316. Fort Sumner, De Baca County (NM16)

This is a lovely building. Sure, they’ve added a few side buildings to form a complex of sorts, but I have no doubts it is, on the whole, as functional as it ever was. But that, strangely enough, is the least important thing about being here. Do you know how I sometimes complain about not doing the research on the places I go before I get there? Well, I didn’t do the research on this county and I got smacked by it in the face. The moment I learned of it, the very second I saw it, I knew there had to be a cache there and I knew it would be the official cache of the county. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…

…the final resting place of Mr. William H. Bonney, known more colloquially as Billy the Kid. There is, in fact, a virtual here and I most certainly claimed it. And no, I’m not showing you anything that will give it away. Funny thing is, this isn’t the original tombstone.

This is. Why is it caged up and bolted down? Because people kept stealing it. It was stolen twice and recovered twice. After the second time, they made sure nobody would steal it again, even going so far as cage the original and the replacement to ensure their safety. But the slightly funny thing is that all my photography and claiming took forever. Why? Muggles. Muggles and muggles and muggles. So there was a group here when I got here and a group waiting. Then both the groups broke up and I waited for them to move so I could conduct my business. Someone would stand near the stone and they would move away and someone else would hang around with it and then someone would buzz around near me and then someone new would show up and all this would repeat and I could not for the life of me get near this thing! And then the third family showed up and it all happened again! No matter the family unit, they seemed to distance from themselves and hover near me! I was finally able to get my photos and get what I needed to log the thing and then I could finally go home.

It started at one grave and ended at another. And then began the long drive home. Hours and hours straight. I was so tired and burned out at this point but I made it home. 2665 miles in 4 days. I went home and got some sorely needed rest. Which was good, because a few days later I’d be going to Longview to see the girls and we would be taking a little drive up to…