCY322) and then a rest area earthcache for Weld County (GC1ME6T). 

Finally crossing over into Wyoming, we pulled into the Welcome Center just south of Cheyenne where we decided to park for the night. The Wyoming Welcome Center is practically a museum / historical center. We must have taken about 50 photos. These are just a sample. From a petrified tree,

the "Hole in the Wall Gang" with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,

giant prehistoric skeletal bones that were once large beasts,

and Wyoming cowboys, rodeos and ranch life.

Also located at the Wyoming Welcome Center were two geocaches. One was a multi-cache (GC979A5) and the other an earthcache (GC93HTZ). These gave us credit for Laramie County.

After the tour of the Welcome Center, we drove about a mile to the next exit to grab a bite to eat. Also at the same exit was a virtual geocache (GC946E) that I couldn't pass up. My job is a surveyor and the cache was about a surveyor. 32-year old John Phippin was a dedicated employee of the National Geodetic Survey, Coast and Geodetic Survey.

A resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming, he was working in Blythe, California on an oceanic geodetic survey project in 1992. In April of that year, two men (I'm not gonna mention their names) quit their jobs as carnival workers and began on a crime and killing spree. They broke into Phippin's motel room where they beat him and then stabbed him in the heart. The two then proceeded to load up his possessions and stole his vehicle, which they drove to Las Vegas and murdered another man.

That's it for today. Tomorrow we arrive in Montana, hopefully trouble free! Stay tuned...

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: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-06-25: Searching for Lake Erie Lighthouses in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio

Welcome back to our AwayWeGo's Adventure blog. While the motorhome was getting some work done in Indiana, my wife, her granddaughter and I took a road trip to Connecticut and back in the Jeep. For todays leg of our travel journey we added lighthouses to our "to-do" list as well as geocaching counties. So climb aboard the GeoJeep and let's go for a drive... 

Our first stop was along the shores of Lake Erie in Chautauqua County and the town of Dunkirk, New York. The St Hyacinth Cemetery (GC4013R) has over 4,000 internments dating back to 1880. Land was purchased for the St Hyacinth Parish in 1875 and the newly completed church dedicated in 1876. This land wasn't purchased until 1902 to become the church cemetery. The cemetery chapel was blessed in 1942.

On the north side of Dunkirk jutting out into Lake Erie is Point Gratiot. The Dunkirk Lighthouse (GC4KMHE) and Victorian keepers residence was constructed during 1875-76 to replaced an eroding first light from 1827. Bricks from the original keepers house was used for the foundation in building the new house. When the cylindrical light tower was moved next to the house, a square walled tower was constructed around it to better conform to the aesthetics of the house.

Driving down NY-5 along the lakefront, we arrived in the town of Barcelona for our next set of geocaches and another lighthouse. We first stopped by the Barcelona Harbor Pier. Took a nice look around, took some photos of the water, and grabbed a geocache here too (GC1RMBW).

Off the edge of the pier near the road stands the Barcelona Lighthouse and Keepers Residence (GC1RMBW, GC60BK0). The 40-foot tall Barcelona Lighthouse was constructed in 1829. It was the first natural gas lighthouse in the country and was part of the Federal Lighthouse System up until 1859. From then it had been under several private ownerships over the years until the early 2000's when it became a state historical site.

Moving down into Erie County, Pennsylvania, we visited our next lighthouse and geocache. Located on the shores of Presque Isle Bay on Lake Erie is the "Land Lighthouse." The 49-foot tall sandstone tower was constructed in 1866-67. There is an earthcache here due to the fossils that can be found in the sandstone (GC93AYG). This was the third lighthouse to be constructed at this location due to the previous two having structural instabilities. The light was in use until 1899.

A few blocks away is Dobbins Landing named after Captain Daniel Dobbins, an Erie Pioneer and Mariner who sailed the Great Lakes as a merchant ship master and naval officer. As we walked towards the Bicentennial Tower we got to watch a little pirate show taking place off the pier. The Scallywags Pirate Adventure Show is a tourist sightseeing ship on Lake Erie which had a pirate navigating a small dingy trying to cause trouble. This made for an entertaining few moments for those on board.

