2009-01-16 35 -79

Report

Since it was too cold and windy to work outside on my Harley (or at least that’s my story), I had plenty of time to examine the North Carolina geohashes for today. One was particularly intriguing as it was next to the Siler City airport, which is just south west of our graticule. Yes, this is the very same Siler City spoken of in "The Andy Griffith Show." This Geohash seemed an easy prize and would add another flag in our Minesweeper quest.

After a delayed start, we reached the airport around 2130 local, only to find the gate locked. So, our only hope was that the Geohash would be located outside the fence and its menacing No Trespassing signs that threatened everything short of torture. We found a parking spot on an access road and attempted to look as harmless as you can look at 2130 with a headlamp, camera, and glowing bear near a security zone. Walking the perimeter of the airport armed with our geogear, we happily discovered the hash just outside the fence in the midst of a horrendous lair of raptor traps (briars).

After taking assorted pictures, the Panda begged us to go back to the warm car, so we struggled through the maze of thorns towards the road. Although we only suffered minor raptor bites, one raptor did manage to rip the lens cap off the camera. After searching for 15 minutes in vain, we sadly declared the cap MIA.

As a reward for this hard earned hash, we stopped off at Siler City’s Burger King to enjoy celebratory Geocheeseburgers and fruit punch.

Participants

Eisen & Bear - NCBears

Geological Features

Rolling farmland south of Siler City, NC. Geohash was located just outside the fence of the Blair Airfield, amongst grass, small trees, and abundant Raptor traps (briars).