This is a location that is a stone's throw or two from the site of a previous geocache named Cache Island. At the time the new cache was placed, a nearby traffic island, one that hosted a previous cache, received a major facelift through funding from a non-profit organization called Keep Longview Beautiful. The organization maintains a Facebook page and has put up a Judson Median Project album with pictures of the work. The cache owner learned about this project through the Longview News-Journal's Answer Line article entitled "Beautification project gift to city". The Answer Line is a great way to find out about odds and ends that other Longview residents are curious about.
When one discovers something new, whether it is a new belief, relationship, marriage, hobby, or toy, it is often easy to get carried away in the moment. Fresh excitement can be hard to contain. It's powerful stuff and can push us to do things we can't sustain when the fill-in-the-blank runs out. It is often difficult to realize that it takes energy to keep these valuable things alive and vibrant. In the beginning it seems as though it is all magical, but it is only later that we have the opportunity to realize that the really valuable stuff comes about when we work to keep it meaningful. If we do not manage to realize the importance of that connection between responsibility and return, we are very likely to find ourselves on a road to nowhere. Roads to nowhere are all around us. Some impact a lot of people; others are small, like this one, and don't really affect that many.
One fairly famous road to nowhere can be found in the Great Smoky Mountains. The Story of the Road To Nowhere documents a failed promise that spanned over 60 years; it is a story that still has an ongoing impact to a lot of folk.
Another story is probably unknown to most of us. It tells how well-intentioned ideas can turn into a costly fiasco - a project that had to be aborted due to a lack of responsibility. Roads to Nowhere: Program to Win Over Afghans Fails tells how lack of management and oversight doomed a project that might have turned out a lot differently had more people realized that, without follow-up, the best of intentions get fouled up.
We all can take lessons from roads to nowhere, or we can repeat errors of the past, and burden others with the costs of those mistakes. Believe it or not, this is as applicable to geocaching as to almost any other endeavor. Groundspeak even has something to say about responsibility and follow-through in the Cache Listing Requirements and Guidelines. The guide discusses how important it is to temper the excitement of hiding new caches with foreknowledge of the responsibility required to optimize enjoyment of our hobby. If we don't take them seriously, we can easily create "geocache roads to nowhere" that are fun for a while, but end up generating frustration and disappointment in the long run.
Here's to geocaching well - whether it is in making an effort to expend the energy to appreciate cache owners via our logs and notes, or in responsibly maintaining caches we hide.
This is a park-n-grab, though the cache location is not wheelchair accessible due to a high curb. The container is a micro, and has only enough room for a log and pencil.
Congratulations on the FTF, GeocachFFer!