70. Brackettville, Kinney County

My luck was on high alert on the way here. I got pulled over by a Kinney County deputy and I know I was speeding. He wanted to know what I was doing out here so far from home and I told him the truth: photographing courthouses. I got let off with a warning. He said (and I kid thee not) “We’re busting people going over a hundred and you were only going ninety-eight.” That said, he may have well saved me from some state troopers who most certainly would not have shown me any mercy. And when I pulled up to the courthouse, it turns out that he had followed me. I got out of the car and he passed by, giving me a little wave, and drove off. I don’t know if he was actually following me or just ended up there, but he was there.

Well, hello, old friend. I haven’t seen one of these in a long time. It’s almost like South Texas isn’t as culturally attached to the Confederacy as some other parts of the state… I expect to be seeing a lot more of these things when I really start taking a bite out of East Texas. But for now I’ll just think about how nice it was to not have to remember the contributions of the Confederate States of America to the history of my state.

The cache was at nearby Fort Clark, the subject of the above courthouse stone. It used to be an infantry and cavalry post. Now it’s just some historic buildings inside a golf course based suburb. When I pulled in, the security post stopped me and asked my business there. I didn’t have time or really desire to come up with something clever so I told him the truth, that on the triangle 500 feet past there was a scavenger hunt target to be found. When I put it that way, he just waved me through. What does he really care? The cache was near this majestic fellow, a magnetic key box attached to something obviously ferrous but not pictured. Once that was accomplished, I slipped back out past the security and got back on the road heading to…