2012-05-13 29 -81

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Expedition

Geohashers

Geoff

The Plan

One stressful week at work later, and I was mentally exhausted. On Saturday, there was a point where I was just itching to get out to geohash, but the closest point was a two hour drive. Sunday rolls around... and I just cannot be bothered to go geohashing.

Erica, who was out with both cramps and yanked wisdom teeth, urged me to go. So with a bit of reluctance, I packed my stuff and left on my own.

The Adventure

I left from Jacksonville around quarter to 1. Given my reluctance, the timing was spot on; the church crowd, which has a tendency to be overwhelming, had already dispersed, but it was still too early for people going out for Mother's Day to make up in their absence. It was overcast for a change, which I liked - bright and sunny Florida tends to be too bright, even with sunglasses. The drive down was pretty much uneventful; I got on SR-1 and followed it down to SR-312.

My first impression, now that I'm actually exploring St. Augustine? There's quite a few bridges around here, and quite high. Not enough to say the place was lousy with bridges, but enough that I felt it worth mentioning. On the last bridge before I got out of the car, I ended up driving behind a Beatles Magical Mystery Tour van. It was around here that I really wished I had Erica with me, as there were no red lights for me to fish out my phone and take a few pictures.

Around 1:30, I reached the final road. When I realized that the road was not paved for long, despite the fact I've never worried about getting the car dirty, I parked near SR-312 to walk the rest of the way on a whim. While I was walking down that dirt road, I was consumed by a certain thought process - I really like the sound of walking away from civilization. Not in a metaphorical sense of leaving society behind and going to live with nature, but the slow, gradual sensation of the sounds of society fading and being more acutely aware of the breeze and the trees and the chirping of birds. It's a very soothing feeling, getting that literal sense of walking away from it all.

That's when a huge pickup truck rounded the corner in front of me, loudly passed me, and completely shattered that line of thought. Dammit, I thought we had an agreement! Civilization back there, soliloquy up here! You're seriously killing this vibe, man, come on!

An easily walked around fence blocked my path, leading me to wonder, as I easily walked around it, why it was even there in the first place. Maybe to keep cars from driving in? I didn't think of it for too long, because the hash point had been reached! Success! Cue several takes of trying to take a picture of the GPS! It didn't come out well, but it's there. I left the way I came and drew my marker card, the Seven of Hearts. Where am I going to put this... the fence might be a problem... oh hey there's a sign next to it that looks fine! What's that-

Go on. Take a guess. Take a wild guess what sign I failed to notice on my way in that I didn't see until I was on my way out. If you said No Trespassing, congratulations! I felt it would be a bit rude to put a sign saying "The Internet Was Here!" on one that already said No Trespassing, so I put it on the fence after all.

The drive back was certainly more eventful, in that I saw a decently attractive topless woman on a motorcycle. Surprisingly, my first thought wasn't "oh hey, boobs!" so much as "...when she crashes, I do not want to see that." When we were both stopped at a light, I rolled down my window and asked if she needed a shirt. She refused with a smile and went her own way. Strange, but to each their own.

I didn't realize until I got back that I forgot to take a picture of myself at the hash. Oh well.