Located at the end of Dobbins Landing stands the Bicentennial Tower Observation Deck (GC890ME). It was built in 1996 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city of Erie. The top observation deck stands 138 feet above Presque Isle Bay and provides spectacular 360 degree views up to 27 miles on a clear day.

Also nearby is the Erie Cemetery. We stopped by there before leaving town to attempt a Geocaching Adventure Lab (AL). Of the 40,000+ internments here I want to highlight this one. The Brown Mausoleum is more commonly known as "The Vampire Crypt." 

Local folklore says that a Romanian businessman was living inside the crypt. After his death of consumption, weird things began happening around Erie. The cemetery groundskeeper discovered that the man was living inside this crypt. The vault was then burned, the door chained, and the named chiseled off.

Moving over into Ohio, we continued our geocaching adventure along the Great Lakes. The first geocache was a quick parking lot park and grab cache (GC3NNRY) located in Ashtabula County.

The next two were in Lake County. The geocaches are located in the North Madison Cemetery (GC8JZDC, GC4CT2Z). According to the Find-A-Grave website, there are more than 2400+ internments dating back to 1811. In the midst of all the graves is the old maintenance shed. It looks kinda spooky itself.

It was getting late in the day so I found two more quick geocaches to pick up two more counties. The first was in the Mount Sinai Cemetery in Cuyahoga County (GCTNKW). There were over 2000 internments but I just found the geocache and moved on to the next. The final one was a light post cache in Geauga County (GC5FZGR).

That's it for today. Tomorrow we finish up Ohio and back into Indiana. Until then...

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: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-06-24: More Sightseeing and Geocaching Cemeteries, Old Bridges, and Yard Art in Pennsylvania

In today's edition of the AwayWeGo's Adventures, with the RV still getting worked on, we spent another day in Pennsylvania sightseeing and geocaching. While out exploring today we found a couple of old bridges, a couple of cemeteries, and some custom auto art made of old cars and parts. Like the "Buzz Box" says: Look Inside by clicking on the link and seeing some of the unusual and creative pieces of yard art.

So yesterday was a lazy day off the road. We spent an extra day at the hotel to catch up on a weeks worth of laundry and just relax in front of the TV.

This morning after breakfast we drove west across Pennsylvania on I-80. North of Pittsburg, I exited the Interstate and drove north on US-19. On a previous road trip a few years ago we picked up US-19 on the south side of Pittsburg and drove it all the way down to Florida.

Driving north up the road, we caught a pair of racoons crossing the road. I had barely enough time to stop, grab the phone, and take a photo.

Our first geocaching stop was a little further up the road but still in Mercer County. In the town of Clarks Mills was the Perry Chapel Cemetery (GC51V01). The cemetery has just over 700 internments dating as far back as 1851.

About a mile up the road another geocache (GC51V05) brought me to this old railroad bridge across the Old Shenango River. I tried to find some historical information on this bridge but wasn't having any luck.

Taking another backroad about mile to the north of town and another geocache (GC51V0P) brings me to yet another old bridge. Only this time I did find some information on this bridge. The 82 foot long single span Pratt through truss bridge was built in 1885 by the Penn Bridge Company of Beaver Falls, PA. It is supposed to be demolished but hopefully it will never come to that. I like finding these old bridges.

Moving on up into Crawford County, I stopped for a geocache in the Johnston Cemetery (GC8Y2J3) near Keborts Corners. It's a small country cemetery with less than 100 internments dating back to the 1850's.

The final geocache of the day was a virtual cache and one that was on my bucket list for nearly ten years. But I'm just now getting around to this area of Erie County. Schaefer's Auto Art (GCJ8M8) was created by Dick Schaefer in 1988. Using his imagination while working in a junk yard, he began welding pieces and parts together to give them life.

