We put on our battle gear to stalk the cache left by Cache Owner YSUFAN in 2017, honoring those who served in both war and peace.
On the trail toward that invisible boundary known as the state line, we pay homage to the heroes serving today, in rain, snow, sleet, and hail, rescuing, resuscitating, and reassuring.
Local inhabitants speak through their vehicles. Like their rural owners, trucks connected to the land are weather-worn, practical, and tough.
And here we reach State’s End. In the Declaration 250 years ago, a group of Free and Independent States claimed full Power to do all Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. While at the same time remaining the thirteen united states of America. Subsequent differences over enslaved peoples, and growing centers of urban power, divided states against each other. The Civil War compelled a new definition of loyalty to one nation under God, indivisible.
Along this boundary line, questions of law divide. On one side, if you are male, you must be 18 to get married. Step over the line, and you may now marry at 16, if your parents agree. Divorce on one side costs $317 to file. On the other side, pay only $175. Would you rather be an Eastern Hemlock . . . or a Buckeye?
In a landscape that is both mystical and compellingly functional, each state thus manages the order and well-being of its citizenry, deriving its powers from the consent of the governed, maintaining tension with an ever more powerful national government.
Following the call of our coordinates, we backtrack west, where clouds and wind raise the banners of our state.
The kaleidoscope of signatures greets. Always room for one more signer on this thank-you card.
As we circle back through Youngstown, our happiest Ohioans give us a bonus smiley.
OH Love Of Geocaching 