2009-02-09 32 -94
| Mon 9 Feb 2009 in 32,-94: 32.4182205, -94.5304202 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Yay, first geohash this month for me (Robyn).
Planning
The point was located about halfway between Longview, Texas and Marshall, south of highway 20. It looked from Google maps as if it was a few hundred metres into the bush, past the end of "Waldron Ferry Road". Curiously, Waldron Ferry Road appeared to end in the woods, not at any body of water where one might find a ferry. I had looked it up purely as an academic exercise, but it turned out to be only 18 km east of a place I had to go for work, and I had to borrow a truck for that mission, so I put a few bucks of gas in the tank and took a short side expedition.
Expedition
I somehow failed to get onto highway 20, despite having been on the highway 20 entrance ramp. I was instead on a parallel farm road. The "parallel" part was good, and I was on the correct side, so I just stayed there until the turnoff and followed my chosen road south.
The scale that used to display on Google maps doesn't show up anymore, so I hadn't had a chance to see how far I was going to have to bushwhack for my point. I was pleased to see the distance on the GPS decrease to below a kilometre before I reached the ferry road turnoff. I wouldn't have far to go.
I had passed a number of gated turnoffs, but Waldron Ferry Road didn't have a gate. It didn't have much of a road, either. It was narrow, and composed of reddish mud, with a lot of water-filled potholes. I drove very slowly to avoid stressing the suspension or splashing too much mud on the truck. The road improved as I turned the corner. I saw the GPS distance remaining creep below 200 m, still in the direction of the road. It went down to 100 m and I knew I had the geohash made. Either side of the road were trees with NO HUNTING and NO DUMPING signs (I wonder if someday they'll sell NO GEOHASHING signs at the hardware store), with easily walkable leaf-covered ground between them. The GPS flashed through 2 m and I pulled over. A drive in geohash. Piece of cake.
The 2 m on the road turned out to be a little deceptive. I must have had low precision inside the truck. I had to walk into the woods a short ways to zero the counter, but zero I did. I didn't stay long or leave a marker, so it was a poorish geohash as far as the spirit of geohashing goes. I'll have to do better next time.
Gallery
The displayed lat-long is exactly on the published coordinates.
Me, looking a bit more wrinkly than I like to think of myself.
The good part of the road, looking back towards the muddy part.
