Here is another tribute to a long-lost Convenience store/gas station along the I-70 corridore that used-to-be. A bunch of years ago the convienence store/gas station went out of business for whatever reason - think it was roughly 5-6 years ago as of this writing.
I remember the store being here for, when I first left the military in 2001 and worked for a local construction company in the Manhattan, KS, area, I would drive a delivery truck to job sites out in Topeka and Lawrence. I would use this C-store as a refueling stop on my return trips back to Manhattan.
Then a few years later while driving my own vehicle home from a trip to the KC area, decided to stop here for fuel and discovered that the C-store exists no-more. Like other iconic land-marks along the I-70 corridore, this was one of those buildings or such that you know is there but do not pay much attention to until you need it. Was surprised that the C-store was bulldozed over.
The area was turned into a car dealer ship for roughly a year or so but quickly vacated the area for whatever reason. Then it was left abandoned for a while and was then turned into a short term parking area. Has been that way ever since. Forget the type of C-store that was here, think it may have been a Texaco store - don't quite remember.
Anyway, always thought that this would be a good spot for a cache to break up the monotony of driving I-70.
Currently, there is a concrete pad to park on, but the cache is placed inside the woodline somewhere - forget where it was placed. Suggest parking on the concrete pad and taking the very short hike to GZ for the gravely area can be quite deceptive as to its sturdiness after it has rained or snow - do not want anyone getting stuck here.
Use stealth here for I scouted the area out about 3 times and there are always muggles parked here and milling about for whatever reason - even on New Years Eve Day when I placed the cache and even at sunset when there was a party going on - must be a "happening" place.
Even though cache was placed in December/January time-frame, there was no sign of PI, critters, ticks, etc. That very well may change in warmer weather. There were some thorny-vines in the area.
The name of the cache came from that old 1970s song: "THEY PAVED PARADISE AND PUT UP A PARKING LOT". Think it was re-made by some modern-day musical artist.
Container that you are searching for is a SMALL PILL BOTTLE.
Be sure to search for the other nearby cache on the south side of I-70 placed by another geocacher, think he would appreciate the visit!!
UPDATE Jan 05, 2012: After reading a few logs stating that coordinates were about 70'-75' away from cache, decided to see for myself. Yep - even after visiting site discovered that original coordinates were WAY off even though I placed my GPS in exact same spot then as I did today. Baffled as to how original coordinates were 75' away from where I set GPS onto ground 5' from cache site. Must have been the wind or lack of interest. Everything should good to go now.
UPDATE June 01, 2012: Cache at same coordinates, just different container.