2009-08-23 44 -85
| Sun 23 Aug 2009 in Traverse City: 44.9003524, -85.0261624 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Contents
About
The day's geohash coordinates were located at the rear of an RV campsite east of Mancelona, Michigan.
Expedition
excellentdude: Having successfully made it to our previous hash attempt in the Manistee, Michigan, graticule and having enjoyed the attractions of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, it was time for my girlfriend and I to start our way back home to Lansing if we were going to make it in time to help my friend move at 7pm. We had enough time, though, that we could stop at another easily accessible hash (or possibly even two or three) along the way. So we left the national park and headed for the coordinates in the Traverse City graticule.
About five to ten miles into this leg of the trip, I noticed that we hadn't intersected a highway that I thought we would, and we were still hugging the lakeshore longer than I thought we would be. I pulled over and checked our position on my phone. I'd turned the wrong direction coming out of the national park. We were still going in generally the right direction, but instead of a more direct route to Traverse City, I had taken a much slower route halfway up the Leelanau peninsula. By the time I discovered this mistake, it was too late to turn back and make up any time; so we continued. There were definitely some good sites to see along this route. It just cost us several minutes of important time to make potential future hashes.
Eventually we made it to Traverse City and met up with the highway I'd wanted to be on in the first place. It took some time to get through the city, but I can't say it's a city I don't like to drive through. After we cleared Traverse City, we made really good time and made it to Mancelona about a half hour later. The hash was just east of this town, so we were almost there.
That was what we thought at least. No sooner did we hit Mancelona than the highway started undergoing some major construction. For some reason, though, this construction was not deemed serious enough for a detour. Even going very slowly, I thought the bumps and jostles were going to shake my car apart. I don't recall having ever been on a road that bad in a town, and I've been on some pretty bad roads. Eventually we found the next road we needed to turn on and escaped; however, this significant construction cost us more precious time.
Free from further delays, we were finally near the hash. When I was looking at the satellite photos before we left home, it appeared the hash would be fairly easy to access. The configuration of buildings and objects near the hash seemed to make it look like the hash was in the back of either a trailer park or a junk yard. When we parked at a nearby oil well to walk to the hash, I discovered my guesses were close, but not quite right. It was an RV campsite! We walked along the mowed grass at the back of the site, and then a little farther when the mowed section snaked back toward some trees. The hash was just off the mowed section between some taller grass and the beginnings of a forest. I approached the hash, trying to get my GPS to fix on the correct location. While I was taking small steps and focusing more on my GPS than I probably should have been, right when it got the correct coordinates I fell in a hole! The hash was right in the hole! I took some pictures to show how the hole would have been difficult to see even if I had been paying better attention. Fortunately, I didn't twist or break anything. We took the usual photos and headed back to my car.
The driveway into the oil well we parked at was a rather sandy road that I almost bottomed out/got stuck in on the way in. So I drove around the well and gunned it on the way out to make sure that didn't happen. Once we got back on the highway, we assessed the time situation. There were at least three other hashes on the way home that appeared to be easily reachable; however we had run out of time. I figured we had just enough time to hit the highway and get back to Lansing in time to help my friend move. It turned out that the timing was about perfect: we made it to my friend's house with 15 minutes to spare. Of course, fun was had there, too. All in all, it was a great day and a fun road trip. I was happy to take this triple hash despite the great possibilities for more!
Achievements
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excellentdude earned the Land geohash achievement
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excellentdude earned the Multihash Achievement
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excellentdude earned the Graticule Unlocked Achievement
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Photos
We made it!
The hash was right in this hole
You can't see the hole until you're in it
Even without the hole, the hash was low
Goofy grins at yet another hash
RV campsite complete with horseshoes
There was mowed grass almost all the way to the hash
This is north Michigan, not west Texas, right?
My car didn't like this road
