2013-06-12 44 -93

Wed 12 Jun 2013 in 44,-93: 44.9657102, -93.2174946 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

This geohash is located in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 94 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, between the exits for Huron Boulevard (Exit 235B) and the Minnesota Trunk Highway 280 (Exit 236). This is the main arterial freeway between the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, near the University of Minnesota main campus and the Dinkytown area.

Participants

There were certainly thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people who visited this geohash unawares. However Brent was less unaware than most.

Plans

The geohash is directly on the route I normally drive after my weekly guitar lesson. The plan was to snap some photographic evidence on my GPS as I passed through the point, keeping in mind that this is a busy highway and driving safety comes first. If possible I wanted to double-up my Speed Racer achievement as well.

Expedition

After my weekly blues guitar lesson at The Podium, a guitar store where supposedly Bob Dylan and Leo Kottke spent much quality time in years past, I set out on my normal route home. Remembering to turn on my TomTom GPS and prepare the camera on my Samsung Vibrant ready, and positioning them such that I should be able to snap a photo while still driving safely, I had to stop at a few red lights on Huron Boulevard before entering I-94 at speed. As such I had time to fumble with everything and make sure it was all ready to go. The geohash is only a short distance after the entrance ramp for the freeway, so I knew I'd have to be ready to go moments after merging into traffic.

Busily keeping an eye on traffic, the speedometer, and the coordinates on the GPS, I quickly assessed that this was too much of a workload, and decided to hastily snap a photo and hope it was close enough to count. And low and behold I chose just the right moment, as evidenced below! Unfortunately I was a fair bit over the speed limit, so I wasn't able to collect my second Speed Racer achievement. In the future I should let someone else handle the driving while I do the documentation.

Overall achieving this geohash was simplicity itself -- I needed only follow my normal routine and route. The most difficult part was obtaining the photographic proof.

Photos

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  There's nothing like dumb luck to snap a photo at just the right moment.

Achievements

Bcasavan has visited an Easy Geohash by reaching the (44, -93) geohash on 2013-06-12 without really trying.