2009-03-20 41 -86

Fri 20 Mar 2009 in South Bend: 41.9413044, -86.3536148 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

About

When you think of grapes and vineyards, you think of Michigan, right?

Expedition

excellentdude: My crazy weekend travels once again found me needing to travel from mid-Michigan to St. Louis, Missouri. There are at least two different legitimate routes to get between these two places, and they both take about the same amount of time. So I made my decision by looking at where the geohashes for the day fell along the routes. When I saw the location of this hash, I decided to go the route that took me near it.

From the satellite photos, I could see that the hash was on a farm of some type, with a path from the road, by a house, almost straight to the hash. Also, with a bunch of school buses visible across the street, it seemed there was a nice and public school parking lot to park in. When I arrived, it turned out that it wasn't a school, but a bus barn. I parked there anyway and proceeded across the road to get permission to access the hash at the house. Upon approaching the house, I discovered that it was divided into three sections. I didn't know where to start, so I picked a door and knocked. There was no answer, so I moved to the second door. Again, no answer, so I moved to the third door. Once again, there was no answer. While waiting at the third door, though, I noticed there were doorbells. I could maybe ring the door bells instead of knocking. Brilliant! When I returned to the second door and rang the door bell, a nice old lady answered. She seemed confused and skeptical. I began picturing another No Trespassing consolation prize in the very near future. Then she said, "You just want a picture of the grapes? OK." I smiled, thanked her, and began to follow the path to the hash. I then interrupted my own happy thoughts of reaching the hash with "Wait. Grapes? Really? Here?" I was unaware of the existence of vineyards in this region.

As I walked up the hill the path took me toward, the vines came into view. Never having been to a vineyard before, it was kind of cool to see. When I got to the top of the hill, a decent-sized little vineyard sprawled out before me. I went down the hill, and then turned right at some grass separating sections of the vineyard. I didn't even have to go up amongst the vines. The hash was right in this grass! I got some pictures of the hash, the vineyard, and some apparent vineyard equipment whose purpose I was not sure about. If anyone reading this knows, feel free to leave a message on the talk page.

I headed back to my car and got back on the road to head for Missouri. On my way back to the freeway, I decided to rejoin I-94 at a different place than I had left it. As I drove straight west, to my great surprise it appeared that the vineyard the hash was in was not a complete anomaly around here. All along the two lane highway, I passed mile after mile of different vineyard operations. Who knew? Well, maybe somebody did. But I'm still pretty new around here, and I definitely did not!

Achievements

excellentdude earned the Land geohash achievement by reaching the (41, -86) geohash on 2009-03-20.

excellentdude earned the Ambassador achievement by obtaining permission to access the (41, -86) geohash on 2009-03-20.

Photos

• 

  The farming containing the hash

• 

  Following the path past the house and up the hill

• 

  And then down the hill, as I see the full vineyard

• 

  Turn right at this grass to get to the hash

• 

  The hash is halfway between me and the equipment

• 

  Goofy grin

• 

  The proof

• 

  Vineyard looking east from the hash

• 

  Vineyard looking north from the hash

• 

  A closeup of one of the vines to the north

• 

  Some equipment

• 

  Not sure what these do, but I bet it has something to do with grapes