2010-07-31 49 -122

OK, so this looks really doable. But will anyone bother? Just down the street from a church (close enough for a Holy Hash?) A nice powerful picnic field across the street.

Location

It's on the corner of Old Clayborn Road and Beverly Crescent in Abbotsford.

Participants

Wade

Plans

Wade's plans:

Program coordinates into GPS.
Put self and GPS on motorcycle.
???
Profit!

As is customary, I will plan to arrive there at 4:00. I'll try to remember to bring:

chalk
T-Rex
A camera
A passenger*

I guess I'll be leaving Vancouver around 2:30, or hopefully a bit earlier.

Note: *If you want a scenic-and-not-very-exciting ride out to Abbotsford for the geohash, let me know. I've got a few spare helmets, so you don't even need to provide your own hat.

Expedition

It went basically as planned. I programmed the location into the GPS, mounted the GPS on the bike, and then left home around 2:35. A block away I realized that, of the items I was supposed to remember, I had only brought the GPS. I returned home (to a chorus of "Recalculating..." from my GPS), to get chalk and T-Rex.

After a brief search, I found T-Rex sleeping in Robyn's car. I put him on the back of the bike (picture to follow, I hope), got a box of chalk, and got going again.

My original plan was to have a scenic and interesting ride to the geohash, by taking Highway 7 and detouring to the Steve lake dam, where there are some very enjoyable motorcycling roads. With my delayed and then repeated start, that route would have got me at the hash point at 4:35. I didn't really expect anyone else, but I figured that if I promised the world I would be there at 4, then damnit I'd be there at 4. Even if nobody else was expected. So I cut the Stave lake detour out of my plan, and the GPS's new estimate was 4:04. Close enough.

The drive out along highway 7 was spectacularly boring. On the map, it looks like a much more interesting way to get to Mission/Abbotsford than highway 1. In reality it is nothing but traffic lights and medium-to-heavy traffic all the way. I always regret choosing that route, and then I always forget how boring it is, and choose it again a month or two later.

I arrived at the geohash point just a few minutes after 4. I parked around the corner, took pictures of my GPS, wrote "XKCD - The Internet was here" in chalk on the sidewalk at the hash point, neglected to take a photo of the writing, then waited around a bit. At 4:20 I left, having met exactly as many other geohashers as I expected.

On the way back (Highway 1, just as boring but faster so the boredom doesn't last as long), a little boy in the back seat of a car saw T-Rex on the back of the bike and told his mom. Mom was so delighted that she had to roll her window down to tell me how cool it was. T-Rex always brings in the chicks.

Photos

T-Rex is ready to ride!
T-Rex is helpfully holding my helmet while I go to the zero point. He's using his teeth because of those stubby arms aren't really that useful.
Exactly 0m from my destination.

Achievements

Land Geohash


Sat 31 Jul 2010 in 49,-122: 49.0601459, -122.2629227 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox