2013-03-09 34 -91

Location

On the edge of a field in unincorporated Humphrey, Arkansas.

Participants

Expedition

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I noticed that AshtaraSilunar's displaced origin hash and the actual hash for the day in the same graticule were accessible- so why not try for both?

After reaching the displaced origin hash, and taking a short break to play with technology and partake in snacks, we sped off to the second hash of the day for us, the one which was actually that day's hash. We started off on the wrong foot by turning one block before we should have, causing us to go the wrong direction on the highway for over 2 miles. At least that problem was easy enough to fix.

The road was fairly pretty, in a sort of typical Arkansas way. I was more amused by the signs and towns that we passed. Based upon town names alone, this must have been a very expansive trip- we took a highway headed towards Paris (Arkansas, not France), then one near Austin (Arkansas, not Texas), passed through Jacksonville (Arkansas, not Florida), passed through England (the town in Arkansas), and even went near the graticule-naming Stuttgart (Arkansas, not Germany). Clearly, this roughly two-hour trip actually spanned multiple states and continents. Perhaps Arkansas is secretly a giant teleporter.

As we neared the hash, the roads, while remaining paved for the time being, turned from the normal dark gray color of pavement to an orangish-brown. This confused Haberdasher, as a (self-proclaimed) Yankee city slicker, quite a bit. AshtaraSilunar, knowing the ways of the rural South better, explained that it was a not-uncommon use of a different pavement mixture so as to make the road withstand extreme heat better.

Also as we neared the hash, it seemed as though we were going in a spiral- which, after leaving, the GPS more or less confirmed. The GPS was somewhat confused at this point, asking us to turn onto the road which we were already on, but it more or less amounted to following the pavement rather than turning onto dirt/stone roads... until we reached Dapps Road, off which the hashpoint resided. Dapps Road gives dirt roads a bad name. It wasn't so much a road as a slightly-less grassy outstretch of the surrounding field. Luckily, AshtaraSilunar's car was able to withstand the abuse which this road required.

The hash itself was off this road, and a bit off another even-more-informal path which led into the field, but aside from the mud, reaching it was not terribly difficult, even for the directionally-challenged Haberdasher. We took pictures, cursed our lack of kite and celebrated our successful hashing in a virgin graticule, and began to head home. Before we did, however, Haberdasher checked on the GPS how far it was to the nearest gas station- partly in a vain hope of acquiring GeoSquishy points, but mostly just out of curiosity. The nearest gas station was 11 miles away. Welcome to rural Arkansas.

On our way back, for some reason the GPS guided us to continue going south for a bit, and we entered Pine Bluff, the location of another recent, albeit unattempted, hash location in the area. Pine Bluff seems like a decent enough town, and if the hashpoint falls there on another weekend, well, at least we know what we're in for now.