2021-04-02: Day 11 Finishing Route 66 in Oklahoma and Turning South into Texas and Returning Home

Well finally we've reached the eleventh and last day of our roadtrip adventure. We started out in Maiden, NC in what Google said would take 18 hours and 1210 miles to drive to Killeen, TX. Now here we are starting our 11th day in Oklahoma City, following the famous Route 66, and soon to be making that left turn down into Texas. On this final day we found more Route 66 roadside attractions, more historic buildings and bridges, a ghost town and of course more geocaching counties! So without further delay, hope on board for the ride and let me show you what great places we found today...

Our first stop was for the Osiyo Big Cherokee geocache (GC96K4R). Located at the Cherokee Trading Post and Travel Center, it was a busy place. Lots of muggles prevented us from finding this geocache. Fortunately I found a previous geocache here, now archived, and already had the county.

On the side of one of the buildings there was this huge mural and statue depicting a scene from life here in the 1800's. This is just a small portion of that mural.

Just a few miles west down Old U.S. Highway 66 into Caddo County, and we get to another one of my favorite historical structures. The Pony Bridge (GC8YAQ7) is the longest bridge on Route 66 at 3,944 feet. A joint venture Oklahoma Federal Aid Project No. 164-H and officially named the William H. Murray Bridge, it spans across the South Canadian River and was completed on July 1, 1933. It was nicknamed the "Pony Bridge" because of its 38 pony style trusses.

Across the county we found the historical Provine Station and our next geocache (GCY1GQ). This old Route 66 gas station was built by Carl Ditmore in 1929. W.O. Waldrop purchased the gas station in 1934 and renamed it the Provine Station. A small tourist court was added for overnight stays. In 1941 Lucille and Carl Hamons became the next owners where they raised their three children in the upstairs living quarters. Lucille operated the business for 59 years.

Continuing westbound into Custer County and past Weatherford, my next geocache stop was for a "Cache Across America - Oklahoma" cache (GCXD60). There's nothing special about the cache or location. However this is a series and there is only one in each state with a bonus in Washington DC. I try to get them whenever I'm in the vicinity. One day when I finally retire, I'll plan a road trip specifically to get the remaining states in the series.

Well it's about that time now when we reached US-183 in Clinton, Oklahoma and leave Route 66 to make that left turn and drive south towards Texas.

A minute later we cross over into Washita County and soon arrived into the town of Bessie. Our first stop was at the Peace Lutheran Church. The church was organized in 1893. Land was given and a church building / schoolhouse was erected in 1906. This current building was constructed in 1942. The Lutheran Cemetery is next door as well. 

Another historical building in town, and the location of our next geocache (GC15MV7), was the 1916 Bessie Schoolhouse. There's a pretty nice mural on the side of the building depicting scenes of the early days in Bessie. Next door to the schoolhouse was where the bank used to be. Frank Simpson and Fletcher Rickard robbed the bank on January 24, 1928. During the robbery, the cashier of the bank, Ben Kiehn, was killed and Fletcher Rickard was wounded and died later the same day. Simpson escaped and was never caught. The granite cornerstones and granite "Bank" stone are part of the Bessie Memorial Park.

Continuing southbound on US-183, we passed through this small town called Rocky, Oklahoma. Rocky was established in 1898 when two businessmen settled and opened the Rocky Mercantile Store constructed from rock gathered at the Kiowa Reservation. At it's peak in 1930, the population was around 500. Today it is barely over 100. This old church and house caught my attention and I stopped for a quick photo.

Crossing over into Kiowa County, the next town is Hobart, OK. The Rock Island Depot (GCD1E8) was built in 1909 and was used until the 1970's. This was a busy location during the growing years of Hobart. these include World War I and II. The rapidly growing farming industry depended on this rail service to transport it's products. It was left in disrepair until the Kiowa county historical preservation society acquired it in 1987. After many hours of volunteer work and money it was reopened as a museum.

South of Hobart was the small community of Babbs. A picnic area along US-183 is the Babbs Switch Memorial and a virtual geocache (GCD1E9). It was set up to remember those who perished on Christmas Eve in 1924. On this date a Christmas party was going on in a 1-room frame school house when a candle, that was lit on the tree, started a fire. Since the doors to the room opened inward, the kids panicked, pressed against it and could not open it. Everyone inside perished. The school was rebuilt and was used to point the way to safer county schools nationwide. This tragic event is the reason all school doors open outward.

