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.

2017-02-26: FINALLY Geocaching Again Grabbing Some Caches in Hobbs, NM

WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK!!! That necessary evil keeps getting in the way of our fun hobby! For the past 2 months or more, I've had to work 6 days a week. Including drive time that's 70+ hours a week! That doesn't leave much time for Geocaching and sight seeing!

Browsing through the cache listings for events and other recent hides, I discovered a yet un-found cache up in Hobbs, NM that has been there a week. Knowing that it is difficult to get motivated in the morning when you only have one day to sleep in, I contacted a co-worker (Noerjr) to see if he wanted to go caching too. He agreed and now we have no excuses but to get going out the door.

Looking up other caches of interest in Hobbs and along the way there, I discovered another yet un-found cache between Seminole and Hobbs along US-62.

So we drove over to Odessa and met up with Noerjr at Starbucks. After grabbing a couple coffee's, we drove off heading up US-385. An hour later we were on US-62 westbound approaching the roadside picnic area and rest stop. Quickly finding the cache (GC70TG1) and the nice clean log sheet! WOHOO a FTF!! (First to Find)

Our next stop was at the Gateway Arch New Mexico Style (GC3A6RN)! Another quick roadside park and grab, but also a photo opp for the Welcome to New Mexico sign.

Then a couple miles later, we entered the town of Hobbs, NM. You know I think New Mexico must be called the "Big Sign" state! As we entered Hobbs, we were also greeted with another big sign. Here we found two caches "Flea Bag Inn" (GC48M83), a travel bug hotel cache, and the "Old Wood Windmill" cache (GC42QJ2). This also gave me the opportunity to finally drop off a Travel Bug which I've been holding since last November. I feel guilty for hanging on to it for so long, but haven't had the chance to place it in a cache.

Our next stop was for the newly placed "Gold Junction" cache (GC70VYV). A nicely hidden cache for another new cacher in the Hobbs area. I'm sometimes a little hesitant looking for a new cache placed by a cacher with few finds. (only 17 for this one) Sometimes the coordinates may be WAAAYYY off or the container not even there! But this one was a good hide. Well done Boogieman77!

Then up the road to a 6-stage Multi-Cache (GC1X8ZF) at the cemetery. This one was a lot of fun. Started at the front, then to the back, up near the front, you get the idea! Criss-crossing back and forth across the cemetery looking at graves to get hints to the next set of coords. Rated a difficulty of 5, but a fun cache.

Next was another Multi-Cache called "Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?" (GC3QKHK). Although the 10' chicken statue was no longer there, we did manage to find the egg at the end.

After some fun, it was time for some history. The next cache was called "Ye Old Slammer" (GC1WWNC). This was the Old City Jail from the 1930's. Couldn't see much as it was all boarded up. Too bad. They should make this into a museum or something.

One more cache in town before heading back and we made it a virtual cache (GC3DAE). Located at the old oil well from the 1920's celebrating SW New Mexico and the Permian Basin economy. There's also another historic feature here, but I can't say because that would give away the answer required to claim a find. And that would be cheating! HAHA!

Two more quick roadside park and grab caches on the way back to Odessa (GC24RE6, GC1YEFJ) and that was it for the day. It wasn't a big day for caching with a lot of sites, but it was a much needed break from WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK!! And had a great time with Noerjr who previously only had 1 find and ends his second caching day with 12! Way to go!!

Hopefully soon I'll be back to a 5-day work week and we'll be caching on a regular basis again! Until next time...

2016-07-02: Being Attacked by Alien Birds in Roswell, New Mexico

Hello and Welcome Back to AwayWeGo's Geocaching Adventure Blog. Today's adventure had us going up into New Mexico and was supposed to be deep into the earth at Carlsbad Caverns. However we forgot that it was a holiday weekend and it was very busy! So we decided to skip it for another day and continue up the road to Roswell, NM to see if we can find some extraterrestrials.

Our first Geocaching stop was near the town of Malaga at a New Mexico historical marker. (GC2AXZ6) The marker was to highlight the travels of Don Antonio de Espejo, leader of the third expedition to explore New Mexico, who passed near the spot on his return to Mexico City in 1583. After learning of the martyrdom of two Franciscan friars from an earlier expedition, he explored the Pueblo country and then followed the Pecos River Valley south.

