87. Bryan, Brazos County

As someone who went to the University of Texas and is of a certain age, this felt like being a pilgrim in an unholy land. You see, Bryan is merged with College Station, home of Texas A&M. Longhorns and Aggies were rivals of old. Their football rivalry was once one of the biggest and bitterest in all of College football. I believe the rivalry began to fade with the 1999 Bonfire Collapse and UT’s response. It was further undercut by A&M’s support of UT’s National Championship victory in the 2006 Rose Bowl (which is somewhat ironic because the team was custom built to beat A&M in the yearly rivalry game and won the National Championship as a side effect). In the end, the animosity was ended when A&M left the SEC. I’m not sure a Longhorn even thinks about Aggies in this day and age or vice-versa. But once? It was quite a thing. A hundred years of rivalry didn’t die hard and still lingers.

So I really wanted to get the closest cache but I had the feeling that I was going to need a tool (and by “tool” I mean ladder) to find this thing. That and it could have taken hours and I didn’t have that kind of time. One day, if I find myself back here, I think I’ll go for it, but now was not the time. So I went for the next closest one. Nothing special. A lamppost at a bank.

One of the hard things about going through counties so quickly is that I don’t really get much of a chance to go after the best caches. I get what I can get and I don’t throw a fit. Maybe one day, when I have world enough and time, maybe when I’m independently wealthy (yeah, right!) or maybe retired (double yeah, right!) I can come back and grab some of these caches that I never had time to get. But the sun was getting low and it was time to head home. I got in the car, weary and ready for some well deserved rest.