2019-09-05 35 -87
| Thu 5 Sep 2019 in 35,-87: 35.6223694, -87.0148501 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
On the side of Martin Dr in the outskirts of Columbia, TN
Participants
- Pedalpusher
- Friends E & L
Expedition
On our second annual Road Trip, We were driving from Buffalo down to New Orleans, starting on Labor day (9/2) but I didn't really see anything worth trying for as most looked to be inaccessible or just too far out of the way. I also had no idea that we had just entered the Dark Ages, but as most of our driving took us through areas without much reception, we mostly had our phones on airplane mode to conserve battery. It didn't help that I forgot to check a couple days in the mornings. This day, however, I not only checked in the morning, but I found it was only about a half hour detour on our drive from Nashville, TN to Birmingham, AL.
All I knew going into this was that the hash was on the side of a dead end road in the outskirts of a small town called Columbia, mostly in the middle of nowhere. Bringing this up to my friends, E & L were game as they had fun tackling a hash last year outside Ashtabula, OH. On our drive over, E was looking up things about Columbia on her phone as I was driving and discovered that this was the town where James K Polk (our 11th President) grew up. This would turn out to be a much more interesting stop than anticipated!
Following Google Maps, we made our way to the road by the hash and found it with no trouble, although the small houses in this area were a bit run down with unkempt yards. We pulled over, hopped out and easily made our way to the hash area for some pictures. Turning around, we then made our way into town to find the Polk House. However, getting to the intersection where we could see the house on the corner, they were doing construction and blocked the normal traffic lane. This would normally not be an issue, but that lane had the Traffic Light sensor and without anyone there to trip it, we sat at our Red Light for 5 - 10 minutes...WITH a COP standing right there the whole time being incompetent. Finally, with everyone getting very frustrated and a couple people laying on their horns, Tennessee's "finest" finally realized they better actually do their job. Of course they sent us the wrong way from where we wanted to go, so we had to go the long way around a couple extra blocks, but eventually found a parking spot a block from the house. Walking over, we found the Polk House was not open to tours (It was in the middle of the Day and week so we don't blame THEM, at least). The yard area was open to the public so we wandered around for a bit and took some pictures before getting back on our way.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any other viable hashes on the rest of the drive, except for Friday when we were getting into New Orleans. Being later in the day when we got in, my friends were not interested in trying for this hash and just wanted to get to the Air-BnB. It would have been about an hour round trip, we still had to drop off the car at the rental and everyone was tired. Honestly, I didn't put up much of a fight for it, and while it crossed my mind to do it on my own, that couch was very comfortable and I didn't have the motivation to get up.
All in all, it was another very successful road trip with a bonus adventure right in the middle.
Additional notes on this Geohashing Expedition: - We didn't know it at the time, but this qualifies for the Dark Ages Ribbon and I didn't discover the Wiki was down until I got back to Buffalo to write up the report. - Double bonus, I just found out as I was writing this up about a month after we have broken free of the Dark Ages, that this was also a Virgin Graticule! - (Almost) Triple bonus, granted we are just a month out of the Dark Ages, it does not yet appear anyone has written up an expedition yet for a 2019-09-05, but being three of us on this expedition, we disqualified ourselves from the Last man standing achievement. That doesn't mean we can't take a Radio Yerevan for it anyway!
Photos
We made it!
Stupid Grins all around.
View West from where we came from and back towards town.
View East toward the Rental as we head back to the car.
View of the hash.
In town, we found the Polk house...
and we wandered around the backyard.
Ribbons
 |
This user earned the Land geohash achievement
|
 |
Pedalpusher, L & E all earned the Graticule Unlocked Achievement
|
 |
Pedalpusher earned the Drag-along achievement
|
Is it true that Pedalpusher earned the Last man standing achievement?
|
 |
Pedalpusher, L & E earned the Dark Ages achievement
|
Expeditions and Plans
| 2019-09-05 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Columbia, Tennessee | Pedalpusher, Friends E, L | On the side of Martin Dr in the outskirts of Columbia, TN |
| Braunschweig, Germany | GeorgDerReisende | The hash lay at the edge of the valley of the river Oker at Groß Schwülper.... |