Our next two geocaches were in Tillman County at the Frederick Cemetery (GC7A74B, GC2HNE8). There are over 12,000 internments dating back to 1844. We didn't have time to look around so just finding the geocaches, a photo, and back on the road.

Well we finally made it to the Oklahoma-Texas state line. This means crossing the Red River Bridge (GC8D4F0). Even though highway traffic crosses a newer modern bridge, the old US-70/US-183 bridge is still there. The plaque mentions that it was built in 1939 by the Texas and Oklahoma Highway Departments. The length of its largest span is 75 feet, with a total length of of 5,463.2 feet and a deck width of 24 feet.

One last stop in Texas before reaching home. I wanted to stop by this old abandoned schoolhouse in the ghost town of Gilliland since we were so close. Back a couple of years ago when I was working nearby, I hid a geocache here and it seems to have gone missing. So I replaced it.

I wrote a blog a while back specifically about this town of Gilliland. I tell of the town's history and share a lot of photos of some of the abandoned businesses and houses. You can take a look and read the stories by clicking here.

So that was our 11 Day, 3404 Mile Adventure starting in North Carolina and returning to Texas. Taking the long northerly route of course! Here's a recap with links to each days blog post:

Day #1: Turning a 1400 Mile Drive into a 3404 Mile Road Trip! Day 1 in North Carolina and Virginia

Day #2: Virginia, DC, Maryland, and Pennsylvania

Day #3: Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio

Day #4: Ohio and Indiana

Day #5: Visiting the Birthplace of Ben Hur in Indiana

Day #6: Visiting Presidents Lincoln and Reagan in Illinois

Day #7: Touring More Abraham Lincoln and Route 66 Sites in Illinois

Day #8: Visiting history in St Louis, Missouri via Route 66 and the Gateway Arch

Day #9: Exploring the Historic Route 66 Through Missouri

Day #10: Cruising Route 66 Through Kansas and Oklahoma

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: 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.

2020-03-30: Roadtrip Day 4: Driving Through Alabama and Arriving in Georgia

Today was the fourth and final day of our Texas to Georgia roadtrip. This has been a great drive so far on the backroads and byways, seeing the sites, geocaching and picking up new counties along the way. For today we found some Civil War history, old cemeteries, a bird-dog champion and more. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Hop on in the GeoJeep and let's get rolling... 

Leaving out of Montgomery, Alabama, our first stop was southeast of town for a geocache at the Carter Hill Cemetery (GC2VFET). With just over 300 interments, the Carter Hill Cemetery dates back to 1844 with the burial of Andrew Allen. Along with his wife and two sons, they are the first four burials in this cemetery.

And then one more quick roadside geocache (GC2R7Y8) before leaving the county.

Continuing eastbound into Bullock County, we arrive in Union Springs and the Bird Dog Field Trial Capital of the World (GC56NF0). On February 21, 1996, the City of Union Springs and the Tourism Council of Bullock county dedicated this life-size bronze statue of an English Pointer. Sculpted by Bob Wehle, the monument pays tribute to the 11 men honored by the Bird Dog Field Trial Hall of Fame, to Bullock County’s unexcelled upland game country and bird dogs, and to the men and women who participate in the sport of field trialing.

Also located in Union Springs was this Log Cabin Museum. From the historical marker: "Early settlers of this area cleared land and built their first homes of logs in the 1830's. This cabin was built by Rueben Rice Kirkland (1829 - 1915) about 1850. He and his first wife had ten children while living in the log home.

"At one time an additional bedroom and chimney were on the right side, and the back porch was closed in for cooking and eating. A small log kitchen stood a few feet from the back and was later converted to a smoke house. The milk house beside the well was on stilts to protect butter and milk from animals.

"In 1981 the Bullock County Historical Society moved the cabin into Union Springs from its original site at Stills Cross Roads in Southern Bullock County and restored it as a museum."

