2014-07-05 41 -87

Location

A parking lot outside a mall in North Riverside, IL

Participants

Mystrsyko

Haberdasher

Plans

I plan on being there sometime between 12 and 1pm Mystrsyko (talk) 11:37, 5 July 2014 (EDT)

Expedition

Haberdasher

After a brief discussion on the Chicago graticule page, Mystrsyko and Haberdasher found that they could both reach the hashpoint in the early afternoon and agreed to meet at the suitably-vague time of "1ish".

Haberdasher decided to wear a Pokemon Trainer cosplay that day, for no particular reason, except perhaps that it was suitable to participate in two nerdy hobbies at once.

After a brief ride from the western suburbs, Haberdasher, her mother, and her grandmother arrived at the scene shortly after 1. Haberdasher, the only one of the group actually interested in geohashing, opened the car door and settled in for the typical GPS dance... only to find that, after choosing a basically-random parking spot, the hashpoint was right outside the car door! Hurrah! Pictures were taken, and though the GPS was fairly uncooperative and the wind made Haberdasher's selfies rather awkward and unattractive, all was well.

The group soon deduced that Mystrsyko had not yet arrived on the scene. Luckily, it was a beautiful summer day: not too warm, cloudy, and with a pleasant breeze. All three members of the group were content to sit in the car and chat, with Haberdasher occasionally poking around on the geohashing wiki and watching approaching cars.

Mystrsyko showed up on the scene, and Haberdasher recognized him and waved him over to their group and the hashpoint. The two took pictures of one another, co-opted Haberdasher's mother into taking pictures of them together, and talked a little bit about geohashing and related topics. The groups took off separately after hanging out by the hashpoint for a few minutes. A successful hash was had by all.

Mystrsyko

After an eventful July 4th, I awoke much later than usual, around 11am, and decided to check my email while I was still clearing the cobwebs from my barely awake head. One happened to be about an update to the Chicago talk page, which reminded me of my plans to possibly meet other geohashers. Seeing that Haberdasher was hoping to meet up about 1, I started to get myself ready to go. However, due to the after effects of the previous night's festivities, I took longer than expected and didn't leave for the 40 minute drive until 12:35. It was after I got on the highway that I realized I hadn't printed directions or remembered the page I printed with the exact coordinates.

Smart phone to the rescue! Relying entirely on GPS, I successfuly made my way to the North Riverside Park Mall, and drove over to the building that I remembered seeing the hash point near on Google Maps. It was about ten or fifteen minutes past 1, so I was fairly convinced that I had missed Haberdasher. As I pulled up vaguely near where I expected to find the hash, I spotted a pair of ladys much older than the Haberdasher I was expecting to find sitting in a parked SUV. Just when I thought I had missed my opportunity for a meetup, a hand appeared from the rear window and waved at me. It was Haberdasher! I held my fist out the window in triumph.

I had a pleasent chat with her, her mother, and grandmother, during which we established that if I'm nerdy enough to be geohashing, I can't be that bad of a person. I also found out that Haberdasher's mother works across the street from where I work! A "Small World" acheivement would fit nicely right about now, lol. I wasn't able to pull up Hashdroid and look for the point myself, because apparently running GPS in an un-airconditioned car during a midwestern summer will cause it to overheat and freeze up. So, I took Haberdasher's word that it was just outside their car door.

We finished up with some pictures and then Haberdasher and family were on their way. Before I made my way home, I took some quick photos of the area and let Collin the Hashfox run around a bit on the hash point. A very pleasent day to meet random strangers from the internet!