Bead-Mentone Green Ceramic Teardrop TB

I maintain records on my trackables. They have the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by more than 25 cachers. That is a target rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The past average drop rate of my trackables in US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

If in the US, 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 for Texas towns with interesting names or histories.  Much of the text is from the online Handbook of Texas or texasescapes.com.

Mentone is an unincorporated area in Loving County, Texas, which is the least populous county in the United States. As the county's only community, it serves as the county seat and had a 2010 population of 19, almost one-fourth of the county's 82 people.

Prehistorically, the area had many springs with potable water that supported wildlife and nomadic hunters.  Antonio de Espejo visited the area in 1583 and crossed the Pecos River.

Loving County is named for Oliver Loving, a cattle rancher and pioneer of the cattle drive who, along with Charles Goodnight, developed the Goodnight-Loving Trail. He was mortally wounded by Comanches while on a cattle drive in 1867 in the vicinity of the county.

Oil was discovered in 1921, leading to a population increase in Loving County. By 1930, there were 195 residents, mostly living in what would become the town of Mentone. By 1933, the population had peaked at 600, only to begin a steady decline which continues to the present day.

Loving County was the home of the first elected female sheriff in Texas, Edna Reed Clayton Dewees. She was appointed to the job in January 1945, then won an election to continue in the office through 1947.  She never carried a firearm, and reported only two arrests during her entire term.

Mentone has become famous for its lack of people. Besides no newspaper, no grocery, no doctor and no school, they also have to haul in drinking water. They even rely on nearby Kermit or Pecos for the use of their cemeteries. People have been buried in Loving County, but their graves are only of interest to archeologists.