OPERATOR? NUMBER PLEASE Multi-Cache
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Take I 10 west to Loves Truck Stop, follow access road 1030 for about 6 miles and stay right on CR B5 a dirt road for about 10 miles, cross the RR tracks, turn left for .3 miles and turn right on to an old paved road 2.3 miles past old Lava Quarry, turn left on dirt 2 track for .6 miles and take right fork for 1.3 miles to a RR tie and steel cross member.
Follow your GPS from here to the posted coordinates.
Dirt roads, high clearance vehicles are best, don't attempt if playa is muddy.
The posted coordinates will take you to a location that will give final coordinates for the cache.
OPERATOR? NUMBER PLEASE. Stand still and listen. All you hear is the wind through the creosote and mesquite, and maybe the bawling of a young calf in the distance. Imagine that you are the owner of a ranch at the west end of the Aden malpais and are subject every day to this silence and loneliness. The thought of hearing another voice is very pleasant. The Johnsons owned this ranch in the 1940's. When they needed to talk to someone, they would have to ride or drive into La Mesa or south to El Paso. It was a long way to go to experience communication, and would not be done very often. Most probably it was the wife providing the impetus. Perhaps she wanted one of those new fangled devices like her friends in town had.
The Johnsons tried to connect their ranch to the La Mesa, Anthony or El Paso Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Exchanges, with no luck. However, the Luna County exchange offered them service with the proviso."You connect with us". For the Johnsons that meant stringing the wires and poles northwest across the West Potrillo Mountains, past Providence Cone to the nearest Luna Count telephone line.The string of railroad ties you see fading away into the distance was the result of that effort. Each tie had a pipe extending to the cross piece, with insulators another six feet or so above the tie. The entire project must have been a tremendous amount of work for the Johnsons. It was just high enough for a man on horseback to ride under without hanging himself. We assume that the Johnsons really enjoyed their telephone service in the quiet of this vast desert.
With current access to cell phones and instantaneous communication to anywhere in the world, it is hard to imagine the remoteness and loneliness of ranching in the southwest. The line also serves to remind us of the great changes in communications over the past 70 years. If you have a cell phone with you-listen to the desert. Then call call a friend just to hear a friendly voice.
Cache is an ammo box. Contents: cell phone, Hand receiver,sound powered(please leave in cache)Phone book, Vintage Avon telephone, Blue insulator, clear insulator, Telephone jack and wire, carbariner, RR spike,deck of cards. Logbook and pencil.
FTF can take pick.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures