13 October 2012 Caching in Burton

12 October 2012 Homeward Bound

10 October 2012 An Uneasy Start

After a night of patrol helicopters flying constantly overhead, I was hoping for a brighter day. For the first time, I saw the hotel go to alert. There were guards in the first floor hallways and guards were riding with each shuttle van leaving the hotel. I also got my first view of multiple private security vehicles roaming the parking lot of my hotel and the hotel next door. I was getting a ride to and from our facility with my staff member. He was stuck for over an hour in heavy traffic so I retreated back to the quiet of the gazebo and worked from there.

There were dozens of these yellow butterflies flying around the shrubs in front of the hotel. It seemed strange to be taking a picture of a butterfly as security teams drove around, but it occupied the last few minutes until my ride arrived.

By the time I went out to lunch with staff, the world had quieted again.

9 October 2012 The Day Started Quietly

Unlike my last flight to Mexico, this one was uneventful. The jet made the trip from Houston to Monterrey without turning around in Mexican airspace to fly back to Texas for emergency repairs. I had a quiet dinner with one of my staff members and an easy evening in my room.

The trip to our facility was re-assuring. There were a lot fewer Federales present, and the area just seemed more relaxed. Then came a trip out for lunch. My staff member I was traveling with said he had heard a report there was a shot-out between the Federales and a drug lord within a mile of our facility (and less than a mile from the hotel). The calm of the morning's ride was replaced by roadways filled with Federales and local police. we made it to lunch and back, but I decided to spend the evening in the relative safety of my hotel.

The courtyard and gazebo made a good place to spend the evening outdoors without venturing to one of the local restaurants.

The calm of my room was gone. The hotel is normally quiet, but the entire night was filled with helicopters patrolling overhead. Sleep would either not arrive or would just arrive before the beating of the blades returned. I was glad for morning.

8 October 2012 Border Crossing

6 October 2012 An Easy Day

I arrived in PA late the evening before, but had the morning before Ali arrived with the dogs to do some chores and complete a few errands. After I completed maintenance on a nearby cache, I stopped by the Rouse Estate for the annual festival. The wind was harsh and the residents were bundled, but I managed to find some good jam and small loaves of bannana bread. The llamas were a hit with the people at the fair.

We got a late start to hike the Kinzua Valley Trail, but it was worth. The trail runs alongside a nice stream and the fall colors were pleasant.

5 October 2012 West Virginia

I worked in the hotel for the morning before setting off for home. We don't cache often in West Virginia. It's a beautiful state, but locating roads to get to many caches can be tricky with the terrain. It gets much worse when I am traveling alone with my directionally challenged self. Most of our time in West Virginia has been limited to fun visits to Morgantown on our way to destinations farther south. This afternoon, I was headed to Pennsylvania and not Ohio so I was on a different path away from the turnpike and wanted to enjoy the state a bit.

I stopped for gas along Route 19 and spotted the sign below as I entered the station. Wow, a biplane ride would be amazing! After fueling, I went down the road hoping to see the plane or planes. It turns out the brick building in the image doubles as office and hanger. I could see one biplane in the hanger but not much else. I needed to continue home and wanted to hunt a nearby multi that hadn't been found in almost a year so I decided not to stop. A short time later, I was standing in an old confederate cemetery which had been used to bury the casulties of the Battle of Fayetteville when I heard a rare sound in the sky and spotted the bi-plane flying near. Hmmmmm, when do I need to return to Salisbury? This would be amazing.

I found this cache less than a month after the 150th commemoration of the First Battle of Fayetteville. This small cemetery is the final resting place for a number of CSA soldiers that perished in battle in September 1862. William Morgan was 19 when he was killed in battle. Today the cemetery is mowed, but stands unmarked otherwise.

My last stops were at the New River Bridge Trail and the New River Bridge. The last time I was here, I made the mistake of passing through town on the last day of the Bridge Day festivities. This is a small town to pack in an additional 100,000 visitors. Today was a lot quieter, and I was able to capture a few images.

4 October 2012 Geocaching in a New County

It was a long week with the auditor in North Carolina and shorter days have once again arrived so pictures were limited. For my journey back home, I took a detour to visit a new county, My stop in Lexington, North Carolina was short, but it seemed like a pleasant, small town. I only had time for a short visit to the square, but will return in the future if my journeys give me an opportunity.

As a nod to the barbecue heritage of the town, Lexington has a number of painted pigs around town. This party pig graces the sidewalk at the front of the courthouse.

I'm a geek so I as really happy to spot this old USGS benchmark in the town square near a CSA memorial. I was surprised to not see it in the Groundspeak database. I was unhappy to realize I missed the disk on the courthouse, but now have a reason to return.

29 September 2012 Staying Local

Sunday was a travel day for me on a trip to North Carolina so we stayed local. We had some cache maintenence to complete and wanted to find a few caches while enjoying the local colors.

We started in Gates Mills and enjoyed our time along the Chagrin River.

Fall colors at a local park

Our last stop was Geauga's Observatory Park. The new addition to Geauga Park's is an International Dark Sky Park. Our last visit to this park was a windy, snow covered afternoon. Today the colors were wonderful and the park was set up for evening viewing on a beautiful, if slightly cloudy, day. We had the dogs and skipped the after dark viewing, but we did enjoy the park. The lone path in the park starts at the observatory and makes an arc around a field which was ringed with trees today. The path has multiple educational stops along the way.

28 Septembe 2012 Ch-ch-Changes

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be an older man

Yep Bifocals....
Ali doesn't like the new frames. I hate the bifocals... sigh.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon you're gonna get
a little older
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

I guess September has truly ended. :-(

27 September 2012 Sturgeon Point

There were still some wildflowers in bloom when I stopped at 18-Mile Creek on my way home. The weather was perfect so I took the long way home and made a stop at Sturgeon Point for a cache.