2009-06-20 49 -122

Sat 20 Jun 2009 in 49,-122: 49.1625773, -122.7251129 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Just off the side of 88th ave in surrey, possibly on a farm

Participants

• Xore
• yangman
• Juventas
• DigitalAngel
• Fbfree
• Elbie
• Lassam

Plans

4pm saturday meetup. I'll be at my parents house for father's day, and will be attempting a walking geohash from that location. -- Xore 20:21, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

I'll be cycling from Mission using the Albion ferry and the new bridge. My first Geohash with other people. ~40km each way --Fbfree 20:57, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Elbie's plan:

• 13:00 - depart UBC
• 14:20ish - get to Commercial, take SkyTrain
• 15:00 - arrive Surrey Central, bike out to coordinates (take Fraser, then 88).

Is anybody else biking in? Want to meet at Surrey Central? - Elbie 18:48, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Expedition

Elbie

This was a pretty straightforward expedition for me. I left UBC around 12:30, and detoured a few times for errands. I biked out to Commercial SkyTrain station and took the Expo Line out to Surrey. And from there, I biked out to the hashpoint. I arrived around 15:30, apparently getting there first. I located the hashpoint within the accuracy of my GPS and was in the process of making a sign for the hashpoint when I saw Fbfree arriving.

Fbfree

My fourth, and first successful, geohash. Also, my first hash with others. I left home at about 12:30. Along the Lougheed in Whonnock, an eagle took off over the road. I took the Klatawa to Fort Langley, through the new Bedford Landing development and onto 96th Ave. Coming off the ferry it was 1:50pm. I knew I'd be early at the point but I elected not to explore Derby Reach. Near 199A Ave, I moved several shards of glass off of the bike lane. I rode along the bike route to 192nd St. then onto 88th to the point.

I stopped for several minutes near the hashpoint for water and a snack, then noted it was still quarter to 3pm. I decided to try to make the previous Sunday's hash point 2009-06-14_49_-122, which I had missed. Arriving at the highway junction in Cloverdale, I realize that going the extra 4 miles and back would make me late at the hashpoint. I returned stopping for McDs to go and a chocolate bar.

I rearrived at the hash point with Elbie, Juventas, and DigitalAngel waiting. Without a GPS, my previous estimation of the hash point was one field off. I had mistaken a fruit stand on the satellite photo for outbuildings further west. Following sign production from spare wood at the side of the road (what else would farmers litter with? Corn?) and plentiful photon collimation and recording, I was convinced of the cardboard like qualities of my planned meal and departed for Lassam's promised meal.

Games were had. Noting Lassam's parents fatalistic concept of cycling, I decided not to risk arriving home after dark, and departed before dinner was served. I followed 64th to Glover Road. Cold cardboard was consumed near Trinity Western University, and I caught a 7:15 sailing of the Kulleet, thus riding both of the Albion ferries in the day. I noticed an incredibly loose front wheel cone about 10km from home and adjusted it. I need to verify the tightness of the lock nut. I arrive home before 9pm, about an hour before dark. Calculating the trip length, it was 99.4km, my longest ride yet.

Lassam

Yangman posted the wiki-link on IRC, and the Lassam noticed that the location was too close to his home to pass up. He arrived, slightly winded by his pear-shaped physique and sore buttocks, to enjoy standing around in a ditch with some geohashers, wishing the farm's blueberry stand was open. (What? Eating blueberries can be an adventure.) After everyone arrived, the Lassam suggested that people abduct to his house for ribs and macaroni - but in order to square away any potential accrual of meat-debt (Which is taken very seriously in the Lassam household), meat should be purchased on the way. The Lassam is concerned that he may have seemed cheap or standoffish - but the Lassam IS cheap and standoffish, so he's going to have to get used to that.

Meat was acquired, [Slang Teasers] was played, hedges were firebombed, beans were wheeled, [Ten Days in Europe] was played, and yangman and Xore were fed ribs and macaroni. Elbie and fbfree left too early to receive either ribs or macaroni, causing great sadness, but they also benefited from limited exposure to the Lassam's immediate family, which was probably a good thing for all persons involved.

yangman

Relatively uneventful cycling expedition. No secret trails were discovered, orientation was maintained, did not pass GO and receive $200 (CAD), did not rescue the princess, and certainly no small furry animals were harmed.

Explored a couple more new routes in order to better plan out future Tron attempts, but was met with a loop-making pedestrian overpass which was required crossing—will have to explore routes further north. Also, unlike my previous expedition into Surrey, an actual cycling route with sane grades was used.

Arrived at King George SkyTrain station at 15:00, and waited until just before 15:40 to see if I could happen to catch Elbie or plypkie (I did not). Met up with the rest of the hashers (minus Xore) shortly after.

Xore

Xore (still refering to himself in third person) woke up at 7:15. The night before, he had planned to catch the skytrain at 7:30 for nefarious purposes but ended up failing in that respect. After a quick shower, he was out the door and on the skytrain before 8.

Just before 9 he arrived at the auction house in the vancouver suburb of coquitlam, where he waited as over 100 bikes were auctioned off, and succeeded in securing for himself a new (used) bike. It needs a bit of work, but soon, Xore will be able to start biking to places \o/

Heading back home, he had breakfast at noon and caught a ride into surrey for father's day festivities. At approximately 3:20 in the afternoon, he left with his new GPS in hand to try to find the hash point. After 10 minutes of fruitless satellite searching, Xore succeeded in convincing his GPS that he wasn't in China. After that, it took about 5 minutes and Xore synced up, discovering that he was several kilometres away.

4:00 rolled by and he was still over 900 metres from the hash point. Oh no!

At 350 metres, Xore decided that he wasn't going to waste everyone else's time and ran the rest of the distance. Elbie called his cell "Are you the guy in the black shirt running down the road?" "Yes, that's me"

And arrived at the hashpoint, somewhat out of breath, but not too badly.

Photos

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  The gang awaiting Xore's arrival

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  A Xore appears!

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  So, now what?

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  What evil is afoot here? Plot of assassination? Invasion? Magicks? Actually, it's just yangman setting utterly wrong exposure settings on his camera. We're just gaming. Honest.

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Achievements

• Everybody met whoever they hadn't met previously
• Elbie is claiming the earliest geohasher achievement unless somebody was there before her (hah! Except I didn't actually reach the correct point. --Fbfree)
• Land geohashes aplenty
• Abduction geohash for Lassam
• Drag-along for Juventas