2013-01-06 42 -90

Location

North Road, Jo Daviess County, Illinois: north of Galena, IL.

Participants

Plans

I (SwensonJ) hope to stop by in the early afternoon. I've already visited points in Dubuque, Iowa that are in Wisconsin and Iowa, so this would complete the Reverse regional achievement for me.

~~Is anyone else interested? If so, when would be a good time?~~ Leaving now... SwensonJ 15:14, 6 January 2013 (EST)

Expedition

I left about 2:15 p.m., then left again about 2:25 after going back home for the forgotten camera. I put the NFL playoffs on the radio and headed south. The roads were clear and mostly empty: it was moderately cold, but not windy or snowy, so it was an easy drive.

It was nice to get out and look at the winter scenery in this hilly part of the world. It was Epiphany Sunday, but looked more like Transfiguration Day: the fields were "whiter than any fuller could bleach them." I stopped at a gas station in the small town of Benton, whose interesting old water tower can be seen below. I reloaded the van and the camera with gasoline and AA batteries respectively, but their GeoSquishy machines were empty.

The road led on through the tiny settlement of New Diggings, whose general store might be an interesting stop on another day, when I'm not traveling alone.

On this small road, the state line was not marked, but the hashpoint was just barely across the line into Illinois. As I pulled up to the right latitude, I found a convenient parking spot at the end of a farmer's driveway, and a handy gate in the fence on the east side of the road. The snow was deep enough to slow my walking, but not quite enough to require snowshoes. I didn't measure, but I'd guess it was about 30m from the gate to the hash. It was fun to look back at the tracks of my GPS dance in the snow: a gradual inward spiral.

This was my first geohash in the state of Illinois, and together with 2012-09-16_42_-90 (Wisconsin) and 2012-09-25_42_-90 (Iowa), it won me the Reverse regional achievement: all three states in the Dubuque, Iowa graticule!

I got back on the road. My wife checked in to see if I was close to home, because she was stuck at home with a flat tire. By the time I got back, she'd had time to get the air compressor running and fix the problem: we met at a friend's house about for a pleasant after-Christmas party.