The blue survey marker Brandon mentioned wasn’t shown on any public road map, but I remembered him saying once that county surveyors used colored metal posts to mark structural evaluations.

I walked slowly along the edge of the shoulder, counting the turns and scanning the tree line for anything unusual.

For nearly twenty minutes, I found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Just as I was about to give up, I caught sight of a tiny smear of weathered blue paint on the trunk of an old oak tree.

It was almost completely hidden by moss and dark water stains.

I climbed over the metal guardrail and carefully picked my way down the slick, muddy slope.