If you look at the very first photo at the top of the blog, you can see that this new location of the cabin is off to the side of the Old City Cemetery, also known as The Confederate Cemetery. The historical marker reads: "Micajah Norfleet Eley donated land in 1849 for the Baptist Church and an adjoining public cemetery. The oldest cemetery in Union Springs, it served the city for 36 years. The Confederate Monument at the center (seen in the top photo) was unveiled at the intersection of Prairie and Hardaway Streets on March 29, 1895 by the Ladies Memorial Association. In 1973 it was moved to its present location.

"Locally known as the Confederate Cemetery, it includes the tombstones of some twenty-two Confederate soldiers. Below the Confederate soldiers' grave sites is a marker which reads: "Union Prisoners of War, 1861-1865, Victims of Plague."

US-82 eastbound over into Barbour County, the next geocache (GC2MY21) was a quick roadside stop at another historical marker. There wasn't anything to see there. Just the historical marker for the Election Riot of 1874 which read: "Near here is Old Spring Hill, the site of one of the polling places for the November 3, 1874 local, state, and national elections. Elias M. Keils, scalawag and judge of the city court of Eufaula, was United States supervisor at the Spring Hill ballot box. William, his 16-year-old son, was with him. After the polls closed, a mob broke into the building, extinguished the lights, destroyed the poll box and began shooting. During the riot, Willie Keils was mortally wounded. The resulting congressional investigation received national attention. This bloody episode marked the end of Republican domination in Barbour County."

Crossing the state line into Quitman County, Georgia, I quickly exit the bridge and turn back towards the reservoir for my next geocache (GC8M6AW). To the right just outside the photo below is the US-82 bridge which crosses over the lake. This little path heading down to the water is what remains of the old road that you used to drive between Alabama and Georgia before the Walter F. George Lock and Dam was built in 1962. Now it sits underwater.

Our last two geocaches were in Randolph County. The first was a quick roadside park and grab just east of the town of Cuthbert (GC7EV1G). The second was in the town of Shellman, Georgia (GC887JW). Originally called Ward Station, Shellman was established in 1883 and named after Major W. F. Shellman, who was the traffic manager for the Central Georgia Railroad. This was the Shellman Railroad Depot.

There's also these muraled silos in Shellman that portray the history and scenes of Shellman's past.

The next county over is Terrell and that's where we'll be staying and working. Time to settle in and relax after a long road trip. I hope you have enjoyed these last four days traveling along the rural backroads and byways of this great country of ours. And if I have inspired you to get off the Interstates and onto the scenic roadways, leave me a comment and let me know.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-03-27: Roadtrip Day 1: Driving Through Texas on the Way to Georgia

ROADTRIP!! Well my part of the project in West Texas is completed and it is time to move on to the next! And that begins our roadtrip to Georgia. Now if you follow Google Maps you'll be taking I-10 all the way across for a quicker yet boring drive. Where's the fun in that? We'll be taking the backroads, the US highways and byways, finding geocaches, exploring history and discovering cool places. So as the song goes: "Eastbound and down, loaded up and...", well we're not truckin' but definitely got the GeoJeep loaded up and packed full. So let's hit the road and see where it takes us.

Day #1 of our roadtrip has us leaving McCamey, Texas on this Friday morning and first stopping in Killeen. There we unload and reload the Jeep trying to figure out what we might need to bring to the east coast. We'll be doing some work in Georgia before starting a new project in Florida. Packing the Jeep with as much as we can fit into it, we get back on the road. I'd like to at least make it out of Texas by the end of the day.

Taking I-35 north, our first geocaching stop was in Waco at the Greenwood Cemetery (GCTE6D, GC68NMY). It was an older cemetery dating back to 1875. One of those interned here is Jules Bledsoe. Born in 1899 and a native of Waco, he was a baritone singer and one of the first black performers on Broadway. He is best known for his song "Old Man River" from the musical "Showboat."

Leaving Waco, we got off the Interstate and onto the backroads of Highway 31 eastbound over to Tyler, TX. There we made a stop at the Rose Hill Cemetery for two more geocaches (GCW154, GC79EF). Two of the headstones that caught my attention were this giant sized piano for an obvious aficionado of the ivory keys. The other I found to be ironic was a simple small cross with no other words except for Big Daddy.

