2018-08-26: Starting a New Wind Project in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas

Finally after nearly two years on a solar project in West Texas, it is completed. Now it's time for a new chapter. My next assignment is a wind farm located down in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. I'll be staying in a small cabin in Falcon State Park for a few days until I find something more permanent. The cabin is very basic. But it's a short walk to some great sunset views across Falcon Lake and the Rio Grande River.

As for the project, it's gonna be a small wind farm of just 66 turbines that stand 330 feet tall. They'll stretch from the Rio Grande River 12.5 miles back to this hill I'm parked on.

You often hear that you shouldn't drink the water down in Mexico. I'm not sure what it does to you. But if this monstrous praying mantis on the horizon is any indication, then I'll be sticking to bottled water!

Over these next months I hope to bring you stories and photos as I begin to explore South Texas. There are Geocaches to find and new counties to achieve in my effort to complete the Texas County Challenge.

See you back here soon...

2018-01-28: Two First-to-Finds and a Beautiful Sunset

Hello and welcome back to AwayWeGo's Geocaching Adventures blog. Not a very long one today. Today begins the first of many days to come of caching solo. So I guess you could say "Away I Go's" blog. My job continues back in West Texas. Candy is finished traveling and training other DOR's because her new facility in Killeen finally opened and she starts work there tomorrow. That's why we had been making trips to Killeen the past few months because we started renting a house there in preparation for this moment. So today it's just me driving back the 300+ miles on Sundays to Monahans for my work week.

My first Geocaching stop was in Lampasas behind the Walmart. Most Walmart parking lot caches are micro containers underneath one of the lampskirts. This geocache (GC3HAYF) however was a regular sized container up on a hill behind the store. That made it easier not to have to worry about muggles watching you. A quick find and off I go.

It wasn't long before I remembered that there were two NEW geocaches published last week back near Monahans. So I looked them up and they STILL had not yet been found. First-to-Find opportunities await! I forget about all the other geocaches that I'm now bypassing and head west.

Arriving in Penwell, off of I-20 on the west side of Odessa, it's pretty much a ghost town now compared to what it once was. But there is this drag strip south of the highway where they still race cars in season. Right now there nothing going on so it was easier to find the geocache. I found the "Thunder Road" (GC7HKBE) cache quickly and signed the top of the blank logsheet at 5:44 PM for a FTF!

I jump back on I-20 and continue west. Passing through Monahans and just on the west outside of town is a community called Pyote. The "I'll Fly Away" geocache (GC7HG53) was at the cemetery that I mentioned briefly with a couple photos in a blog post back in December. So instead of me coming back to hide my own cache, WestTexasAnnieOakley beat me to it. But that's OK with me because now I get a FTF at 6:20 PM!

Perfect timing to watch a beautiful sunset and have a train come by as well for a few extra great photo opportunities! Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave your comments or share this blog with your friends. Look us up and follow us on Facebook too! See you next time!

Looking Westbound

Looking Eastbound