visiting Texas in a week

[+novw.nl]

Hello and howdie

 

We will be visiting the great state of Texas in a week for a vacation and we want to geocache. As much as we can. So I have a few questions that maybe somebody here can answer:

 

-What are the "must do" caches you can think of in Texas? North, west, sout, ... it does not matter where.

 

-We know the greatest fair in the world is going to be in town while we visit the Dallas area. I just for the life of me can not find the 3 (?) caches that are supposed to be on the fair grounds?

 

-Over here (Europe) it is virtually impossible to do a large cache-run. So my personal "record" is 30 caches on a single day covering a lot of miles. Now I have been looking at the maps and I saw:

 

http://coord.info/GC1AKE8 -> 12 on one road

http://coord.info/GC10TEA -> 21 on one road

http://coord.info/GC12KCK -> 22 in an area

http://coord.info/GC1P55J -> 27 on one road

 

Do you have any advice on a large run? Which is the best to do? I really would like to do "a lot" just once in the hobby...

 

Oh, and http://coord.info/GC1JRJQ -> 72 caches. Are they serious ??!! Can this be done in a single day?

 

Thanks !

[+HappyCatahoula]

Hello and welcome to the great state of Texas! You're sure to find lots of friendly people here and I'm sure you'll enjoy your trip (once you make it out of DFW airport - yuck! very crowded)

 

I'm just getting started on the geocaching stuff so can't answer your questions regarding that, but I'm a lifetime resident of Texas so can give you some pointers there.

 

One of the biggest mistakes visitors to Texas make (even Americans!) is underestimating its size. Texas is BIG! I live in Amarillo (in the "Panhandle" - the box shape at the top of Texas) but am in Killeen on business (in "Central" Texas). It was an 8 hour drive to get here. To get from the northern border of Texas to the southern tip is a good 14-16 hour drive! There's a reason the Texas Tourism commercials use the slogan, "Texas, it's like a whole nother country!"

 

You made reference to Dallas so I'm assuming that's where you're planning to visit. For your information, Dallas is part of what we call the "Metroplex." Dallas and Ft Worth are the two primary (very large!) cities in that area, then there are lots of smaller towns in between and around them. All these cities & towns just kept growing & growing until they all merged into each other. You will be driving down a road and cross into another town with barely a small sign on the road to let you know it happened.

 

Because of all these towns and the dense population, the area can be very congested - especially the Dallas & Ft Worth downtown areas. It takes a good hour to get between Dallas and Ft. Worth - mostly due to traffic.

 

Keep all this in mind as you're planning your cache trips. If you *are* staying in the Dallas/Ft Worth (DFW) area the caches will mainly be urban/suburban. LOTS of concrete in that area!

 

The first & third links you posted came up as being near Houston. It takes about 4 hours to drive from Dallas to Houston. The second link was to Abiline. Not sure, but think that's about 2-3 hours from Dallas. That's probably further than you'd want to drive if you want to get in a bunch of caches in one day.

 

You might want to post which town you'll be staying in, or if you're going to be visiting several areas in Texas. Then we locals can help you chose some good cache areas and/or local attractions to visit.

 

As for weather, it's still very much summer around here. Temps will likely be in the 90F range and the Dallas area tends to be humid, making it feel even hotter. The nights in that area get down into about the 70's this time of year so evenings can be rather pleasant. Up in Amarillo where I'm from we're convinced rain is just a myth . The Dallas area gets more rain but don't know what the outlook is for next week. There are plenty of weather web sites you could check.

 

Hope this information helps you.

 

Again, Welcome to Texas!

[+novw.nl]

thanks for your reply. We feel welcome already.

 

We planned on making a loop:

 

houston - dallas - wichita falls - lubbuck - pecos - del rio - san antonio - houston

 

We have 3 weeks to complete the circle, and we are aware the total loop is 1500 mile long. We plan on staying 2 to 3 nights in all of the above mentioned cities, so we should do alright. As for the temperatures you mentioned: Yippie We are currently at around 50 F and are beginning to believe that whole sun thing is a myth...

[+HappyCatahoula]

Wow! You really *are* doing a Tour de Tejas! Where are you from? Don't recognize Almere.

 

Houston is crowded, polluted, and HUMID! NOT my favorite place to go as you can guess...But the Space Museum is cool. Be sure to get yourself some dehydrated ice cream! It's a scream!

