Misc.-Buckeye or Chestnut TB15

This travel bug has the modest goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers.  As of 23-Sep-19 it had survived for 7.3 years but it had been moved by only 18 cachers. How far can it get?  Keep it moving!

Please drop it in rural OR Premium Member Only caches.  Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching small event.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take the travel bug anywhere you wish.  No permission is needed to leave the U.S.

Travel bug photos are appreciated and will be re-posted here.

My wife is from Toledo, OH, so when she visits family she always brings buckeyes back to Texas with her. In 2011 we were in Switzerland and Austria and, never havings seen chestnuts, we thought we were seeing buckeyes on the sidewalks. We learned the truth and I had another idea for travel bugs. We later aquired some chestnuts for comparison.

The TB is either a buckeye or chestnut—you decide after comparison with the photos. Buckeyes tend to be a little smaller in size, with a smaller hilum (attachment scar) and are darker colored. If you are from Ohio, you probably know the difference since you are from the historic range of both species. The American chestnut was extirpated from most of its range by a blight (caused by a fungus). They now occur only in isolated spots on the margins of their former range. The chestnuts we find in stores now mostly originate in Europe or the orient.

Interestingly, despite the similarity of the nuts and tree leaves, buckeyes and chestnuts are in completely different plant families, and, chestnuts are edible whereas buckeyes can be toxic without a lot of preparation.