The courthouse isn’t bad at all. It’s interesting because it’s some kind of combination of the rough-hewn ones I was seeing back in Missouri and the smoother ones I’ve been seeing here in Nebraska. Obviously, this was a choice and an affectation, but it works for me. I hadn’t seen it all over the place either, so I hadn’t yet tired of it or found it cliché. I congratulated Beatrice for offering me something a little different—something I hadn’t seen before—but I was also a little sad to know that I would probably notice it again, a little less fondly now that I had seen it.
I grabbed the cache on the way into town, a simple LPC at a national agricultural supply chain at the entrance to a small airport. I was not sure if they actually supplied tractors, but they certainly had the related accoutrements thereof. There was nothing special about it. Hubris would not strike me again if I could avoid it. As a small sidenote, how many of these little towns have airports? I’d been seeing them all over the place. I’m sure they’re just for small planes, but who’s doing all this flying out here? Doesn’t matter, I guess. All that mattered was that I was in and out pretty quickly and soon made it to…
Geocaching While Black 
A lot of small towns have airports for agricultural reasons. Crop dusting, planting rye and land surveys are all examples of how farming uses small airplanes.
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Today I learned something new!
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I’ve been following the blog for awhile, but for once I actually have something to contribute. Small general aviation airports are indeed all over the map; there are several thousand of them scattered around the country. A huge proportion of the operations at these fields are for flight training, with a smattering of other uses such as sightseeing, cropdusting, aerial surveys, and visits by people who are fortunate enough to be able to travel in their own airplanes. Many current military, airline, and cargo pilots started out taking lessons at just such a field, usually in a small Cessna or Piper airplane.
These facilities are hugely important but underappreciated pieces of our transportation infrastructure, and often bring significant income to their local communities. Unfortunately, they’re often targeted for destruction by real estate developers and poorly-informed local politicians when an area starts getting built up.
I actually started putting together a list awhile ago of geocaches within walking distance of general aviation airports in my area (New England), but so far I’ve only flown out to a couple of them. Some states also have a letterboxing-like challenge to encourage people to visit the airports and collect stamps on a little passport, as a way of spreading awareness about this crucial but underappreciated bit of our transportation infrastructure. Just in case you run out of courthouses and want to collect some other type of landmark.
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I have friends who are letterboxers and they would be totally into this if they ever traveled!
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