 

Havent been to pecos or del rio. Be sure to visit the river walk in San Antonio and maybe Sea World. Have only driven through Wichita Falls. It's roughly half way between DFW & Lubbock/Amarillo. Lubbock is only about 90 minutes south of Amarillo. See if the Garza Theater in Post Texas (just outside Lubbock) has anything going on. Last time we were there they had a parody of Robin Hood put on by an all-kid cast. It was great!

 

Wish you'd been here 2-3 weeks earlier. Lubbock is just 90 minutes south of Amarillo/Canyon and the show Texas ( http://www.texas-show.com/ )is held in the Palo Duro Canyon ( http://www.palodurocanyon.com/ ) all summer long. They just finished up their season a couple weeks ago. You'd have loved it! Several caches in the beautiful canyon then an excellant show under the big Texas sky at night with the wall of the canyon as the stage backdrop. This is the longest-running outdoor musical in the states. Maybe next time you're in the states. GREAT show!

 

Depending on when you're in Lubbock and what we have going on, maybe we could meet for some caching down in Lubbock. You could give me some pointers as I have yet to find anything.....

[+novw.nl]

Almere is in the Netherlands, Europe... ( http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source....506836&z=5 )

 

Too bad about the show canyon. It looks like something we would have liked. ahwell. You can't get them all.

 

You have found 4 caches right? Grin... We may be able to double that together

 

You received a PM with more info! Looking forward to team for a day!

 

----------

 

I am sure HappyCatahoula is not the only cacher with some great Texas tips? Come out, come out, where ever you are

[+crossmage]

Hello and howdie

 

We will be visiting the great state of Texas in a week for a vacation and we want to geocache. As much as we can. So I have a few questions that maybe somebody here can answer:

 

-What are the "must do" caches you can think of in Texas? North, west, sout, ... it does not matter where.

 

-We know the greatest fair in the world is going to be in town while we visit the Dallas area. I just for the life of me can not find the 3 (?) caches that are supposed to be on the fair grounds?

 

-Over here (Europe) it is virtually impossible to do a large cache-run. So my personal "record" is 30 caches on a single day covering a lot of miles. Now I have been looking at the maps and I saw:

 

http://coord.info/GC1AKE8 -> 12 on one road

http://coord.info/GC10TEA -> 21 on one road

http://coord.info/GC12KCK -> 22 in an area

http://coord.info/GC1P55J -> 27 on one road

 

Do you have any advice on a large run? Which is the best to do? I really would like to do "a lot" just once in the hobby...

 

Oh, and http://coord.info/GC1JRJQ -> 72 caches. Are they serious ??!! Can this be done in a single day?

 

Thanks !

 

Howdy and Welcome!

 

I'm in Houston, and would be willing to serve as your tour guide when you get down to our side of the area. we have some beautiful locations and the temperatures are dropping nicely.

 

I'll echo that Texas is big and you know the route you are taking, but you may not be aware that one of the reasons for the Texas slogan of "Like a whole other country" is because we have just about every terrain type except maybe tundra. In the Houston are you will be in the semi-tropics and I can take you to either the Piney Woods, the Beach and Coastal Prairies, or some good old fashioned gator-filled swamps that will be just the thing to get that arid Wichita Falls dust off of you. :-) Near the NASA area we also have a series of kayak trails (20+ caches all 3.5/5 on the water in a Wetlands wildlife sanctuary with kayak rental nearby).

 

That said, let's talk about your questions.

 

While you are in Dallas, one must-see cache for you will be Tombstone (GC62) - the oldest cache in Texas that is turning ten years old this upcoming weekend. (I don't know when you are arriving, but we will be attending the event (GC25NRG) this weekend to celebrate.)

 

If you have time in Wichita Falls area, I always try to cross the border into Oklahoma to visit the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge. No traditional caches hidden there, but some beautiful virtuals - and a chance to see American Bison wandering freely on the range. Afterwards, have a real western meal in the Ghost Town of Meers, OK. There's a place there that makes burgers from its own herd of Texas Longhorn cattle and has a beer brewed just to balance with the flavor of the burger. It's recognized as one of the best burgers in the US, but this side trip will take up one of your days (and is worth it). (You can also checkout where Bonnie and Clyde, the old American Outlaws used to hide.) Keep water with you in this area. there are also some great mountain bike trails with caches along the way if that is more your speed.

 

If you want to do a large cache run or two, check out the area near Waco. The OOPS and LIH series have provided many of my Houston Friends with more than a hundred finds in a day - and that is with driving time to and from Houston. I've seen some break 200 along those trails. (I have not yet done them).

