2024-10-18 35 -97

Location

A crop field just off US 81, north of Union City, OK

Participants

Plans

Kind of on impulse, really: camera, eTrex Solar, go.

Expedition

Oklahoma is where part 2 of my vacation is taking place. I don't know if I should say vacation, though, because this is more like the beginning of a family restructuring; in a few days, we'll drive to Tampa and move things from there. Anyway, this is where I'll be moving next. How long I'll be here, I can't figure that out.

Looking at the hashpoints this morning, I noticed this one was reachable without losing too much common sense: it's a fenced field divided by Union Pacific railroad, and on both sides of the track are openings (sans doors) of the fences according to Street View. As you might expect in the developed Midwest, the points usually land on parcels that are fenced thoroughly (with chained and/or locked gates), sometimes have No Trespassing signs, and often no Street View as it's surrounded by unpaved roads which the drivers don't glance twice at. And I'm not too fond of going to these undocumented parcels or jumping gates; it's actually the same situation in Tampa, only a higher chance to land right in suburban homes, gated communities, or watery places.

Again, I waited until my father came home, then told him I was driving just for the fun of it; he doesn't know about geohashing yet, and I suppose if he realizes the goal is to go to people's fields (mostly), he'd lose it. In front of him, I drove the crossover^[1] down the long driveway, and so the adventure began.

Almost. Pulling over, I turned on the eTrex to get it used to the satellites, programmed my iPhone to the location, and off I went. First, it was through miles and miles of county roads, but the route I took, I'm familiar with at this point; it runs through flat roads, then a rollercoaster, then flat roads again, all to turn into OK-152. Now, let me enlighten you on the wonder of Midwestern state highways; this section of OK-152 is a nice example of one. Two lanes, one each direction; the speed limit is 65 mph (105 km/h); the road is badly maintained, there's no shoulder, and turns do not have dedicated lanes... and I was going above the limit so I wouldn't be picked on by my father. Anyone want to wish me luck for getting a good score for the Oklahoma driving test?

Not long later, a semi pulled out in front of me. Uh oh, not again. Actually, it was a heavy duty pickup carrying bales of hay, specks of which would loosen up and smack into the crossover. Not a huge problem, really, it's gone through worse. I passed the fellow first by speeding up, then realizing my spacing was terrible and I'd either narrowly make it or make an amazing head-on collision so I cancelled the pass (without me checking my blind spot to see if some other driver took up my space...), then I properly passed except that I floored the pedal, which not only probably never happened in this crossover, it didn't help much in gear 6. Yes, I'm still an amateur driver. OK-152 was once again feeling long, and I kinda recognize the landmarks that tell me roughly what percentage of the stretch before the turn I'm in. The turn came, left there after the cars end. Heading now towards Union City, two semis on the other lane, each carrying a piece of oversized bridge; eventually, Union City, which you can't really call a city, came about. At this point, I branched off the path of 152, now on US 81 towards El Reno. The highway became a four-lane divided, and I was going limit 70 by the time I had to turn left to 29th, the final stretch to the hashpoint.

I went below the limit of 45 this time, but as I was approaching the crossing, I noticed that dust was emanating from what I assumed was the field. They're doing work on it right now? Getting ever closer, where just in time a short Union Pacific train had the barriers lowered, I realized that the dust came from more semis with oversized loads (by the way, on an unmarked unmaintained road), and I think the dust was kicked up from braking; the train, too, beat them there. Barriers still down, I got a good look at the openings of the field; it's undoored, to my surprise^[2]. However, it looks different: bales of hay run along part of the fence inside the field. To do now is to wait for the barriers to go up, then for the oversizes and their escort to move along.

I parked the crossover on a horizontal grade (i.e. it could've rolled over), and got my things. The field was one that's used to grow crops; of what, I wouldn't know. With the ZS70 in my right hand and the eTrex in my left, I stepped in; definitely felt weird as I've never willingly stepped into a field. Since the eTrex was set on multi-band, locating was quite easy; in fact, maybe a bit too easy, because like last time, I just wanted to find it and go, and in doing so I unfortunately stepped on some crops. The exact point has crops that haven't sprouted quite yet, whilst further south the crops matured enough to have wide greens. In my haste, however, I just took photos of the receiver and darted back to the opening; I only took photos of the surroundings from outside the bounds, because I didn't want to walk back.

Then home. Same route. I was going even faster now; I went 60 where I should be going 45. I'll really ace the Oklahoma driving test!^[3] Anyway, if you want to discount more oversizes on 152 and kids sitting on the side of the road with a dad running across, the trip back was fine, and maybe a good thing I went at speed because I was interrupted while writing the beginning to help my father. I wasn't scolded for going to Union City.

Distance going to the hash, according to the eTrex, was 50 km (31 miles). It means I used slightly less than 2 gallons of fuel, even with my chaotic driving.

↑ Not the same one.
↑ I thought that in the 18 months after Street View drove there, a pair of gates would've sprung up.
↑ Since I have a Florida license, there's actually no need for me to take a driving test to receive an Oklahoma license. I just like mocking speeders, although perhaps they're more common here because the limits on Interstates are 75 (80 on turnpikes, such as I-44), and neighboring Texas has worse.