From there we drove up US-271 to Gladewater, TX. While there we stopped for a few geocaches, the first being a virtual at the Veterans Memorial (GCJ0XJ). On the wall next to the memorial was this mural painted on the building. I am assuming that it represents a kinda history of the town. Just not sure about the red-masked Captain America / Scarecrow looking character though.

On the way to our next cache in town, we passed by this beautiful house with a historical marker out front. The house belonged to a Dr. E.L. and Nanny Walker who came from Tennessee to visit E.L.'s brother here in Gladewater in the 1890's and decided to stay. He opened a medical practice and drugstore and purchased this site in 1895. This home was completed sometime prior to 1910.

The Walker House with it's main body constructed of concrete blocks is neoclassical in design, with a symmetrical facade, pronounced 2-story portico, ionic columns, five-bay front and pedimented dormer window. The three-story structure also has two concrete basements. Initially intended for use as an infirmary, the third floor space served as an attic with access to a rooftop widow's walk. Original features included ten fireplaces, a two-floor elevator, and fifteen rooms. Changes over the years included additional rooms and the removal of the elevator during the WWII scrap metal drive. The house remained in the family until 1969.

Another of the Gladewater's geocaches brought us to an area highlighting the areas oil discoveries (GC3NJH5). Another historical marker at this site reads: "On April 7, 1931, this wildcat well drilled by Selby Oil and Gas Co. of Tulsa, OK, came in at 1000 barrels an hour. Located in the Sabine River Bottom a mile south of town, it connected Gladewater to the vast East Texas oil field stretching from Longview to Kilgore. Royalty owners were the Snavely family of Martinsville, IL. Headed by Judge Herschel Snavely, nine relatives came to watch the drilling. L.C. Snavely acquired interest in this land when several Illinois investors underwrote the sawmill and lumber operation of James Moore who in 1906 bought 42,000 acres for $20,000 and moved his enterprise to Gladewater by train. Moore's mill was destroyed in 1913 by a boiler explosion. In 1914 he surveyed and divided the land into equal sections. Investors drew lots to determine their parcels. Oil was discovered under the entire 4200 acre tract. Texaco operated the well from 1938 until its shutdown in 1957. Texaco closed its local office in 1987 after 54 years in Gladewater, and donated this pumping unit from the Texaco-Snavely 'A' Lease #1. The original derrick was wooden."

Gladewater is also known as the Antique Capital of East Texas. One of the antique shops in town looks kinda "antique-ish" itself!

And for the last geocache in town, I went to the Rosedale Cemetery (GC2208R). After finding the cache, I did spot this rather interesting headstone. I guess after the oil dries up, so does all the easy money.

We finished the day by driving over to Shreveport, Louisiana and checking into a hotel. After just over 600 miles of driving, it was time to call it a day.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2017-08-19 Geocaching Route 66 in the Texas Panhandle

Welcome back to our Geocaching Adventures blog. Sorry for the delay in this post. Hopefully I'll be getting caught up with my writing soon.

On this weekend back in August, we had first made a stop in Lubbock, Texas for a visit to a cardiologist there. Afterwards we made our way up to Amarillo where we would stay for two nights while we Geocached and explored the Texas Panhandle. The goal was to go Geocaching in the ten remaining counties to finish the area.

County #1 Carson: While in Amarillo last year we had visited the famous Cadillac Ranch. This time  around we made a stop at our first cache and the lessor known Bug Ranch (GCDB98) on the east side of town. The Bug Ranch is the unsuccessful 2002 marketing idea of the Crutchfield Family for their Trading Post and Ranch. The five VW Beetles, closed trading post and motel are now just a place for tourists to get a photo opp and leave their spray painted signature behind. So I've seen the Cadillac Ranch, the Airstream Ranch down in Florida, and now the Bug Ranch. Are there any more?

Continuing eastbound on I-40/US-66, our next stop was a two-fer virtual (GC8B0E) and a traditional (GC68M62) cache in Groom, TX. As a former trucker, I had passed by this 190 foot tall cross and a couple of others like it throughout the country. 
If the huge cross wasn't enough, there are 12 prayer stations with 12 life-sized statues depicting various stages of Jesus' life. And further off to one side are more life-sized statues of the Lord's supper, Golgotha and the three crosses, and a cave representing the empty tomb. And finally a visitors center and gift shop.

