2024-12-30 28 -82

Location

Northwest Equestrian Park, Citrus Park, FL

Participants

Plans

Here and then hopefully the geohash east over.

Expedition

Faced with the possibility that this would be my 1362nd day of me being lazy, I decided to try this one.^[1] I would've liked to leave at 12:00, but some other minor obligations set me back to 14:00.

But I made a huge mistake: I didn't tell the two at home that I'd be doing this. Well, I knew that if I did, they'd tell me no. Anyway, I sufficiently prepared myself: receiver using waypoints, route programmed into phone, two charged cameras, and a third for recording the journey^[2]. And, perhaps, what was left of my dignity.

Journey to I-75, then ride it until Fowler Ave in Temple Terrace, then I-275 until the unusually busy Bearss Ave (the junction of which looked appalling), then ride it to Citrus Park, a few more highways, then finally to the twisty and also unusually busy Mobley Rd. Stress still constant, I was about to see what I was up against, and I noticed that the first entrance was covered in dirt, so that probably wasn't usable.

And then I see the sign. Do not enter, hurricane cleanup. Huh? Didn't that happen two, three months ago?

The second entrance was also covered in dirt, and not willing to pull off to the grass at a far from optimal location (and that it was a ditch) at high speed with a bunch of cars behind me, I skipped along and went over to the nearby Ed Radice Park, U-turned there, and actually pulled off to the grass on the other side. Now the journey began. This wasn't the expectation, really; a bunch of construction equipment, semis coming out, two huge piles of whatever. However, it looked as though they hadn't cut to exactly where I was going.

Not that it changed anything because I would find out no matter what. I crossed the road when the cars were gone, then walked along the line of trees, followed a clearing, breached the overgrowth, and there I was. In reality, I was more excited than that sentence, because this was probably my first real geohash; in a public forested park, with an asterisk on all three words. I took what photos I could.

Then I went back to the car and, apparently, continued the journey to the second hash. This is when reality decided to remind me that my life should continue being miserable, when I was ringed and the ensuing "What?!" had my mind focus on home. I responded to this reminder by stopping behind a stopped bus, shifting lanes, and almost crashing into a Dodge Challenger (insurance? fun!), and the exchange with reality continued with semi truck horns on the other side of the road. Movie sound work, that.

It wasn't all that bad, though; my father, currently in Oklahoma, also ringed me and asked me to tell the story. Vague explanation and trying not to say the word "geohashing", but a huge relief when he compared it to a previous failure of mine. Back in March, we were in Chickasha and my father told me I could go anywhere I want. My destination was the confluence of 35N 98W; there was a fiasco afterwards because the path leading to the point was blocked by a fence. I'm incredibly ashamed that this fence is variable, too; some newgoers recently reached that same point with ease. But anyway, he was relieved knowing it was like that and that I wasn't trespassing (hey, I'm quite allergic to those fences too), and despite blockage on I-75, I felt quite good knowing that I'll still be known as his savior. Darn it.^[3]

And when I returned home, a retaliatory hug. Ah, quite the expedition, I must think.

↑ Also that accessibility is a joke here, even if you count Orlando.
↑ Which, in the end, showed to be an afterthought (exactly what it was) when the tripod fell on my arm.
↑ I do the most work, but nominally, it's not a lot of work...