2008-05-26 27 -80

The Trip

This was the first time Geohashing for Me (Kevin), David and Brie, and for the most part it was a blast. The coordinates for today looked like they would be just north of SR 60, and by the looks of Google maps, seemed like an easy drive there.

When I had first read the wiki, there was no description for the Couch Potato award, so we decided to bring a couch with us and make our own award. We had many funny stares at people who passed us on the highway, wondering why we had a couch in such a remote area. We also planned on furthering the couch potato idea by bringing a generator, TV, and Rock Band, but none us had a spare TV that could risk death.

We reached the point at which I had mapped out for us to get off the highway. This turned out to be an entranced to an orange grove. We were hesitant to go in a first, but there we no signs of “No Trespassing” so we went on. We went about 2 miles down the road before reaching a canal, which was a problem, because my truck can’t fly. We traveled down the canal for a little ways, and found a dirt bridge to cross. We crossed, and went on towards the mark. At this point it looked like it would be impossible to travel any further north, so we stopped and took some pictures by the canal.

Brie at this point says “Well, there’s no way to drive through that, let’s go home” but I’m not convinced. We go on west for a bit more, when I see a small trail on the side. I get out, examine the trail, and think “We can totally make it back there!” So we proceed, with brie warning us not to go, down the trail, to a dead end. I’m kind of disappointed, but lacking a canoe or other floatation device (couches don’t float to well) we’re forced to turn around. And that’s where it bad, My decision to turn around, now has us stuck in a swamp.

Curses! We’re stuck! Brie at this point is freaking out yelling “WTF, we’re going to die! This is just like Jurassic park” {BTW, brie does not read the comic to my knowledge, so this was very funny to hear, as in the back on my mind is “great, were going to get the raptor award” }. We get out, look at the situation we’re in, then me and David get to work trying to figure out how to get unstuck. We pull off some brush and stick it under the tires, no luck. Try some branches off of the trees, no luck. We pull out the jack I have in the truck, jack it up, throw branches and brush under the tires, no luck.

So I call my dad, who’s mad at me for getting stuck. He can’t come help, cause he busy with a tournament, so his friend Trent comes to help us. He arrives, and starts looking for ways to get it out. He finds some 2x4s that we missed lying in the woods, so we put those under the tires. Unfortunately, the tires, now covered in wet sand, don’t grab the wood. Me and David at this point have no choice but to get wet, so hop in the water and start pushing. We manage to get the front end out of the water, after much trying, but we’re still stuck due to a combination of soft sand and unlevel ground. At this point, there’s nothing else Trent can do, so he heads home, and I call up another one of my dad’s friends to help. The sun goes down, and it gets very boring waiting around doing nothing.

The other David (from here will be referred to as David 2.0) arrives with his truck. He gets his strap, attaches to my truck, and after a few tries, pulls us right out of the swamp. We cheer, and finally get to go home. We stop at the local McDonalds for some much needed drinks and food, and then head home, soaking wet, tired, and never wanting to go near another swamp again.

Pictures

The truck we used
The command center, which included a PSP with GPS for navigation, iPod Touch with transmitter for jamming, and my stereo to commence said jamming.
The sub, which had to be taken out to make room for Kainz's girlfriend Brie
We decided to bring our own couch to enjoy the nice scenery. . .
But soon got bored and fell asleep. COUCH POTATOES!
Setting up the tripod.
David
We got close, but not close enough
"Hey! Lets try to reach it with this trail!" led to this "Oh shit" moment
Brie was pissed
We tried sticks, but it didn't help at all


Tue 27 May 2008 in 27,-80: 27.2096776, -80.1014417 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox