2025-07-05 47 -122

Location

On Benson road south in Renton, right next to I-405

Participants

Thomcat

Plans

Arrive in the Saturday window

Expedition

Umpired three baseball games on Mercer Island before heading to the geohash point. While this baseball field was 8.65 km away as the crow flies, it would take me almost twice that to drive there. Fortunately that driving was pretty easy for a Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend.

While it looked on the aerial photo like there was roadside parking, there really wasn't. Fortunately the city of Renton has a parking lot just southeast of the point. Hopefully I raised only eyebrows for an officer parked in their police car in the lot - nobody questioned the guy looking at his phone and then at the highway above.

Power wires and a huge concrete wall had my GPS all over the place. I walked from west to east at the proper north coordinate and got two different north readings. Nearly certain I walked over the coordinate at some point.

Now for a different approach. I returned to my car and pulled out, aiming to drive over the point on the way south. I apparently didn't, but was able to visit a local establishment that sells a variety of beer cans.

After that side trip, I took one more shot at a speed racer. With nobody behind me, I confess I slowed way down and scored the best proof yet.

I celebrated all this success by finally picking up a late lunch (or early supper) at a fish and chips shop. For some reason, a whole day's work on nothing more than a crustable and a can of soda was not quite enough.