What was supposed to be a quick stop, a few photos and go, turned into over an hour of looking, reflecting, and browsing the store. If you're ever driving down the highway and come upon one of the amazing crosses around the country, be sure to take the time and stop.

County #2 Wheeler: Getting back on track and two counties over, we stopped in Lela, TX to travel back in time a little. Originally called Story when it was established in 1902, a postmaster changed it the following year to Lela in honor of his wife's sister. By 1906 a nearby town became the center of trade and attention drawing residents and businesses away from Lela. The post office closed in 1976 and the school in 1992. The town's population has only grown from 50 in the 1940's to just over a hundred today. But it does contain two Geocaches: at the Old Lela Cemetery (GC61X3E) and the old red brick schoolhouse (GC2XZ1P).

County #3 Collingsworth: We then headed south on FM 1547 into a new county and another ghost town. Near the Salt Fork of the Red River in northwestern Collingsworth County. The town of Dozier was on the Rocking Chair Ranch until the ranch ceased to exist. Post office was granted in 1904 with the Dozier school district being organized five years later when a schoolhouse was built. The school's location changed several times until a larger building was constructed in 1913. This school lasted until 1929, when a brick school was built. By 1930 the population of Dozier was 60 and it somehow increased during the Great Depression to 100 by 1940. There's a historical marker there (GC245QN) but the school building itself has recently collapsed. As for the cemetery, it is still in use to this day and has over 400 permanent residents.

Over to US-83 and turning back to the north, I make a quick stop for an easy guard rail cache (GC21677). Back into Wheeler County and the town of Shamrock at the intersections of US-83, US-66, and I-40. Shamrock is the nearby town that boomed taking away from Lela that I mentioned earlier. The first cache I stopped for there brought us to a huge mural on the side of a building. Crossroads of Highways (GC2167E) highlights the towns history.

Another in the town of Shamrock is the Get Your Kicks! cache (GC1Q175). Going back to the famous Route 66 days, the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn's unique design and architecture were the inspiration for the body shop owned by the character Ramone in the animated movie "Cars."

There were two more caches in the NW corner of Wheeler County that I couldn't pass up. The first was at the Mobeetie Cemetery and called Wild West: Miss Mollie's Love (GC5EPXK). Mobeetie Cemetery is the first known established cemetery in the Texas Panhandle. It was born of necessity, established as a final resting place for those whose journey ended in Mobeetie, which evolved from an 1875 hunters camp and nearby army post. Over the course of time, some of the grave markers have been destroyed by both tornadoes and natural decay. The oldest gravestone is dated May 2, 1882. Other burials include outlaws, accused horse thieves, those killed by a 1898 tornado, ladies of the evening and the infant daughter of Temple Lea Houston. In addition it is the final resting place for the famed Texas Ranger Captain G.W. Arrington.

The cache is named for Miss Mollie Brennan. Her original marker has since long been destroyed or decayed, a memorial headstone is placed in the vicinity. It reads: Killed January 24, 1876, in a gunfight in Mobeetie, she was a young blue eyed, black haired beauty Lady Gay Saloon girl. She jumped in front of Bat Masterson and saved his life in the fight between Bat and Corporal Melvin A. King of Fort Elliot. This fight is where Bat received his leg wound and started using his famous cane. (Mobeetie was then Sweetwater City.) She was about the first one buried in this cemetery somewhere near this marker.

The other cache is at the Mobeetie Jail Museum (GC2GYFX). Mobeetie was as rank a place as any fancier of rankness could ever want. Gamblers, prostitutes and gunfighters turned Mobeetie from Hidetown into a frontier Sodom and Gomorra. Pioneer Panhandle cattleman Charles Goodnight described the town as "patronized by outlaws, thieves, cut-throats and buffalo hunters, with a large percentage of prostitutes."Temple Lea Houston, Sam Houston's youngest son, wrote his wife that Mobeetie was "a baldheaded whiskey town with few virtuous women."

If you enjoy history as much as I and are intrigued by the previous paragraph, I encourage you to read more about Mobeetie's history following these links: Texas Escapes, a Bald-Headed Whisky Town, and Judge vs Marshal.