Soon we arrived in the galactic rest stop of Roswell, NM only to find a packed downtown area due to the annual UFO Festival! Just not going to be our day. The line for the UFO Museum was out the door and down the block. I looked at the phone and found a nearby cache away from the activities that would also give us a moment to park and figure out what to do.

Arriving at our next Geocache (GC3A0KF) at the James Phelps White House. Built in 1912 and lived in by the family until 1972, the house was donated to the Historical Society of Southeast New Mexico in 1976. Now it is a museum.

Today the museum was closed, but we pulled in to find a car parked there with two ladies inside, probably in their 60's, and looking at us rather inquisitively. Were they also Geocaching? I parked about 5-6 spots away from them. After a minute or two, she pulled over closer about two spots away on my side. We stayed in our car and I just continued looking at my phone like I was texting. She then back out again and pulled up right next to us on Candy's side and rolled down her window. We then noticed she had cuts on her face and was bleeding. She proceeded to warn us about a bird that had swooped down and attacked them. This was the reason she had cuts on her face. We thanked her for the warning and they left.

Well being so close to the cache, I didn't want to leave without an attempt. The parking lot was about 100' from the cache location. We looked out the window but didn't see any bird flying around. I opened the door and looked some more. Nothing. A few SECONDS after standing up and looking around, this bird comes out of nowhere swooping down to about a foot above my head! I quickly jumped back into the car. There IS an alien attack bird out there on the loose! Now what to do?
Looking carefully we noticed a driveway running right along side the house and around back. So I pulled out from the parking lot and into the narrow driveway until I was just a few feet from the cache. Now we had some protection from the car, the house, and an overhang. I quickly jump out and spotted the cache. I brought it back to the car where I stamped the log sheet and placed it back. WOW! We've been on hikes with the threat of snakes, alligators, scorpions, and now Attack Birds from Outer Space! Let's get outta here!

Back over to the main street through town where we managed to find a place to eat. A Mexican restaurant with slow service and just OK food. Nothing special but we were hungry. After lunch, we quickly strolled through the two blocks of festivities for a look. Mostly arts & craft booths with some alien stuff added to the mix. One of the most creative displays was this one guy who turned old tires into alien creatures, plants, and other objects. These were my distant relatives, the Goodyear family, from the planet Yokohama of the Uniroyalverse. On the drive out of town we stopped for gas and had my picture taken with a very patriotic visitor.

Heading south and back towards home, we stopped in the town of Artesia, NM. I noticed on the drive up a couple of statues along the roadside but didn't stop. But since Carlsbad and Roswell were packed full of tourists, I decided to stop here. The first one pictured below is called "El Vaquero" (the cowboy) and is firing a warning shot from his pistol into the air the warn the "Trail Boss" of the second photo that he has spotted some cattle rustlers coming their way.

The next two statues were also virtual Geocaches. The first virtual cache (GCGJGK) brought us to the First Lady of Artesia Sallie Chisum, a school teacher, reading a book to kids about outlaw Billy the Kid.

The next virtual cache (GCJC1X) commemorates the first oil well in Southeast New Mexico and the men who made it happen. The two men are John Gray and Mack Chase who were in the industry for many years. Below that is a statue that depicts the first oil well from 1924.

One last Geocaching stop (GC2CR17) for the day at a cemetery near Lakewood, NM. A small cemetery dating back to 1906. By now it was hot and we were wanting to get back, so we forgot to take some pictures.

When we finally made it back down to Carlsbad, we decided to take a different route the rest of the way. We headed east along Jal Highway (128) and happened to pass by these lakes. They appeared to be salt water lakes and then noticed a sign for a salt mine. It's kinda hard to see from the photo and we didn't find any path to get down closer to the lake, but it looks as though that "white sand" around the edges was salt. There were also some parts that had tree stumps and other debris sticking up and they were all white and covered with salt also.

But that was our Geocaching Adventure for the day. Not what we had originally planned, but being spontaneous isn't bad either.

2016-05-29: Geocaching Through Texas History, Cemeteries, and Ghost Towns

Hello again and welcome back to our Geocaching Adventures Blog. My work has started to slow down and we are able to venture out on the weekends to go exploring and geocaching around West Texas again. Although it is getting hotter, plus being exhausted, and finding the time to sit and write this blog too! Today's edition actually took place a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to tell you about it. So let me get to it...

