786. La Plata, Charles County (MD06)

We began the morning in La Plata a little bit tired but rearing to go. We had a lot on our agenda for the day, and we were ready to get rolling. Alright, some people were a little more ready to go than others. Even I was dragging a bit, not being adjusted to eastern daylight time. The late hour and time change were just enough to slow me down. On the other hand, I’m rarely one to miss out on breakfast, so I was definitely up in time for (the admittedly lackluster) morning food. I never fail to notice the difference between Texas and all other states in this regard: we have Texas-shaped waffle makers. Nowhere else has state-shaped waffles (not even Colorado or Wyoming). But all that was secondary. I had to get to a courthouse, and we had to find a cache. The courthouse was easy enough, being across the street from the gas station we filled up at. Razorbackgirl and 4everlyn pumped as I photographed. The courthouse had a Palladian portico with a square tower reaching above it in the rear. I wondered if this style of courthouse was where the square towers of the Midwest drew their inspiration. I also began to wonder if I had thought that before, but that was neither here nor there. There was something else important left to do.

The cache wasn’t remarkable—a fake rock in the crevice of a rock wall.  It was a little different in that it was in a relatively high position, but otherwise, it was an easy grab.  Despite the ease and ubiquity of it, this was a special cache for me.  La Plata represented the 25 percent mark of my Great Project.  Yes, one-quarter of all the counties (or county equivalents) in the United States. Normally there would have been muggles since it was in a retaining wall behind a fast-food place, but the hour was early enough that the general public’s desire for chicken hadn’t kicked in quite yet.  We signed it and stamped it with the mark of the TexaSix (our collective nom de guerre for the trip) before heading on.  We passed into a new county, but I did not claim the cache we found there.  The county seat was really far out of the way, and I didn’t want to drag the entire assemblage an hour and a half out of the way for my personal issue.  I would pass on a number of counties for this reason, but I knew I could always come back to the area.  Of course, there were some places I was trying not to have to come back to, but many of those wouldn’t be realized one way or the other until long after I had reached…