I only recently learned about this unusual visit by George Harrison to Benton, Illinois. In September 1963, with the first hints of "Beatlemania" starting to appear in the UK, the Beatles were still virtually unknown in the U.S. During this time, the quartet got a two-week break from recording and playing clubs. John Lennon went to Paris, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to Spain. George and his brother Peter visited their sister Louise in Benton, Illinois. George went camping, watched a Shriners’ parade, saw a drive-in movie, ate at a local A&W, and bought a Rickenbacker guitar and a slew of records, including an album by R&B singer James Ray that included “Got My Mind Set on You.”
Louise engineered two interviews. George did one with a teenage girl for a local high-school newspaper, and he and Louise hitchhiked to a radio station to do another with a teenage girl who had a Saturday morning show. The girl played a copy of “Please, Please Me” to little audience reaction. George met Louise’s neighbor, Warren Batts, who’d played with Bill Haley. The two sat in Warren’s living room playing guitars together. At a VFW hall, George sat in with a band called the Four Vests, playing Hank Williams, Carl Perkins, and Chuck Berry numbers.
After their trip to Benton, George and Peter spent two or three days in New York, then flew home. George next visited the U.S. five months later, in February, under very different circumstances. I can’t help but think of the people who met quiet, scruffy George in southern Illinois. Did the man who gave him and his sister a ride, for instance, ever put two and two together? I can just imagine his kids huddled in front of the tv watching the Beatles on *The Ed Sullivan Show* and thinking their dad was joking when he said, “Hey, I met one of those guys.”
Thousands of cars travelling on I-57 through Illinois whiz past this sign/billboard every day and most either don't pay attention to it, or may see it and have no idea what it represents!
To log this cache you must complete two tasks.
1) At the base of George's picture, there is an outline of the United States. Tell me what is written within the US.
Message me with the answer.
2) Take a picture of yourself (you don't have to show your face) your GPS or anything that identifies that you have actually visited the sign.
Post the picture in your log.
I hope you enjoy this little roadside adventure! I did!
Virtual Rewards 5.0 - 2026-2027
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between February 3, 2026 and February 3, 2027. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 5.0 on the Geocaching Blog.