On this Sunday morning, we picked up Candy's co-worker you might remember from hiking a few weeks ago. A few blocks away from her place was our first cache at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. In reality, I was here a few days earlier to grab this Geocache as a "First to Find" since it had gone a couple of days since it was hidden without a find. Because of its location, I brought them here again to view the reason for the cache. Called "Unhenged" (GC6J85H), this cache was placed to bring you to a replica of the Stonehenge monument over in England. Saved us a flight overseas!

Out on the corner of the campus in Odessa near the street was this statue of a cattle rancher and a few of his herd. While waiting for the traffic light to turn green I snapped a photo. Then off to Starbucks for some coffee before the 84 miles to our next Geocache.

Our next few caches were in the Ghost Town area of Texon, Texas. (GC1Z34W GC113H9 GC1Z34Q) Early travelers along many historic trails in this area found the region arid and inhospitable. Given (1876) to the University of Texas, the lands around this area were leased to cattlemen. The Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad built its line here in 1911, but did little local hauling.

Development came after Frank Pickrell and Haymon Krupp of Texon Oil and Land Company drilled for oil. Their driller, Carl Cromwell, brought in Santa Rita No. 1 named after the Saint of the Impossible and became the first gusher in the Permian Basin on May 28, 1923. The original tower was taken down and erected at the University of Texas and this replica was later erected in place.
Shortly thereafter Pittsburgh wildcatters M. L. Benedum and Joe Trees purchased some of the Texon Company's leases and formed the Big Lake Oil Company to develop the field. From 1924 to 1926 the BLOC president, Levi Smith, planned and built Texon for employees and their families south of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway tracks. At a time when oil towns denoted wildness, Texon was considered a model oil community. In addition to houses, BLOC provided a grade school, a church, a hospital, a theater, a golf course, tennis courts, and a swimming pool for its residents, who numbered 1,200 in 1933. Smith, an avid baseball fan, sponsored the Texon Oilers, a semiprofessional team composed of company employees. Privately owned businesses housed in company buildings included a drug store, a cafe, a boarding house, a tailor-shop, dry-goods and grocery stores, barber and beauty shops, a service station, a dairy, an ice house, and a bowling alley.

By World War II oil production was declining, and with no new wells, fewer employees were needed. By 1952 the population had fallen to 480. In 1956 Plymouth Oil Company, another Benedum-Trees property, took over BLOC, and in 1962 ownership passed to Ohio Oil, now Marathon Oil, which chose not to maintain the town of less than 100 residents. In 1986 the post office was closed, and in 1996 less than ten people lived in Texon. The population was twelve in 2000.

Our next Geocache (GC113H6) was another Texas Ghost Town. Reagan County, West Texas Highway 67 Between Big Lake and Rankin Named for an Englishman who was a shareholder in the railroad, Best was nothing but a switching point on the Orient Railroad. When oil was discovered in 1923, Best mushroomed as the regional supply center. The population grew to an estimated 3,500 in just two years. Best gained an instant reputation for being a wild town. Perhaps added by the irony of its name and a novel (The Big Fist) written in 1946 - set its bad reputation in stone. The town's unofficial slogan was "the town with the Best name in the world and the Worst reputation." After the boom fizzled, only 300 people were left in the 1940s. A service station / post office was still in operation in the 80s and by the 1990 Census - only 25 people were left. It is now listed as 0001. Best was located at Hwy 67 and Best Lane, between the highway and the train tracks located about a block south. Best Lane turns north off of 67, and is called Lone Wolf Lane south of the highway. Santa Rita Road runs parallel with and between the highway and tracks, and goes to the Santa Rita No. 1 well. Nothing left but a few foundations along the Santa Rita Road.

Further down the road was the Ghost Town of Stiles, TX and our next five Geocaches, including two virtual caches. The first three were located near the historical marker and the old courthouse. (GCXBWP, GC9891, GC113HD) Stiles is near the intersection of Farm Road 1800 and Centralia Draw, eighteen miles north of Big Lake in north central Reagan County. Areas of massive limestone are found in and near Stiles. The area was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route in 1859-61 and was settled by sheep and goat ranchers in the 1890's. The town was named for Gordon Stiles, who donated land for the townsite. William G. Stiles applied for a post office, which was established in 1894, and a store was operated nearby. Because it was the only town in the county Stiles was chosen county seat of Reagan County when the county was organized in 1903. In 1907 John Marvin Hunter began publication of the Stiles Journal, the first newspaper in Reagan County. By 1910 Stiles had a population of 191 and a frame courthouse.

