Welcome back to Illinois, folks!  I was greeted back to the state by a gorgeous chonker of a courthouse!  It was such a nice departure from the many disappointing courthouses of the day before.  I also noted that Evansville was the nicest Illinois town I had ever seen in sunlight.  All the others had been … Continue reading 974. Evansville, Madison County (IL009) →

Finally!  Franklin County had a nice piece of classical revival if ever there was one!  I couldn’t help but look at Ben himself, seated before it in statue form with his rakish purple bow, smugly enjoying how cool his courthouse is…  After driving around for a bit like we were the Keystone Cops, we went … Continue reading 973. Union, Franklin County (MO036) →

For a moment, I wasn’t even sure if the Crawford County Courthouse actually was the building that I was looking for.  Luckily, one of the monuments outside bore the name that the pediment did not.  That said, setting aside obvious issues of separation of church and state, what is up with these courthouses?  In the … Continue reading 972. Steelville, Crawford County (MO035) →

This was not my first time in Rolla.  A thousand years ago, back before the sky was blue and water was wet, I went to Basic Training at nearby, scenic Fort Lost In The Woods, Misery.  But that was a long time ago and I was a very different person.  I received the courthouse a … Continue reading 971. Rolla, Phelps County (MO034) →

I approached the courthouse with a little bit of dread. I could see it from a ways off and I knew it would not be what I might have hoped. I was starting to get a little disheartened. The courthouses on the trip thus far had not been what I was hoping and this ... … Continue reading 970. Waynesville, Pulaski County (MO033) →

The Camden County Courthouse was perfectly cromulent as courthouses go, a nice and solid piece of art deco. Not great, not bad. My only real objection was the front awning. It seemed to clash with the rest of the building, but being that it's a functional courthouse, that shouldn't be a big deal for me. … Continue reading 969. Camdenton, Camden County (MO032) →

Hickory County seemed a humble place so its courthouse didn't exactly confound expectations. It's a passable colonial style, but I can't lie; I had been hoping for something more grandiose. That said, I had an extra traveler with me. My older daughter had a couple of days free from college so I picked her up … Continue reading 968. Hermitage, Hickory County (MO031) →

Just as a new Earthcache dropped near me over the weekend, a new Virtual dropped near me soon after.  Had my brain been working properly, I would have gone to an Event for my cache of the day, but a) I forgot and b) I was occupied by … other things.  Anyway, the chair had … Continue reading Armchair Logging →

I was prepared to make a pilgrimage to the hinterlands of Central Texas over the weekend. With it being International Earthcache Day, I was ready to go get an Earthcache and earn my new souvenir. As you can imagine, I've been all over Austin and gotten pretty much every Earthcache in the area. Full disclosure: … Continue reading Harry Potter And The Permineralization Of Trunks →

There are some controversial subjects I avoid when it comes to caching.  Usually, it's because I think they really have no place in the hobby for one reason or another, but almost as often it's because I don't want to offend anyone on the other side of the subject.  Politics is probably the biggest one … Continue reading You Gotta Have Faith? →