2013-04-21 42 -90

Location

Red School Road, Lafayette County, Wisconsin, east of County Road H.

Participants

Swensonj (talk) and his wife, son, daughter, and English springer spaniel

Plans

We remembered to look up the hashpoint only late in the day, and ran out together about 6:15 p.m., in a hurry to beat sunset.

Expedition

We piled into the van, and left town about 6:20. It was a pleasant with high wispy clouds -- a nice change after several days of rain mixed with snow. It looked like an easy trip: the drive to the hashpoint took only about 15 minutes, and the hashpoint was only about 20 meters off the side of the road. When we got there, though, we found our way blocked by a barbed-wire fence, and I didn't think crossing it without permission would set a good example for my kids.

Happily, a young man was in the next driveway, with a boy and a girl, doing some kind of work on an ATV. I explained that I was on a scavenger hunt with my kids, and he was happy to give us permission to walk through his field for a few minutes.

We stretched things out a bit by driving west to an access gate, then walking back east about 0.003 degrees. Finding the right location was easy, and everything seemed to have gone well -- then the camera ran out of batteries. I was able to get a quick shot of the GPS, and of our Grins, but didn't have the juice to keep trying for a GPS shot that was actually in focus.

We crossed the fence early on the way back, and collected a bag of litter along the roadside. We got back to the van, where we had some fresher batteries, and got a picture of some extremely shaggy cattle. A good-looking pheasant crossed the road in front of us as we drove back, too, but wouldn't wait for its close-up.

We celebrated a good trip with dinner at Culver's (a good fast-food spot), and got home about 8:15 p.m., ready to start writing this report and getting the kids into bed.