Day 2 of TX Road Trip

 The plan for Day 2 was to geocache in the counties along the western side of the panhandle. In his planing for these road trips, Hubby looks for geocaches with the usual criteria: easy find (we are usually on a time constraint), found recently, caches with cemetery or welcome to in the title, or something really unusual. Sometimes, the cache description does not indicate how quirky it might be and until we drive past do we realize, we should stop and take a look. Anyone following behind us on the road might wonder at his driving ability! 

This was one of the latter...quirky. It was on his list, but we did not intend to stop until we saw the display of oddities along the highway, including old vehicles, this carving from the trunk of an old cottonwood tree, and...

the Ten Commandments

container host for Lady Liberty

And then when we thought we had seen the last of the windmills...

Tallest Windmill in TX

so disappointed to learn it is not the original

from the ground looking up

the wheel did spin

And then there were more cemeteries...

Hispanic Cemetery

This is NOT typical of the Hispanic cemeteries we see in many other states. Those cemeteries have lots of decorations, flowers, statues, benches or chairs for resting and visiting at the grave sites.

73 graves from 1949 to present day

there is no historical info available for this one

Pauper Cemetery

This one was not easy to find. It was located next to the railroad tracks, in an industrial area outside of town, and had several oil wells pumping giving off a petroleum smell. I suppose the residents didn't mind, but it did bother me! It is also known as the Hockley County Cemetery.

not many residents

one source said 84 graves

 online records for 22 graves

one of the more recent interments

one from 1940

and a WWI veteran

Texas has many roadside historical markers but very few of the ones we passed had pull-offs to stop and investigate what happened at that particular location to warrant the placing of a marker and 4 road signs. Thanks to geocaching, this one called for a ditch drive because there was no pull off. (It was located at the edge of another cemetery.)

four headstone of Buffalo Soldiers

Information from the geocache description: 8 of a series of 11 – SEARCHING FOR WATER

An Educational Tour illustrating the 1877 Buffalo Soldier Expedition route.
After his return to Fort Concho, Lieutenant Charles Cooper wrote a letter to his father describing his experience of the tragic events. This geocache series traces the approximate route taken by the soldiers.

The story unfolds….

MAIN CHARACTERS
Military: Captain Nolan, Lt. Cooper, and 18 soldiers
Buffalo Hunter: 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 30, 1877

EXCERPT from Lt. Cooper's Letter to His Father written from Ft. Concho - Lt. Cooper describes the casualties and the separations....

We had now reduced our party to eighteen men, two officers and one buffalo hunter. We were almost completely used up. Our men had dropped back one by one, unable to keep up with us, their tongues were swollen and they were unable to swallow their saliva – for they like me, had no saliva to swallow. Men were grasping for breath and horses falling dead around us.

The Command were suffering so much for water, they were compelled to drink their own urine and their horses urine, having sugar along, I issued a liberal supply to the men which tended to make the urine palatable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**The soldiers and the hunter are becoming disoriented and delusional. The officer’s maintain the military determination to survive.

Four Memorial Markers for the Buffalo Soldier losses nearby.

(The dairy/letter continues at the next historical marker in the series. We did not go there.)

the find in this cemetery was unremarkable

it was the town in which it is located that was memorable

The road to the cemetery was a dirt road at the edge of the town with a pasture on one side and dilapidated houses on the other.

Not just one or two, but 4 unoccupied houses. The town must not have any teenagers as the houses are still standing, and some of the windows still had unbroken glass panes.

this one was a mud brick house

It was a very small town. We are not certain if there was more than one current residence but it did have a post office, in a new brick building with a flag, indicating it was an operational post office. There were no other businesses. This unoccupied residence was on the other side of the highway as we passed through. 

One of our final stops of the day ~ The title of the cache was interesting to me. The log sheet was in a fake pile of dog poop. We were in cotton country, so I wasn't certain what or where the cache might be. I admit, fake dog poop was not what either of us expected! But we have seen it before so we knew what it was when we saw it next to the fence post. No stains in our cottons!

There was no Day 3 TX Road Trip. Hubby woke that morning (Tuesday) not feeling well. He spent the morning in the hotel bathroom and in bed. That wasn't part of Plan B! We were REALLY glad we weren't on the road and had planned for another day in Amarillo. This will be an AZ to SD trip we will remember for awhile! 

We added 17 counties to the TX map during this trip. Not as many as we would have liked or had on Plan A or Plan B. After all, geocaching is just a hobby, a game, a pastime...not an obsession or an addiction!