2010-08-13 44 -89

Fri 13 Aug 2010 in 44,-89: 44.5762971, -89.8339998 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

The side of a road (Lone Elm Road) in or around Wisconsin Rapids. Or Wausau. Somewhere really far, far away.

Participants

• Bassoon
• Dedehawk
• Kuderererer

Plans

We were going to drive up there, take a photo, and come back, maybe taking out the Kenosha graticule as well. Oh yeah, also taking down this HOT VIRGIN GRATICULE!

Expedition

We left at 3 PM. From Kuderererer's house. We were in for a two-and-a-half hour ride to the end of the earth on a highway that we hadn't ever taken before. Overall, it was a really uneventful ride out there, so much so that Kuderererer kept falling asleep. We stopped for food at a Culver's in some little town, possibly Amherst. At this point, we had to turn around to get back on the highway. So when you choose to turn around, where do you turn around? Why, at the creepiest place possible, of course! (See first photo.)

We continued driving. We drove some more after that. Oh yeah. And we drove more after that. This was a reeeeeeally long time to spend in the car, so when we finally got to the hash, which wound up being in the (overgrown) ditch of a granite gravel road, we walked around for awhile. A car or two passed us, as well as a UPS truck, but nobody cared enough to see what we were doing. It's nice to know we can count on the kindness of strangers. It took a while to get the GPS to cooperate, but we finally surveyed the hash to be in the ditch about five meters--right inside of a pine tree. We got as close to the pine tree as possible (finding out the ditch also doubled as a swamp, with plenty of mosquitoes to boot) and snapped our requisite pictures.

Then, we got back in the car. We drove to nearby Wausau, hoping to get some hot Rib-Mountain-is-the-second-highest-point-in-Wisconsin action on. But when we got to the park, we found the entrance road very closed. We drove around the perimeter, looking for a different entrance, but apparently there is none. This is a questionable business practice.

We then piled in the car and headed home. We drove. And then drove some more. And then, for good measure, we drove just a little bit more. At some point, Dedehawk was very concerned about the amount of gas left in the tank, so she forced Bassoon to pull over and get gas at a friendly little gas station in Tomorrow River. What a lovely place!

After that, we drove. And drove. And drove. And then we were finally back in Fond du Lac! Joy of joys, to return to the mother graticule, that sweet familiar place we call home! We stopped in Fond du Lac for Fazoli's (Italian food--fast!) and finally headed out to finish the trip home. Overall, we arrived back at Kuderererer's house at 11 PM, eight hours after we left.

Photos

• 

  Yeah, this place looks like a great place to turn around at!

• 

  OH SHIIIIIII--

• 

  Kuderererer poses for the camera.

• 

  Collaborating with the GPS is very, very difficult.

• 

  This is the exact moment Bassoon found out the hash was in a swamp.

• 

  We're HERE! (plus or minus two meters.)

• 

  All of us! See that pine tree? That's the hash.

Achievements

Bassoon, Dedehawk, Kuderererer earned the Land geohash achievement by reaching the (44, -89) geohash on 2010-08-13.

Bassoon, Dedehawk, and Kuderererer earned the Graticule Unlocked Achievement by being the first to reach any hashpoint in the (44, -89) graticule, here, on 2010-08-13.

Kuderererer achieved level 2 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and 2 of the surrounding graticules.

Bassoon and Dedehawk achieved level 3 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and 3 of the surrounding graticules.