Love Bug-Whiteface Opaque Large Acrylic

I maintain records on my trackables. They have the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a target rate of 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 1-Aug-23 this trackable had survived for 4.0 years and had been moved by 3 cachers, for an average drop every 486 days. 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 in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security. 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 heart-shaped items obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs. They are named either for the places of their origin or for Texas Panhandle-South Plains towns with interesting names or histories.

Shamrock is on IH 40 (formerly US Highway 66) where it intersects with US Hwy 83 in south central Wheeler County.  The name Shamrock was first suggested, for good luck and courage, by Irish immigrant sheep rancher George Nickel, when he applied in 1890 to open a post office at his dugout home six miles north of the present townsite. The name was accepted by federal postal officials, but this post office was never opened, probably because the Nickel home burned that same year.  Another post office was operated nearby for a short while by postmistress Mary R. Jones.  

Shamrock had its official beginning with the arrival of the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway in the summer of 1902.  In August, town lots were sold at the present townsite, which was then called Wheeler. When Frank Exum, who had recently opened a general store at his dugout-and-frame home, applied for a post office and named it after himself.  The Shamrock post office was closed, but the railroad named the stop Shamrock in 1903, and the Shamrock post office reopened.  By 1925 the population had grown to 2,500. Oil was discovered in the area in 1926, and the population had increased to 3,778 by 1930.

The improvement of U.S. Highway 66 made the main avenue of Shamrock boom with garages, filling stations, restaurants, and tourist courts; many of these later closed or moved out to the bypass after Interstate Highway 40 was completed, but Shamrock continued to prosper.  Since1938, Shamrock has had a St. Patrick's Day celebration on the weekend nearest March 17.  A fragment of the genuine Blarney Stone from Blarney Castle in County Cork, Ireland, is mounted on a pillar in Elmore Park.

A handful of historic art deco styled buildings are still standing in Shamrock with several restored to their former glory.  Most notable is the former U-Drop Inn, a Conoco Filling Station/Restaurant which opened its doors in 1936 to serve the growing needs of those traveling on America's "Mother Road."  Today, it serves as the Visitor Information Center and headquarters for the Shamrock Economic Development Corporation and the Chamber of Commerce (see uploaded photo).