2012-11-22 28 -82
| Have you seen our geohashing marker? We'd love to hear from you! Click here to say "hi" and tell us what you've seen!
Curious about what geohashing is? Read more! |
| Thu 22 Nov 2012 in Tampa, Florida: 28.0334635, -82.4619523 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Expedition
The Plan
Inside the parking lot of Springfield College. We're heading back to family for Thanksgiving, and this is right outside Busch Blvd, which is actually a great detour if there's traffic coming down I-75, so long as you're heading west and not east to Busch Gardens. We'll swing by and take the slow way back. Peeron thinks that the geohash is in the parking lot, whereas Google thinks it's in the building itself.
The Geohashers
The Adventure
Well, I wish this were a bit less eventful than it was. We had known about the geohash and planned it the night before. The first question was mainly route: Do we go north first and come down US-301, or do we brave Orange Park traffic to take our usual route? We bit the bullet and went through Orange Park... successfully. Not an ounce of jam. We were amazed.
This is largely because the real traffic jam was further down the path on I-75, coincidentally near the same place I ran into a horrendous traffic jam coming back from Thanksgiving last year. (Although I got to listen to a football game on the radio that time, so it wasn't entirely bad.) Traffic was backed up for miles, with a disturbing amount of people getting fed up and using the inbound ramp we were just passing to turn around, drive into oncoming traffic, just to get off the road. Thankfully there was no incoming traffic in the first place, probably because the line of crazy people quickly backed up their own traffic. As we found out later, the jam was caused by a Jeep that was pretty much totaled.
Unfortunately, we also joined their ranks. Even further on down the highway, there were two semis, one following the other. We were next to the one behind. The first semi had the room and changed lanes to get around slow-moving traffic. Therefore, the second truck followed suit... while we were right next to him, in plain sight of his mirrors. Laying on the horn did absolutely nothing, and being forced off the road into a ditch is not my idea of a fun geohash. We were both a bit shaken up by that, but we, and the car, survived with no damage.
Later I caught up to that truck and wrote down his license plate and the company he works for. Karma's a bitch.
Thankfully there were no more events by the time we got to Springfield College. As it turned out, Springfield was a defunct institution, with bars on the windows and doors, a faded sign, and a for sale real estate sign out front. Our GPS tried to thwart us at last; I stood still with the GPS while Erica got the camera, and in the time it took for her to take a picture, my standing still had shifted from a correct .007 to .011. We took the picture there, wandered around a bit to take pictures, left the Eight of Clubs, and continued back for Turkey Day.
Gallery
- Photo Gallery
Just after the GPS starting dancing.
Wow, I look like an ass without my glasses.
Just behind the building.
8♣
I wonder when the Google Street View picture was taken, as that sign is a lot more faded here.
Gaining entrance to this college is really tough.
Want your own degree? This may be cheaper than tuition!
And now I'm thirsty.
