2009-03-20 41 -86
| Fri 20 Mar 2009 in South Bend: 41.9413044, -86.3536148 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Contents
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
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excellentdude earned the Land geohash achievement
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excellentdude earned the Ambassador achievement
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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