Well that's it for today. Along with geocaching, tomorrow we add sightseeing stops at the Great Lakes lighthouses to our traveling journey.

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: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-06-22: Ghost Hunting in a Haunted Cemetery While Geocaching in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut

Today's leg of our geocaching road trip adventure takes us from eastern Pennsylvania, through New York, and into Connecticut in search of a Haunted Cemetery. There's one thing I can say for sure about the northeast... too much traffic! We drove some nice backroads up here but even they were busy. Not a whole lot of stops today, but let us see if we can find some ghosts! Climb aboard the GeoJeep and let's go.

After breakfast this morning we hit the ramp to the Interstate. The next few counties I already had completed on my geocaching counties map. So we drove north on I-99 and then east on I-80 into Union County, Pennsylvania.

The last exit before leaving the county, I caught the off-ramp for a quick urban park-n-grab geocache in a parking lot (GC20E51). Then a few more miles later at a rest area in Montour County (GC2TVJG). Taking I-81 north and having all those counties already, the next stop is off I-84 eastbound. Another quick off exit geocache stop for Wayne County, PA (GC8NKGZ).

Finally next up in Pike County, PA, it was a 2-stage geocache at an interesting location. The Simons Town Cemetery (GC1JPJV) is a small well kept cemetery with just over 200 burials dating back to the early 1800's. This stone wall that outlines the boundary is original and approximately 200 years old. As for the geocache itself, I found the first stage but not the second. 

Crossing over into New York, it wasn't until we got into Putnam County that I made a quick exit off of I-84 for a parking lot geocache to claim that county (GC4ZZFV).

Now it was 6:00 in the evening before we finally made it to our destination. My wife and her granddaughter are fans of the "Annabelle", "The Conjouring" and similar paranormal movies. They like all those scary movies. To me... they're comedies. Mainly because of watching them jump, scream, and react to all scary scenes! They're having heart attacks, I'm laughing!

Well it was here in Greater Bridgeport County, Connecticut and in the small community of Upper Stepney that we come to our last geocache of the day. Located in the supposedly haunted Stepney Cemetery (GC40985) are the graves belonging to Ed (1926-2006) and Lorraine Warren (1927-2019). They were paranormal investigators and were highly regarded to be the leading experts of the supernatural.

They were frequently asked to give lectures and speak about the supernatural phenomena around the world. They consulted police investigations multiple times in relation to satanic ritualistic murders. Authors of many books, some which were made into movies, they were one of the few handpicked investigators who looked into the Amityville Horror Case and later consultants for the filming of the movie. He was one of only seven religious demonologists in the country.

The Stepney Cemetery, formerly known as the Birdsey's Plain Cemetery or the Beardsley Plain Cemetery, was officially established in 1794. The oldest headstone is that of Nathaniel W. Knapp from 1787. The "haunted" part comes in several folklore stories. The most common is that of the "Lady in White." A dark haired woman in a long white Victorian dress who supposedly originally buried in the Union Cemetery four miles away. Sometimes she makes her way here for a visit in the Stepney Cemetery. Some say she's looking for a lost love. Other stories say she was murdered and wants to reveal the guilty person. And another legend was that she was falsely accused of murdering her husband and wants to tell her side of the story. For our visit on this day, we didn't see any ghosts or strange activity.

As for the geocache, it was another cemetery DNF for the day. We "Did Not Find" any cemetery caches or cemetery ghosts today. And getting late, we decided head west and to get back to a more rural less congested area, grab some dinner and find a hotel.

Until we meet again...

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: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-06-20: Road Trip on the Historic Lincoln Highway US-30 East Through Ohio

Today is Day #1 of our road trip from Indiana to Connecticut and back to Indiana. We followed along the historical Lincoln Highway / US-30. We spent today driving across Ohio. There were plenty of geocaches to find, history to discover, cemeteries and old churches, and the original red brick road. So hop on board the GeoJeep and let's go for a ride.

