2013-12-14 42 -85

Location

driveway of the public athletic ground Houseman Field in Grand Rapids, MI, USA

Participants

Mcbaneg (talk) (George)

Expedition

It's a Frozen No-Batteries Public TRONsportation geohash!

I had not yet hit several achievements that seem accessible: Frozen Hash, Bike Hash, and Public Transportation Hash. And I'm quite fond of Tron attempts. When I saw yesterday that today's hashpoint was less than 5 km from home, in a part of town with a regular grid of streets, right on a driveway, and near my usual bike route to work, I thought a Frozen Bike Tron Hash was in order. But it's been snowing steadily for about 24 hours and the streets are really snowy and slick, and my bike isn't set up well for those conditions. So, I figured, let's go for Public Transportation instead. None of my family members, even Rebekah, were up for a bus-and-walk hash in a snowstorm, so I set out alone.

After some embarrassments associated with a missing wallet (recovered), I headed out the front door (which faces west) about 3 pm. I turned immediately north, and walked north and east to reach the bus stop on Breton Road for the northbound #6 bus. However, after I crossed the crosswalk and walked a couple of meters south to the bus stop sign, I realized that after I was on the bus, it would drive north, crossing the very crosswalk I had just used, and ruin the Tron achievement immediately. So I walked a little more south, turned east and crossed the sidewalk, continued east to the fence of the Breton schoolyard, and then turned north again. This northbound route paralleled my initial southbound trajectory on the Breton sidewalk, but displaced by about 3 m, and definitely not intersecting it. (That was easy to check with footprints in the snow.) I then continued north along Breton Rd. to the next bus stop about 300 m away.

I caught the #6, which was about 15 minutes late, and disembarked from it at the intersection of Union and Fountain streets at 3:46. I walked east along the north side of Fountain St. for maybe 600 m until I came to the intersection with Houseman Ave just west of the hashpoint. At that point, seeing an opportunity to shorten my return walk, I left the northwest corner of the intersection and crossed Fountain St. walking south. I continued east along the south side of Fountain until I had gone just past the hashpoint, then crossed to the north sidewalk again and arrived at the hashpoint westbound. I leaned my no-batteries thermometer against a signpost to let it equilibrate with the ambient air and took some photos of the Houseman Field fieldhouse, the area around the hashpoint, and finally the thermometer.

I picked up the thermometer and continued westbound for a couple of meters. I had wanted to stomp XKCD into the snow, as nesbitg did on 2013-12-14_41_-87, but that definitely forces you to walk across your own path. So instead, I leaned over and wrote it into the snow next to the sidewalk with the thermometer, starting at the D on the east end and working my way toward the X on the west end.

I packed up and walked west on Fountain until I came to the northeast corner of the Houseman Ave intersection. This put me one street-width east of my earlier path. I turned north, and walked along Houseman to Lyon St, then turned west and walked to College Ave. I walked south on College to Wealthy St. The bus stop for the #5 bus eastbound on Wealthy is a little west of the intersection, so I turned right onto the north sidewalk of Wealthy, walked west about 10 m, crossed to the south side(in the middle of the block), and walked back east to the bus stop. The bus would cross my path, but not while I was riding it! I waited about 20 min in the snow for the #5, which arrived right on time about 4:55. It brought me to a stop on Boston Rd a little northwest of home. I walked from there to home, approaching my cul-de-sac street from the west. I turned on the west side of the home street southbound, walked to a latitude south of the front door where the garage is, went in through the garage, and closed the Tron loop in the front hallway of the house. Success.

House on Breton Rd. visible from #6 bus stop, with icicles.
Houseman Field fieldhouse from the hashpoint. Yes, that's snow in the air.
Me, at the hashpoint. Warm, really.
Thermometer: -4 degrees C.
Hashpoint marker. The original photo is almost pure white; this has been "contrast enhanced" with the Image/J program.
Mailbox, driveway, and front walk as I arrived home. The footprints from my initial departure are visible outside the front door.