2014-10-26 47 13

fyi: This is part two of a two part series describing an attempt to perform the DST Timetravel multihash achievement. For part one please take a look over here.

Location

The Salzburg hashpoint in bright daylight

The Hashpoint was located directly on the bus lane of a park'n'ride approximately 15 kilometers to the north of Salzburg directly at the Obertrumer See (Lake Obertrum), next to the village Mattsee.

Participants

B2c
micsnare

Plans

Dear reader: if you happened to missed out on the first part of the expedition report it may be favorable to head over to part one (see link above), otherwise much of what's to come might make no sense to you. At all.

Time was in short supply. They had to cover a distance worth more then 70 minutes of time in less than 60. They had arranged beforehand as they were waiting at the first hashpoint that Micsnare would juggle the GPS app and stopwatch so B2c could concentrate on the road. They also had set up their various other apps so they could quickly make screenshots if they really were to make it. Patrizius' GPS was clamped to Micsnares head rest with a carabiner back in the car and was doing good work, tracking their position every other second. This time around the challenge at hand allowed for no technicalities. The smallest mistake could cause leeway which would be impossible to compensate for as the dryrun some hours before had proven. But back then was in the daylight with high visibility and dry roads. Now the route presented itself from a completely different perspective.

Expedition

Not only was the night pitch black and ~~full of terrors~~ the sky overcast as they started their run towards the Salzburg hashpoint, now the small access road toward the federal road that would eventually lead them to the motorway onramp was befogged and didn't allow for even moderate speeds. On top of that it had started to drizzle. Several animals attempted to cross the road in suicidal manner, mainly rabbits but also some deer crossing the road managed to scare the living daylights out of them as B2c had to bring the car to a screeching halt to avoid a collision. Picking up the pace again B2c was gritting his teeth, putting the old hashmobile to the test while Micsnare tried to get the satnav to cooperate with the quick turns they were taking on their way to the federal road. The mood was more than intense when they took the last turn, entering the federal road towards the motorway. Passing several small towns they had to be careful of the people who were apparently on their way home from some clubbing and were carelessly staggering along the road. Like the deer a couple minutes before, just drunk. To add insult to injury, the ETA still didn't budge a single minute when they finally reached the motorway.

And it didn't get better from there on as B2c had hoped. The fog was getting denser every minute and the drizzle had become a full-blown rainshower. None of them were saying a single word while the raindrops where pattering against the windshield. Staring into the fog trying to spot the upcoming turns of the motorway Micsnare watched the seconds melt away and gave B2c updates on their ETA and the remaining time. B2c didn't say a word, but he had already given up hope pretty much at that point. It just didn't seem as if it would pan out this time. After 20 minutes which felt more like an eternity to them the ETA finally gave way to their efforts and dropped to 2:08AM. Still eight minutes too much, but a first step in the right direction. But there wasn't much they could do but keep going and hope for the best. Although meters and seconds were flying by it sometimes felt more like time was standing still to them as there were no visible objects near them, no hills in the distance that would give them some indication of movement, some relation of distance. But they only saw road markings and rain and the glaring reflection of the car's headlights in the damn fog.

As the weather finally started to die down and the fog lifted, allowing for a smoother ride and in turn, cutting another couple minutes off the ETA. 2:04AM. Still not good enough. And there wasn't much motorway left at that time. Well, B2c thought to himself, at least we are going to make the "earliest geohash achievement" as he took the motorway exit a couple minutes later and cornered sharply through a roundabout, nearly missing the right exit. Fighting the diminishing grip of his summer tires on the wet and ever colder tarmac as he was cutting corners as much as possible on the federal roads he tried to keep the car on the road and still go reasonably fast. For some reason he still was hoping for the miracle of the afternoon to repeat itself, as the last part of federal road towards the hashpoint began. It was just then that the ETA finally gave in - 2:01AM. For some reason the routing algorithm apparently had allocated some spare time for the federal roads which normally were crowded as they had been in the afternoon. But now the street was empty. And there where only 5 kilomters more of it before they would reach the hashpoint. B2c decided to go for it and floored it as much as possible, probably pushing Micsnare more to the limit than the car. But the gamble paid off! With a little more than two minutes left they turned into the carpark and stopped exactly on the hashpoint. Frantically the started to take pictures, fumbling most of them because it was more topsy-turvy in the car at that time than anything else. But they did it (again)! Against insurmountable odds they had managed to beat the space-time continuum and made it to the second hashpoint right on time.

After celebrating a little with snacks and caffeinated drinks, exchanging hugs in relief that they survived this madness, they put up the geohash posters at the bus stop, walked about for some time taking pictures and were just waiting for the stress to fade away. Relieved they made their way back home to Vienna. History repeating, eh?

Disclaimer

Since Micsnare is concerned about the safety of future Hashers who might attempt this madness, she wants you to keep the following in mind:

Kids, honestly, don't try this yourself unless:

you are a very good driver
know your car inside out
have scouted the route and the hashpoints first

Author's personal note: scratch all of that above, this run was just batshit crazy. Compared to this, last year's run was pretty much a walk in the park. True, hindsight is 20/20, but if I had known what I know now, I would just had let it go. Honestly. That said, godspeed and best of luck to all of you who might ever attempt this.

Yours truly,

B2c