Our first geocaching county stop was one of my favorites. A quick find at the Glenn Presbyterian Cemetery (GCRYA9) to fill in the map for Van Wert County, Ohio. I didn't spend any time walking through it and nothing caught my attention so a quick park and grab and on our way.

Passing through the southwest corner of Putnam County, I run up to the Mount Calvary Cemetery in Fort Jennings. There I find another quick geocache (GC7PTFR) to fill in that blank spot on the map. I noted a couple of graves there of veterans who were killed in combat during WWI and another in WWII. Just up the road was this historical marker at the location of the original Fort Jennings constructed in 1812.

Returning to the original Lincoln Highway / US30 alignment heading east through Allen County, I stop at this historical marker for my next geocache (GC28P2K) near the town of Gomer. Crossing the Ottawa River was this bridge built in 1927 by the Allen County Engineer's Office. It served locals and travelers alike for 75 years until it was removed and replaced in 2002.

I dropped south a couple of miles into Hardin County and the town of Dunkirk, Ohio. There wasn't much to see there other than the signs signifying the earliest alignment route for the Lincoln Highway from 1915-1918. It was also the location of my geocache (GC3D6BM).

Over into Wyandot County and the town of Upper Sandusky are my next two geocaches. The first was next to the Wyandot County Museum. The 1895 one-room schoolhouse (GC4MR4Z) was donated and relocated to here in the 1960's. Early in the 1970's it was restored, electric lighting and heat was installed. Looks like it was getting a new paint job when we had stopped by for a visit.

On the other side of town we made another quick stop for a geocache along an old section of the Lincoln Highway that still had the original red brick road surface (GC87GCE).

Driving further down the highway, before leaving the county, I spotted this old church with a historical marker out front and wanted to stop for a closer look. Traveling preachers began visiting this area of German settlers in the 1830's. The first log meeting house was built in 1845. This church building was constructed in 1861 and was known as the Salem Congregational Church. The bell and tower were added in 1906. While I was here I looked up and discovered there was a geocache here too. (GC1DP9D) Found it!

Oh, I haven't mentioned this in a while, but do you know what the difference is between a cemetery (below) and a graveyard (above)? A graveyard is a burial place outside of a church.

The next stop was in Crawford County for two geocaches at the Oceola Cemeteries #2 (GC2R99C) and #3 (GC1BHWR). Nothing caught my attention so just a quick photo and finding the caches.

We passed through Richland County because I already had that one completed. The next county needed along the Lincoln Highway was Ashland County. It was a quick stop for a geocache at the Zehner Cemetery (GC4GGKC). Then I skipped Wayne County and moved on into Stark County.

The Massillon Cemetery has over 15,000 burials dating back to the early 1800's, including several Civil War Medal of Honor Veterans. The Massillon Cemetery superintendent’s residence was constructed in 1879 of locally quarried stone. It served for a century as both the sexton’s family residence and the cemetery office; now only the office.

Near the entrance to the cemetery is this memorial statue honoring those who have served in the Civil War. Erected in the 1870's to centralize the location of the veterans. Many of those already buried and scattered throughout the cemetery were relocated around the statue.

Of course while I was here I found three of the numerous traditional geocaches (GC5YCV0, GC6V59K, GC7QGX4) that were hidden as well as completed the 5-stop Adventure Lab. There was a lot of history located at this cemetery. And many of these mausoleums built into the side of this hill made it look like a Hobbit community.

Before exiting the east side of the county near the town of Robertsville, I veered off of US-30 onto the old original Lincoln Highway alignment to grab another geocache (GC1WPE4) along a section of the old red-brick pavers which formed the roadway.

A few miles further down and another geocache (GC2388C) later, the original 1928 narrow bridge was replaced in 2002 with a wider modern bridge. The old red brick was reused to form the barrier walls of the new bridge.

While reaching for this geocache in the guardrail, I twisted in just the wrong way that it pinched a nerve in my back. Now it is hard to even get in and out of the Jeep. So the last cache planned for the day in the last county needed along the Lincoln Highway will just have to go unfound. Time for dinner and a hotel to rest my back.

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