Love Bug-Canadian Red Wood

I maintain records on my trackables. For a US-based trackable, this one is unusual for its longevity and movement. In the six-year period, 2010-16, the owner released a total of 2563 trackables in the United States (96%) and Europe (4%). This trackable is one of the 5% of the total that circulated for at least 5 years and had been moved at least 25 times. That is a target rate of at least five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 30-May-23 this trackable had survived for 9.2 years and had been moved by 44 cachers, for an average drop every 76 days. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the US, please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This is one of a series of heart-shaped items obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs. They are named either for the places of their origin or for Texas Panhandle-South Plains towns with interesting names or histories.

Canadian is the county seat of Hemphill County. The population was 2,233 at the 2000 census. It is named for the Canadian River, a tributary of the nearby Arkansas River.  The origin of the name of the river is unclear.  Canadian trappers may have camped there or it may simply be a corruption of Indian words. The trails along the river are older than recorded history. Coronado came through the area in 1541 on his way to Kansas in a vain search for the Seven Cities of Cibola.

 In 1840, Josiah Gregg and thirty-four men from Missouri passed through Canadian with trading goods worth $25,000 while en route to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  In 1849, parties headed for the California gold rush passed through, led by Captain Randolph B. Marcy.  Settlers avoided the area for many years due to continuous, perhaps exaggerated reports by government surveyors and cavalry troops of the volatile Canadian River and its treacherous quick sand, scorching summer winds and winter blizzards.  The region was also home to Apache and later Kiowa and Comanche Indian tribes.  In the 1870s and 1880, hunters, cattlemen, and settlers alike used the trails as the Panhandle was opened for civilization.  In the early 1900s, Canadian was a railroad and marketing center.