The following year William Martin, of Comanche, built a new courthouse with stone quarried from a hillside near the town. In 1911 the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad bypassed Stiles in favor of a route through Big Lake. The original survey for the railroad included Stiles, but the right-of-way was changed to the southern part of the county when a rancher refused to grant permission for the road to cross his land. After the discovery of oil at the Santa Rita oil well near Big Lake in 1923, Stiles began to decline. Following an election on May 28, 1925, Big Lake became the county seat. By 1925 the population of Stiles had fallen to seventy-five, and by 1939 the post office had been discontinued. From 1966 to 1990 the population was estimated at sixteen.

The first floor interior plan of the courthouse was a Greek cross with intersecting center hallways and four corner rooms measuring 16' square. The stairway is located in the west hallway. The courtroom and two other offices are located on the second floor. Interior detailing includes plaster walls, simple door/window trim and baseboard, transoms over doorways and a wooden chair rail in the courtroom. The ceiling on both floors is pressed tin and the floors are wooden. A small raised platform is the only distinguishing feature in the courtroom. A limestone records vault is located to the east of the main structure. It was originally built to provide fireproof storage for the earlier frame courthouse that occupied the site. It has a stone barrel vault, but was originally roofed over with a shingle roof. The steel vault doors are still in possession of the owner. Christmas of 1999 an arsonist set fire to the structure and gutted the place.

Outside the courthouse and sitting on top of the cache container, we spotted our first scorpion since arriving in West Texas. While this one was just a baby at maybe an inch long, you gotta be careful and watch for the poisonous critters while caching out here. Between those and the deadly rattlesnakes, you can't just reach for the cache as soon as you spot it!

South of the courthouse was the Stiles Cemetery which is still used to this day and the other two caches. (GC113HJ GC9EFB) The cemetery opened in 1903. Three of the earliest graves are three siblings who died within 10 days of each other. The historical marker says that the people buried here in the early days were cowboys who were accidentally killed, victims of shootings and rattlesnake bites, and citizens who fell to dysentery epidemics. There is also a grave of a Spanish-American soldier.

Continuing east on US67 in Reagan County, we arrived in the county seat of Big Lake, TX. The town of Big Lake took it's name from the lake created by rain which gathers in a natural land depression near this cache (GCZF09). Once filled by spring-fed water, it is now the largest dry lake in Texas. In pioneer days it was the only fresh water between the Concho river and springs at Ft. Stockton and was a campsite for Indians, Mexican traders and cattle drivers. When there is enough rain in the area this lake still fills with water and when it does, there are live fish in it. In the photos below, you can see where the spring was in the first and the dry lake in the distance of the second photo.

The other two caches in Big Lake were at the Glenrest Cemetery (GC1Z348) with graves dating back to 1913, and at the Reagan County Airport for the Florene Miller Watson Memorial (GC17W89). During World War II, a hand-picked group of young women pilots became pioneers, national heroes, role models.. called Women’s Air Force Service Pilots. These ladies flew their way into the annals of women’s history as the first women in U.S. history trained to fly American military aircraft.

Florene Watson was born on December 7, 1920 in San Angelo, Texas. She grew up in Big Lake, Texas, where her father, T.L. Miller owned a jewelry store. In 1937, Florene graduated from Reagan County High School. Her first flight at 8 years old was in Big Lake in a World War I barnstormer plane. By age 19 she had finished two years of college and had also obtained a pilot’s license. Mrs. Watson earned her flight and ground school instructors’ ratings and was teaching men to fly in the War Training Program in Odessa and Lubbock, Texas, when World War II began.

Florene Watson was one of the elite group of only 25 experienced women civilian pilots who met the military requirements in 1942 and volunteered to fly for the Ferrying Command. They were called the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). Almost a year later in 1943, their name was changed to Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) to include women pilots as they graduated from their military training schools in 1943 and 1944. Some of the 1078 graduates flew for the Ferrying Command, but most were assigned varied flying duties in the Training Command. Thirty-eight WASPS lost their lives during their service to the war. Mrs. Watson was the first commanding officer of the WAFS-WASP stationed at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. She flew all the basic Arny Air Corps trainers, fighters, and cargo planes, including twin and four-engine bombers, transporting them all over the United States for the Ferrying Command. In addition to her ferrying duties, Mrs. Watson tested radar equipment and served as a military airline pilot in 1944. Her favorite airplane was the North American Mustang p-51.

