Bead-Ruidosa Round Red Glass TB

I maintain records on my trackables. For a US-based trackable, this one is unusual for its longevity and movement. In the six-year period, 2010-19, the owner released a total of 3,793 trackables in the United States (96%) and Europe (4%). This trackable is one of the 5% of the total that circulated for at least 5 years and had been moved at least 25 times. That is a target rate of at least five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 8-Dec-23 this trackable had survived for 9.9 years and had been moved by 42 cachers, for an average drop every 86 days, or 4.2 drops per year. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it at an event, in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban, non-premium cache. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This is one of a series of large beads obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs. They are named Texas towns with interesting names or histories.

According to the Handbook of Texas, the name translates as either "windy" or "noisy."  This either refers to the omnipresent wind or the sound of water falling over an irrigation dam.  It is almost certainly not the sound of the Rio Grande flowing nearby.  Low rainfall and irrigation reduce the flow of the river to almost nothing at this location.  When the writer was there in the late 60s and early 70s a combination store-café-cantina attracted foot traffic from Mexico, only a few steps away.

The settlement was once a penal colony established by the Spanish in the 1820s.  Prisoners were sent to the remote area to guard ranches in northern Chihuahua against Indian raids.  The uninspired prisoners were so often on the losing side that the project was abandoned.

Much later, in 1872, an American named William Russell constructed ditches to irrigate a farm and a flour mill - a successful operation that prospered for thirty years.  As late as 1879 the farm was attacked by Mescalero Apaches resulting in four settlers killed and three wounded.

By 1914 the community had a post office and 100 citizens. Cotton was planted and a gin constructed. In the late 20s there were about 300 residents in the area.  The gin closed in 1936 and by 1954 the post office discontinued mail delivery.   In late 2004 the town consisted of a few buildings and was listed for sale.