2011-02-17 33 -84

Graticule

About

On the back part of Dobbins Air Force Base.

Expedition

NWoodruff

I had explained Geohashing to my office a few days ago because they caught me with my eTrex and were laughing at me. I explained Geohashing to my office in a company meeting giving the short version and it only made thing worse.

That day everything I did was geohashing. People would come to my office and ask me if I was geohashing. I would walk out of the office for lunch and would be asked if I was going geohashing. Later in the afternoon, people would walk by and bang on the office bathroom door asking me if I was geohashing in there. Oh it was a barrel of laughs all day long.

But, my boss came to me the next day to ask where the spot was for that day. I printed off the Peeron map and let her look at it. For that day it was too far away to do at lunch time. But over the next couple of days right at 9:30 am I would print off the map and walk it over to her office and place it on her desk.

Today, I walk to her office and hand her the map and say that I have bad news. I say "It is on the Air Force Base". Previously if you remember this expedition 2009-05-31 I was not successful in getting on the base. Lilliam, my boss, pipes right up and says "I have clearance to get on the BASE!". We have to go.

It is set. I go back to my office and load up the eTrex with turn by turn directions on how to get to the Geohash spot. The spot is only 9 miles from our office.

A few minutes before lunch time we set out. We drive down Cobb Parkway towards the base. I've lived in Georgia most of my life and have only passed by the big chicken two or three times. Now it is four.

We drive up to the guard shack and the guard asks for Liliam's ID. It checks out and then asks for mine. I have only a drivers license. I guess that is good enough as the guard hands it back to Liliam and then waves us through.

There are signs posted all over the base which prohibits photography. I wanted to take a picture of one of the signs but was told "No" by my boss.

Because of the events that were taking place that I can not speak about, we had to go a round about way to get to the hash spot, including going though a gate that was the entrance to the live firing range. My boss kept telling me if we get stopped and pulled over that they would pull me out of the vehicle first. She also kept saying that if any thing like that is to happen to keep my mouth shut.

But as we drive through the base, we keep coming up on closed gates warning of no entry. We finally give up with 0.47 miles to go.

I'm happy that I finally made it onto the base but sad that we didn't actually make it to the Geohash spot.