967. Mount Vernon, Lawrence County (MO030)

The Lawrence County Courthouse was a good way to end the trip.  Good show!  I wondered for a moment whether I was getting too judgmental about courthouses, especially based on my disdain for several I had seen that day.  Then I remembered that I had asked that exact same question many times before.  If I hadn’t changed my thinking by that point, I probably never would.  I shrugged, musing that one day I would no doubt wonder the question again at the foot of some other courthouse somewhere and then continue the same ritual of remembering and then dismissing.  About five years ago, I started some significant travel in Missouri; everything before that had been snipping corners on the way to other places.  I got a bunch of counties around Springfield, but I missed Mount Vernon.  That tiny hole in my map had been staring at me for years, upsetting me not because it was there (I’ve had to skip counties before), but because I missed it by accident.  I managed to go to the west and north of it on the way up and then to the east and south of it on the way back.  It made a mockery of my well laid plans for years.  But now, all these years later, I was there to rectify that mistake! 

My original hope had been to pick up a Whereigo in the county.  Having another type in the state would probably serve me on a challenge somewhere or other.  Unfortunately, the phone reception that had allowed me to download the appropriate cartridge the night before deserted me once I was actually onsite.  Luckily, being on old Route 66, there were other caches nearby.  I popped back to one near the turn off the highway near a ruined building.  As I approached an ancient tree surrounded by broken branch and sheets of shed bark, I feared it would be harder to find than I would have liked.  But in an almost tailor-made cubby hole in the trunk was a camoed container.  Inveni, inscripsi, reposui.  And that was it.  It was time to complete my trek back home.  But I’ll be back.  There are still 85 counties (and county equivalents) left for me to visit.  Missouri, I’m not done with you yet!