With all the new caches dropping in South Austin, I decided to grab one on the other side of the river. I also didn’t feel like taking a long walk on a trail (it had been threatening rain all day) so I went for an easy one that wasn’t too difficult. I was brought to an old African American cemetery that I had never heard of, attached to a no longer functional church. The locals treat it as a park, primarily (I suspect) because none of the markers remain. The lady walking her dog there was nothing out of the ordinary: I’ve seen that in far classier cemeteries than this one. The lady in her bikini sunning herself, on the other hand, raised my eyebrow. I wish I could say I was upset about it, but I’m not. I’ve seen Black cemeteries with unmarked graves too many times to consider it anything special, and being used as a pocket park is better than overgrown grass, I guess. Behind the old church was a fake rock which took me a minute to recognize because it wasn’t the standard store-bought rock. Inveni, inscripsi, reposui.
Coincidentally, that cache tangentially connects to a thought I’ve been having for the last couple of days. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it (and I don’t find obvious mention of it in the archives), but I received a coveted Virtual in the last offering. Bully for me! I’ve been spending some time trying to figure out where I’m going to put it and that’s been harder than expected. I don’t think I’m going to place it around here because there’s nothing I’m attached to enough for it that doesn’t have one already. There’re several places I’d like to do it but, since I only have the one Virtual, I have to choose (but if I had three…). I think I’ve come up with what I want to do. It involves a Black historical figure in a cemetery but that presents a different issue: it’s somewhere I’ve never personally been, meaning it’s going to necessitate a trip just for that. That trip, however, doesn’t align with my current goals for the year or next year. There are three states that are in my crosshairs currently or in the near future for various reasons, and this wouldn’t be in any of them. Not only that, but I idly devoted an hour to roughly sketching out what that road trip might look like, and it would be a pain in the butt as it currently stands. I could probably adjust it to make the journey less difficult (and easier to get counties and courthouses along the way, of course), but that involves devoting time and energy to an enterprise I shouldn’t be undertaking right now in the first place. I might have to fly out (which I’m trying to avoid for reasons as well), but if I do that, there are also other things I’ll need to do in the area on top of taking care of the Virtual (I haven’t been to the specific location, but I’ve been near it before). And I know I have until February to do whatever I end up doing, but time seems to fly so fast! It’s hard enough to believe that this month is almost at an end! Decisions, decisions!
Geocaching While Black 