2010-09-09 30 -94

Thu 9 Sep 2010 in 30,-94: 30.0347876, -94.6279388 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Several steps south of US-90 near Devers, Texas. I've travelled US-90 from east to west through this area several times. the highway runs through an area comprised mostly of open ranchland, and a few small towns.

Participants

Phineas

Ralph (The Naughty Bear)

Plans

This being my first geohash, I was excited to see the hashpoint just a few steps, maybe yards, off a mostly 2-lane highway with which I was rather familiar. Though not my home graticule, this hashpoint was only about 30 miles away, owing to living fairly near the 4-corners of four graticules. Also, I would be returning later in the day from a meeting due south of home, so it was a fairly minor detour.

Scanning the topography and satellite image, the location was clearly in some sort of brushy / woodsy area. But it was so close to the highway, that I thought I could make it without trouble. That general area is mostly ranchland, with a narrow thicket of trees running parallel to the highway. I will admit, it being my first expedition, that my excitement overcame logic when looking at the satellite view of the foliage.

Preparations:

1) TomTom GPS. Though designed for driving directions, it allows 6 decimal place long/lat entry.

2) Hiking Boots

3) Work gloves - for rusty or barbed wire fence scaling, if needed

4) Camera

5) Tripod (to take picture of self and Ralph at site)

6) Color hardcopy of satellite image.....which every time I looked at it, the foliage became more intimidating, possibly. Nah - it's fine.

Expedition

This being my first expedition, there was a considerable and continuous build up of excitement, from the moment I realized that the first geohash I ever pursued was within my reach, to the planning (not enough), to the journey itself. To reach a random spot. Yes. This avocation is indeed well suited to my disposition.

Shortly after departing my clients office, about 30 miles from the haspoint, I lowered the top on my roadster and cranked up the air conditioning. After all I was in long pants, on a 94-95 degree day, 70% humidty, 72 dewpoint, bright blazing sun. I've never travelled on US-90 eastbound. Weird. And, to get to the familiar stretch near Devers, I traversed the section between Houston and Dayton for the first time.

With warm winds whipping around me, I approached Dayton, TX, a town I've passed through a number of times....always approaching from different directions. It didn't look familiar at all. I even passed SH-321, my normal east-to-north turn, without recognizing it. Near Liberty, TX I stopped and snapped a photo of the town entrance sign, with a rusted railway bridge over the Trinity River in the background. I considered a stop at BJ's seafood to pick up their advertised crawfish, but with no cooler (note to self), I expected even triple bagged seafood on ice wouldn't survive. Though, a quick stop at a farmstand yielded huge local tomatoes and a jar of hot pickled Okra of questionable age.

On toward Ames and Devers, TX - the two towns that bracketed the hashpoint. As my Tom-tom displayed less than a mile left, I literally felt my heart quicken. I play competitive golf at a moderately high local level, and have trained myself to actively create physical calm while under pressure. Yet, as I approached a random geogrpahic location, I allowed myself the luxury of a recognizable adrenaline rush.

The hashpoint was ten's of yards south of the highway, so I knew my Tom-tom GPS would never fully recognized the destination from the road. As I approached the correct longitude, I slowed, and spied TWO HUGE AMERICAN FLAGS at streetside just ahead of me. Thinking, "This geohashing thing is WAY bigger than I thought", I continued forward. To an small abondoned ranch house, with a for sale sign.

That allowed me to pull in the driveway, and orient myself to the correct latitude. I had the geohash in my crosshairs. And it was....heavily vegetated. Very heavily. I approached from the east, donning the tennis shoes I brought along for the final steps. Hiking boots and a 5-iron (for snakes) would have been better choices.

I returned to the highway, and attempted a north to south entry. Tall grass near the highway, then the dense forested area. After taking ten steps toward the edge of the foliage, I saw a familiar rustle in the the grass. The reason one keeps a 5-iron in hand at all times when searching for golf balls is protection against any of the seven types of venomous snakes found in Texas.

Achievements

Several step off US-90 near Devers, Texas