“What we find changes who we become.” 
― Peter Morville

~~~~~

As an amateur genealogist, the words "graveyard hunting" have a much different meaning to me than most people!  We went on a road trip looking for the graves of ancestors that were in the middle of nowhere.   
This particular cemetery we were searching for turned out to be 12 miles from the nearest paved road...and from most any sort of civilization, for that matter.  (Of course, we knew this before we set out, since we had been in this area a few years before and didn't know where the cemetery was; we just drove around looking for it and didn't go down the right road.) 

A few visual examples of just how far from the civilized world we were:

I'm betting I broke that speed limit a few times, although on dirt and gravel roads, not by much.

You're in trouble if you run out of gas here.

This is what passes for road signs in these here parts.  Yes, that really is a 55-gallon drum lid.  Believe it or not, some of these roads are actually listed on Google Maps.  

This "lake", as Google Maps calls it, is actually quite pretty with its tall cypresses, once you get past the swamp-stagnation-smell.

Gorgeous little white flowers that look like lilies-of-the-valley...but I don't think they are.

This lovely little plant has tiny sharp spines along the stem and leaves...
you do NOT want to pick this beauty.

I found the graveyard on the USGS website and with the help of Google Maps' satellite view and a GPS, we were able to find it without TOO much trouble...although we stopped too early, walked down the wrong road, and found the graveyard from the rear...and it was sitting right on the road - if we'd driven down just a little ways, we would have spotted it immediately!


  
The oldest ancestor I was able to find was the grave of my 4th great grandmother's brother (would that make him my 5th great uncle?), who was born in the early 1800s, as well as several of their families and more of my other relatives, although none as direct as this one.


On the way out...
Woohoo!  We're flat movin' on now, baby!  Kick up that dust!

Is that...?  Could it be...?  Yes!  IT'S A POWER LINE!  We have reached Civilization! 
(Well, we were within about 4 miles of it, anyway...)