2017-12-28: Surprise Road Trip: Texas to Maryland Day 2

So welcome back and a quick recap of where I'm at. Because my wife was pulled from our Christmas vacation and sent on a business trip to Baltimore, I decided to drive there from Texas to surprise her. Yesterday I drove over 500 miles and stopped just west of Memphis, Tennessee, over on the Arkansas side. Along the way the GeoDogs and I are stopping for caches in needed counties to fill in those empty spaces on the map. In case you missed it, you can read all about Day 1 here before continuing to fill you in on the Why, Where, and Wohoo!

Waking up at dawn this morning in Brinkley, Arkansas, I loaded up the GeoDogs in the car and we began Day 2 of our Surprise Road Trip. Brinkley is located in Monroe County and one that I needed. Not far from the hotel was a park with a simple and quick cache, Best Park Ever (GC1XC5F), I could easily grab and be on my way. And not to worry about muggles this early in the morning.

Back on the road and a long stint before the next scheduled cache county. Eastbound on I-40, across the Mighty Mississippi River, through Memphis after 105 miles we arrive in Shelby County, Tennessee at a town called Arlington. It wasn't right off the exit, but the NoWhere Road cache (GC3RYBG) was pretty easy to get to and I thought it wouldn't take much time away from traveling. Found it quickly but the container was empty. Added a new log sheet and was on my way.

Taking the backroads back to the interstate, I passed by this old abandoned spooky house. It would have been cool to go exploring inside. But it was beyond the fence on private property. So just photos for now.

Just twenty-six miles down the interstate was my next stop in Haywood County and a quick cache called Koko Moto (GC2GAB3). A quick find right off the exit and return eastbound quickly.

Forty-seven miles later and I find myself in Henderson County at the Independence Cemetery. A small unincorporated community in Tennessee just a few miles from the interstate. The cache was called Earn Your Independence (GC111HB). Cemetery caches are among my favorites because of the stories and history that could be found in them. With the small church and graveyard it was hard to resist not taking a quick walk among the headstones. The cemetery was well kept with the exception of the space between these two headstones. Husband and wife headstones. I've heard about some people who don't want their burial site to be well mowed grass because they like gardening, trees, vines, etc. Could this be the reason? Or perhaps turmoil and chaos in the marriage? Hmmm. I guess we'll just have to imagine what truth has been confined to the grave.

Continuing east and across the Tennessee River, I arrive in Humphreys County and grab a quick off the exit cache. Pond Bottom at Cuba Landing (GCX8NR) was a quick cache with a view of North Fork Blue Creek. A quick stop for the cache and to let the Chihuahuas take care of their business.

A short 14 mile drive later and I'm in Hickman County at another unincorporated community called Only, TN. Here was an Earthcache called Lee & Gould Furnace (GC15QK3). Samuel Lee and James Gould built the furnace in 1833 as part of an ironworks that employed hundreds. They located here due to the proximity of the raw materials needed to produce iron. The furnace stands as a reminder of an early industry.

Williamson County was the next stop thirty miles east. The Flying Alphabet cache (GCX9NE) was at a truck stop near the exit. A nice quick stop that I could park next to it and let the GeoDogs out as a distraction while I made the find.

The next exit down was Cheatham County and another quick right off the exit No Map Needed cache (GC3V7K4) in a busy shopping area. Again I was able to position the car to block the view from muggles to make the quick find.

Thirty-eight miles and through Nashville later, I arrived at Wilson County for my next cache. Wash Day at Belinda City (GC1DVEN) was just the cache needed right off the exit at the edge of a parking lot for a quick find to keep me moving forward.

Next was a nice long stint of 115 miles over to Roane County. The New Years Resolution cache (GC5JHVJ) was so close to the exit it was practically still on the exit!

Sixty-seven miles later and passing through Knoxville, I arrived in Sevier County and the town of Kodak. There I grabbed Scorpio the Scorpion cache (GC3Q3DT) to claim a county find.

Speaking of Knoxville, they have one of my favorite cache finds. I found Knoxville's Fastest Headstone (GCNBF5) way back in 2008. The cache is located near the headstone of A. J. Pete Kreis who was from Knoxville. He was a favorite to win the 1934 Indy 500 race but was killed during practice when his car crashed over the wall and burst into flames. If you've ever watched the race on TV and in the intro do a brief history of the race, they usually show that crash. Well his giant rectangular headstone has the track outlining it and his car going over the wall. Pretty cool to see if you're ever in the Knoxville area.

My last cache for the day was in Hamblen County off I-81 in Morristown. Pull Out #3 cache (GCMJ18) is another one of those quick park and grab at the exit caches for the highway traveler.

Welcome to Virginia! Finally making it through Tennessee longways east to west, I drive another 115 miles to Marion, Virginia. When I got off the exit ramp I'm staring at these signs and begin to chuckle so I just had to take a picture. You got the Atkins (diet) to the right or the Hungry Mother to the left! Well I thought it was funny. Maybe cause I was driving for 625 miles, I'm tired, and ready for a hotel. I should make it to Baltimore tomorrow to surprise my wife. Talking to her on the phone a few minutes ago, she now thinks I'm still in Texas driving around the state Geocaching. With the freezing temps there in Baltimore, she's starting to come down with a cold and not feeling too good. Hopefully arriving with her puppies and myself will cheer her up! Come back tomorrow to see what happens!

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...