615. Paola, Miami County (KS068)

It always throws me out of nowhere when a really small town has such a majestic courthouse.  I’m sure this would be more stunning during the daytime, but I wouldn’t have seen the illuminated clock face that way.  Notice again the square tower that I’ve been running into this trip, too.  Overall, this is a very handsome, and dare I say even a little bit intimidating courthouse, though in a friendly way, which doesn’t entirely make rational sense, but aren’t we all full of contradictions?  I cold have stopped for some sleep, but I wasn’t tired, and an extra county is always one I don’t have to stop for on the way home.  Unfortunately, I was in an unenviable position… 

The closest cache was in a building that wouldn’t open until morning.  The next closest cache was on the grounds of a defunct girl’s college that closed in the 1930’s.  I went for it, but as interesting as it might have been, the cache was definitely a DNF based on the hint.  I ended up popping next door over to the town of Osawatomie.  There was a cache at one of the welcome signs into town.  Unfortunately, the hint made no sense and recent logs revealed it was behind the sign instead of in front as it was previously supposed to be, but that didn’t matter because I was already sick of this county.  I grabbed, signed, and returned so I could get on down the road to…