The name of G.W. Littlefield is incredibly familiar to me. He was a huge patron of the University of Texas, where there are still buildings named after him and his family. At one point, when the State wouldn’t fund it for reasons, he and one of his rivals funded the entire University for two years themselves. I’ve passed by his grave at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin at least a hundred times. He founded this town to be a stop along the railroad line passing through the area and it’s now the county seat. As a sidenote, both Waylon Jennings (for the outlaw country inclined among you) and Lisa Whelchel (for the 80’s pop culture inclined) are from here. When I finish the project and write the book, I may go back and note some famous people from each county. Or maybe the Panhandle is special in cultivating the creative spark to be presented to the world? There’s a little sarcasm in that, but there’s something about remoteness that does that. Maybe I joke a bit about the Panhandle, but maybe all they need is a Donald Judd to make it a new Marfa. If you need no distractions, this a good place for that. Which is ironic because I’m busy rambling about creativity when I should be caching.
The clinic is long closed, but the cache is here all the time. This one had seen better days, though. It had started as a tape wrapped plastic container, but years of sun exposure had broken down the plastic where it had been untaped. Someone has since replaced it, but this one may have been the original container from when it was placed in 2008. That, and the owner hasn’t logged a cache in 3 years. I don’t love zombie caches, but when I’m flying between counties I’ll take whatever I find and call it victory. I did what was required and then headed off to the east. Sometimes I find myself regretting not spending more time in the towns I pass through, but not this time. There’s a sadness here that I can’t quite put my finger on. As if the world had passed it by, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Maybe it’s just downtown. Who knows? I had other things to do. I left it behind and rolled over to…
Geocaching While Black 