County #4 Roberts: Gotta keep moving along and up to Miami, TX in Roberts County for our next trio of geocaches. First was the Emerson No. 1 cache (GC3GQ1H) at the Miami Railroad Depot and Roberts County Museum. Miami supposedly derives its name from an Indian word meaning "sweetheart." The first settler on this site was Marion Armstrong, who in 1879 erected a half-dugout stagecoach stand near Red Deer Creek on the mail route from Mobeetie and Fort Elliott to Las Vegas, New Mexico. The town was platted in 1887 by B. H. Eldridge on the proposed route of the Southern Kansas (later Panhandle and Santa Fe) Railway. Samuel Edge and Mark Huselby purchased several lots and formed the Miami Townsite Company. Supplies for the railroad-construction crews were furnished by daily stages from Mobeetie. By 1888 Miami had 250 inhabitants and three hotels, three grocery stores, two saloons and a cafe, two livery stables, a post office, a mercantile store, a drugstore, and a tin shop. When Roberts County was organized in January 1889, Miami was chosen as county seat. The election, however, was declared fraudulent in December, and Parnell, twenty-five miles northwest, was the legal seat of county government until Miami won another election in November 1898. The present courthouse was built in 1913 to replace an earlier wooden structure.

The next two caches in Miami are located at the cemetery (GC5R93X, GC5R93C). The earliest cemetery in the town of Miami was established shortly after 1887 when the Southern Kansas Branch of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad was extended through Miami. The earliest known burial is that of early pioneer William T. Lard who died on December 6, 1888 and was reinterred here prior to 1900.

County #5 Hemphill: Continuing up US-60 across the line into Hemphill County for a quick roadside cache. In the Shadow of the Giants (GCJZ0E) takes you to an area surrounded by oil wells with a huge dinosaur looking over them from the top of the hill. Because dinosaurs make the oil deep down in their underground factory right?

A few miles up the road stopping at the cemetery in Canadian, TX for the Hammer & Anvil cache (GC69PMF). After a bit of searching, we came up empty handed and had to log a DNF.

County #6 Lipscomb: Ugh, too much sightseeing and gotta make up time. Fortunately the next cache (GC117XQ) is a quick roadside stop cutting across the SW corner of Lipscomb County.

County #7 Ochiltree: Yay! Next over into Ochiltree County and another quick Cache and Dash (GC500DK) geocache at a picnic area.

County #8 Hansford: Now heading westbound on TX-15, we arrived at the Hansford County Cemetery (GC6BJJW) for our next geocache. It's the first burial ground set aside in this county. The earliest grave was that of Mrs Alfie P. McGee who died in 1890. Also buried here are the Cator Brothers, founders of Zulu Stockade, and the Wright Brothers, not the flyers but early ranchers. It was the only official cemetery in the county until 1928 and is still in use today. We didn't take time to look around though. Just grabbed the cache and drove on.

Getting late and running out of time, we turn south on TX-136 heading back to the hotel in Amarillo. The final two of the ten counties I needed will have to wait another day.

On the way back I still stopped for two more cemetery caches. I already had those counties so they won't count. Land for the establishment of Lieb Cemetery (GC5P1RG) was donated by Will Blakey and W.O. Jarvis in the spring of 1902. A meeting was held for the purpose of building a schoolhouse. Plans were made and lumber was hauled by wagon from Channing. Completion of the school was in April 1903. A two month school term was held that spring. Classes were held at Lieb until 1929, when the district was consolidated with two new districts, Pringle and Morse. The school building mentioned on the marker is now a community building for meetings of farmers in the area and sets adjacent to the cemetery.

That last one for the day was the Unknown Cemetery (GC5EPY6) located out in the farm land. There were just a few headstones of which only one could be barely legible. The headstone reads: N W Reeder 1827 1896. Neither the previous cache owner nor the current cache owner could find any information on the pioneer cemetery. And I checked the Findagrave website with the name listed above and came up empty as well. You can see from the photo below that if you didn't already know there was a cemetery there you wouldn't realize it.

So after a long day of caching and driving over 400 miles around the Texas panhandle, we made it back to the hotel in Amarillo with 20 caches and 8 new counties. Tomorrow we head back home down to West Texas.