Geocaching my way to Georgia

While on furlough we visit a number of churches. We recently had the opportunity to travel from Greensboro, NC down Interstate 85, through South Carolina and into Georgia. We ended up in Monroe, Ga for five days of speaking in supporting churches. On the way down we hit patches of rainy weather but that didn't stop us. Soon after passing the big peach water tower at Gaffney, SC we began picking up a few caches. One with historical significance was Possum Trot (GC1HC4M) a micro in the woods near an old-room school house built in the 1880's that has been moved and preserved. Next up was NUT CASE: Acorn-y Cache (GC195C3). This was probably my favorite of the entire trip. This is a spoiler so be prepared. When we got to the GZ we found a pretty hefty acorn hanging on a cable that we let down in order to get the 35mm canister out and sign the log. People are pretty creative. While in Monroe, Ga we spoke in five different churches. One day they took us to visit a small, rural church near Farmington, Ga where one of Southern Baptist's missionary heroes lived and worked during the Civil War years. Lottie Moon was a young single private tutor during the early 1860's when she attended the Freeman Creek Baptist Church. Lottie went on to become a well-known missionary who corresponded regularly with the stateside constituency during her long years in China. She was instrumental in helping Southern Baptist see the need for a cooperative giving program to support missions work overseas. If you are interested in learning more about Lottie Moon, check out http://www.sbhla.org/bio_moon.htm Another of our favorite sites was a Dukes of Hazard cache near the town of Social Circle, Ga. It is Alcovy Trestle - Dukes of Hazzard#1 (GC1AB79). I can just imagine Bo and Luke Duke driving the Robert E. Lee across that trestle bridge. Social Circle, GA is an interesting little town too. We broke away for an afternoon of caching there. The town got its name from a visitor who came upon a group of men sitting around a well near where the center of town now stands. They were hospitable to the stranger and invited him to join them in the circle. He stated that they were truly a "social circle". The new community had a name. I visited the First Baptist Church of Social Circle to speak. One of the Sunday School classes took me to it's most famous landmark, the Blue Willow Inn. What a country cooking spread they had there! Our little Georgia excursion was a blast. Let me recommend that you go down to Georgia when you can and find you some caches. Stop by Social Circle too.

Walton's Mountain Museum caching; Schuyler, Va.

Are you old enough to remember the television program The Waltons? It was one of our favorites when I was in high school and college. My parents particularly enjoyed it as it described the time they were growing up in the rural southland. While on a recent trip to central Virginia we had the chance to go see the Walton Mountain Museum in Schuyler (pronounced Skylar). It is situated in an old school house. This was a special time for my wife as one of her best memories is that of accompanying her mother on a trip to this place before she passed away some years back. We took a route recommended on the museum website to get there but on our way back south we cut through on what was described as the crocked road. No problem with that. It gave us a chance to see the Rockfish River and the changing leaves, not to mention allowing us to stop and pick up Farrar Bridge (GC100E1). This one was located at a steel frame bridge over the Rockfish River. We stopped and found the cache right away. We stayed on for about half an hour taking photos on the bridge. The countryside here is beautiful. It was fun to have our daughter and our granddaughter along with us. As we headed down Highway 29 towards Lynchburg we stopped in for Nelson County Rocks (GCW79V), a neat cache hidden in a specially prepared cache. Someday I'll have a nice shop where I can fabricate those neat cache containers.

A run in with the Mafia

SPOILER ALERT FOR GREENSBORO, NC: I'm taking every chance I get to get out and cache, particularly when the weather is good. Today was a beautiful clear day. It started out freezing but warmed up into the 60's during the afternoon. The afternoon included a slew of urban caches. The most interesting was related to the local High Point Mafia, a team of geocachers with a mafioso fame. I once attended a geocaching event that they put on. They go all out with the costumes and all. Looks like they have a cache centered around the theme of what happens when a family member or employee becomes a snitch. It is Offer U can't Refuse (GC1YVAR). I parked in the empty office building parking lots across the streets from the wooded area where I would find the cache. I walked across the expansive yard in front of the building, disturbing the Canadian geese as I walked past. Negotiating the mud slick hill to get down to ground zero took some doing. Once there the coordinates were right on. As you can see from the pictures there wasn't much of a challenge finding the cache. It was true to the theme. Looks like they cut off the snitch's hand, ring and all. They left some of their weapons in the guitar case too. I traded travel bugs and grabbed some pictures of this creative cache. Thanks to the High Point Mafia for this fine cache!

The Quaker Connection

My great-great-great-great-great grandfather John Frazier moved from Delaware to Guilford County, NC in 1754. He was a member of the Friends Society, known as Quakers. At this time he moved with his master. He was a 20-year old apprentice. In 1759 he married Abigail Millikan at the New Garden Friends Monthly Meeting. He acquired land near the present-day Guilford County and Randolph County lines. He was a simple farmer and his family was a part of the Center Friends Monthly Meeting once it was established. John Frazier did not fight in the Revolutionary War but had strong enough feelings about our nation's right to self-determination that he paid to finance two soldiers in the war. This earned him recognition as a patriot, even though he was a pacifist. In 1796 John's son, William, moved west to Jefferson Co., TN to help establish the Lost Creek Monthly Meeting. His daughter, Abigail, married a Baptist and was no longer allowed to be a Quaker. This was my great-great-great grandmother. In 1964 our family moved to Guilford County, NC. My father found work in the textile industry. No one in our family had any memories of our Quaker ancestors nor did we know of their sojourn in this same county many years before. It wasn't until 1980 that I became interested in genealogy after visiting with my ailing grandfather in East Tennessee and learning that his grandfather had fought in the Civil War. That information motivated me to begin years of research. The fruit of that labor is knowledge about where our family members were at significant times in the history of our country and even prior to that in Europe. One piece of that history was Quaker and it included the early years of settlement in Guilford County. I thought it only fitting for my grandson to have a cache named GGGGGGG Grandfather John Frazier (GCXXXXX) in order to commemorate the contributions of our Quaker ancestors. While not Quakers today (we are Baptists) we have crossed paths again with the Friends Society. My daughter is a graduate of Guilford College, the Quaker College right here at New Garden where John Frazier was married 250 years ago. I find the Quaker history fascinating and appreciate the good records that they kept. It makes family tree research much easier. If you get to visit the Guilford College area of west Greensboro, NC, be sure to stop in and visit some of the caches around the college. It will be worth your time.