 

In Austin, you will find one of the top Geocaching adventures anywhere on earth. Did you hear about the cache that was placed on the International Space Station? What about the one on the bottom of the ocean? Well the same gentleman who placed both of those caches (and who made his fortune writing computer adventure games) has created a Haunting little experience for cachers visiting Texas. Plan on spending an afternoon in cemeteries in the area gathering clues, and then approach the skeleton-strewn Necropolis of Britannia Manor III (GC2B034) after dark for the full effect. Several world-travelling cachers have stated that this is one of the top must-see caches anywhere in the world. You can see the GC.com blog entry on it here.

 

And finally, my little town of Houston. 600 square miles of the most cultural diversity in a city that was also the first word spoken on the moon. We have a park here with so many caches in it that I can't look at the whole park on the map (500+). We have giant smiley faces, ancient treasures, event and earth caches that can blow your mind. The most physically demanding series in all of Texas is located here, as well as a series of 5/5 caches that can test you to the breaking point. If you want a tour guide, let me know.

 

Make sure you bring lots of CF cards or film for your cameras. Texas has more species of birds than anywhere else in the US, and the only place on earth with as many different species of flowers as Texas is South Africa. We have Desert, Hills, Mountains, Beaches, Prairie, Plains, Forests and Swamps. You are going to have an AMAZING time.

 

Howdy and welcome, once again.

[+novw.nl]

We had already noted the oldest cache in TX and indeed; it was on our wish list.

 

The Necropolis of Britannia Manor III is probably way beyond our possibilities. I mean, I speak (fairly) good English, but doing mysteries in a foreign language that require maybe even "local knowledge" (comment by "Candy" on blog) is pretty much going to be bleeding difficult. We are in desperate need of help if we are going to try that cache.

 

As for the OOPS and LIH series: kawaboonga... Wow. We will definitely look into heading over in the direction of Waco.

 

It looks as if we are going to be in desperate need of a tour guide...or two

[+HappyCatahoula]

crossmage: Thanks for the tip about Dallas! I'm going to be there this weekend on my way back to Amarillo. Will look it up and see if I can attend. And thanks about the other tips too! Dont know much about the WF area.

 

novw: No PM....can you resend?

[+rstefano52]

Hi, I'm in San Antonio this week and I won't have a car until Wednesday but I have already tried to locate a few caches along the Riverwalk and my geosense has failed me - I don't know if it's the heat and humidity but I even missed out on what was supposed to be the EASY RIVERWALK CACHE! I know this is my first day and maybe my GPSr needs to be re-calibrated but I can't believe that I would have been that far off. Supposedly the caches that I tried were found recently so I have to assume that they are still there. I will try again tomorrow but I just hope this isn't going to wind up being a lousy geocaching trip!

[+rstefano52]

Hi, I'm in San Antonio this week and I won't have a car until Wednesday but I have already tried to locate a few caches along the Riverwalk and my geosense has failed me - I don't know if it's the heat and humidity but I even missed out on what was supposed to be the EASY RIVERWALK CACHE! I know this is my first day and maybe my GPSr needs to be re-calibrated but I can't believe that I would have been that far off. Supposedly the caches that I tried were found recently so I have to assume that they are still there. I will try again tomorrow but I just hope this isn't going to wind up being a lousy geocaching trip!

[+rstefano52]

Hi, I'm in San Antonio this week and I won't have a car until Wednesday but I have already tried to locate a few caches along the Riverwalk and my geosense has failed me - I don't know if it's the heat and humidity but I even missed out on what was supposed to be the EASY RIVERWALK CACHE! I know this is my first day and maybe my GPSr needs to be re-calibrated but I can't believe that I would have been that far off. Supposedly the caches that I tried were found recently so I have to assume that they are still there. I will try again tomorrow but I just hope this isn't going to wind up being a lousy geocaching trip!

[+Semper Questio]

For those of you caching in Texas and looking for more info, you may want to try some of the local group web sites. Not many of the Texas cachers hang around here. Check out this post for a list of local group sites. If you find any bad links, please let me know.

 

For those lookng at Central Texas (Austin, San Antonio) check out the yahoo group we hang out in at - CTGA . You will find folks there that are more than happy to help. You may very well also find plenty of folks that can actually go on the hunt with you - especially for Brittania Manor.

 

Welcome to Texas!