The next cache was located at the remains an old building in Barnhart, TX (GC17W1M). Barnhart, located off U.S. Highway 67 and State Highway 163 in southwestern Irion County, was established in 1910 at the building of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway and was named for William F. Barnhart, agent for the railroad. In 1912 a post office was acquired with C. C. Luther as postmaster, and the first school was established with Mrs. Maude Branch as the teacher. The Barnhart Independent School District was established on February 27, 1917; the school operated until 1969. By 1920 the town also had the Barnhart State Bank, which was moved to Rankin in 1927, and a newspaper, the Barnhart Range, published by Ed Downing. In the 1920s and 1930s Barnhart became a large-volume shipping point, due to its location between major railroad lines. The population was reported as fifty in 1915. In 1947 Barnhart had 250 residents and six businesses and in 1980 seventy-four residents, a business, and a post office. In 1990 the population was 135. By 2000 the population was 160. There's also the Barnhart Cemetery cache located east of town (GC1Z33B).

One of the favorite things we like about Geocaching are the odd things the caches bring you to see. This next Geocache (GC1Z355) was located along the roadside of this rock painted up like the American flag. If you were not caching and passing by at the posted 75 MPH, you might have missed this. 

Our last cache of the day (GC1Z35E) was located at the Mertzon Cemetery which serves the community of Mertzon and dates back to 1912.

So another great Geocaching day in West Texas and picking up a few more counties to boot! Thanks for following along and we hope to be off on another adventure soon.

2015-11-28: Geocaching Through History and the TX/LA Gulf Coast

For today's Geocaching adventure, we drove down to the most south east point along the Texas and Louisiana state lines. There were a couple of virtual geocaches we wanted to find. So we headed on out down US-69 towards our destination.

Upon arriving in Port Arthur, we saw an IHOP and decided to stop for some breakfast. As we were seated at our table, I opened the Geocaching app on my phone to see what was around.  Lo and behold there was a cache just 127 feet from our table! Right there in the parking lot! So of course that was our first cache find for the day.

After leaving IHOP, we drove on down to Sabine Pass Battleground State Park. This site is where Lt. Richard (Dick) Dowling and a single company of Confederate artillerymen stood their ground and defeated a Federal naval force that attempted to land troops here to begin the invasion of Texas. Though ordered to spike their cannons and abandon their posts by their commanders, Dowling and the mostly Irish cannoneers forced the surrender of the entire Federal force being quite surprised to be defeated by such a small group of determined men.

We walked around the park looking at all the monuments, statues, and plaques learning about the history of what had happened here those many years ago.  We gathered the information we needed to claim a find on the virtual cache as well as finding two other traditional caches there.

There was another virtual cache far down at the tip of Sabine Pass, but the road going down to it was full of pot holes. Some of those pot holes were pretty deep and I just wasn't comfortable trying to maneuver the GeoPrius all the way down. I managed to get within one mile, but decided not to go further. We'll have to return another day when we feel like walking down there.

But on the way down and back we saw many oil rig platforms along the Sabine Pass Channel, I assume being repaired for maintenance. These things are huge! Something else we Floridians don't ever get to see are these tall chimneys at the oil refineries with flames burning at the top. These are pretty cool to see at night too! We also caught sight of a huge oil tanker ship headed back out to sea. I assume that with the direction it was headed and riding high on the water, that it had already unloaded it cargo of crude oil. 

We then drove back north to Port Arthur picking up Hwy 82 to cross over the Channel over to the other side. Eventually crossing over into Louisiana, we continued to stay on Gulf Beach Highway until we got right along side the Gulf Coast. There we stopped and took a walk along the beach and gathered the required information to claim a find for an earthcache.

This was also a good chance to let our GeoDog Max out for a walk. Though I get the impression he wasn't too impressed with the whole idea. He has the expression on his face as if he was saying: "There's no trees, no bushes, no fire hydrants... it's just a giant litter box for cats! What am I supposed to do here?"

Starting to head north now to pick up I-10 and head back to Beaumont, we picked up a few more Geocaches along the way. But the mosquitoes were ferocious! We even passed up a hike here at the Creole Nature Trail because of them.  

It was another fun filled day with history, nature, seeing where oil and gasoline is made, and just spending time together. Where are we going tomorrow? Not sure. You'll just have to come back and see.