184. Gilmer, Upshur County

I nod approvingly at this building.  I reference Gilmer more than you might think I would.  A buddy of mine is from here, which is ironic because I met him independent of the the entire Longview exodus to Austin (my ex-wife used to joke that she still hung out with half the people she went to high school with because the half that didn’t move to Dallas moved to Austin).  As fate would have it, I know how the county was named.  In 1844, the USS Princeton sailed on a cruise with a bunch of American dignitaries to demonstrate cannon made in American foundries.  During a test fire, one of them exploded, killing several of the guests including Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer and Secretary of State Abel Upshur.  Useless information for the win?

The cache was across the street at the Historic Upshur Museum.  I pride myself on the fact that I seem to be able to spot a nano at 10 yards, but this one threw me, not because it was deeply hidden, but because it was so obviously in the open that I just passed over it, thinking it was a bolt or something similar.  I mean, an obviously silver nub on a black iron fixture?  That’s not even hidden…  It is rare, but I have overlooked caches before because they were too easy and I just couldn’t immediately process that they didn’t seem really hidden.  For a few minutes, it was a bolt until it obviously wasn’t. So I did the thing and then got to rolling again, soon to enjoy dinner and company.  But this trip is not quite done.