Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
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October 2003

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD28-BYUV Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.5031° W 088.3333° State: Illinois Date Tried: 10/4/2003 2:04 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Rachi SW of Chicago, along US 52 11.06 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: I'm just a Lost Hoosier I set out to visit two dashpoints today - one of duibious scorability and the other a slam dunk. This one was dubious. I knew from the pre-planning that this would be about 250 meters from the road in farm country, and with the harvest in full swing, I would have to risk availability. When I got to the area, I was pleased to see that the farm house was pretty close to the point. In fact the driveway got me within 130 meters of the point. However, there were vehicles at home, and no one answering the door. The point lies just to the south of the driveway - about 130 meters and would be scorable by walking through a stubbled field between the driveway and the still standing corn waiting for harvest. But since there was no one at home, and it was clearly on personal property, I chose prudence, and will take the zero points for this one. No Score, but possibly reachable with permission.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD28-BYOV Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.7322° W 088.8620° State: Illinois Date Found: 10/4/2003 3:14 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Rachi Far west of Chicago - center of the northern portion of IL 33.22 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Southern Entrance of Shabonna It seems there is a nexus of Geodashing in Illinois. Shabonna (now I know it's pronounced SHA-buh-nuh, not Shuh-BONE-uh) seems to collect dashpoints like a Trekkie collecting Leonard Nimoy autographs. This point was only 130 meters east of the southern entrance of Shabonna State Park (the lesser of the three entrances), and rested squarely in the middle of the road. I was actually able to zero out by standing in the middle of the road and clicking the MARK button when it read 0.00 meters. Just to the north was a lonely pine, and a warning sign for an underground cable. Pics will be uploaded momentarily. For those who don't know of my Shabonna State Park Encounters: 12/8/2001: GD06-03903 at the northern entrance 10/19/2002: GD16-BYOJ through Shabonna and to the towns on the other side. 6/8/2003: GD24-BYOP camping in Shabonna and headed south I've also since placed The Phoenix in the attached county preserve (GCG9TD) 3 déjà vu points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD28-BYRA Terra Server Picture from LostOutdoors.com Coordinates: N 41.1366° W 088.7266° State: Illinois Date Found: 10/15/2003 12:10 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sam Illinois Farmland, far SW of Chicago 43.46 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Funk Cemetery My youngest one took sick today, but was bouncing off the walls by about 10:00. I had the day off to be with him, but it was too nice to stay cooped up in the house. The sun is incredibly bright on this chilly day. The point I chose would give me a lot of country driving and I'd get a chance to see harvesting in action and a lot of the fall colors. The point itself was not very remarkable. It's just to the north of a country East-West farm road (gravel). From the road I was able to get within 76 meters. The field that held the dashpoint was waiting for the corn to be harvested, but the field to the south was nothing but stubble. That's pretty much what I saw all the way to the point. My best eyeball-guess would be that 60-70% of the fields were harvested, and a whole lot of machinery was in the field today. The more interesting part of this dashpoint was some of the surrounding area. The topo map showed “Funk Cemetery” just to the northwest. I had to check it out. It seems to be a turn-of-the-century cemetery in the middle of farm fields. The only access was by turning onto a dirt/grass two-lane rut that went north, and then turned east. It was completely surrounded by corn. The gravestones were from around 1900-1920, but didn't seem to have all the same names - as a family cemetery would. There were maybe about 30-40 graves in all. As I approached to take a photo (that will be uploaded when the site is back and running), I could hear and see the grasshoppers throughout the corn. Hundreds. I'm just glad they weren't attached to my grill as happened back in late September. The other interesting point was that from the dashpoint I could see to the far northwest a smoke-stack. I drove to investigate, and found a town named Kernan and an abandoned factory. I called and talked to the librarian from Streator (a nearby big town), and she said that she knew where it was, and that to the best of her recollection, it was an abandoned factory. Interestingly, the “Funk House” (it's a family) was right next to the abandoned factory and is now an autobody repair shop. It's also the largest building in the town except the now gutted factory. The factory can be partially seen in a photo on this page of the RR Picture Archives: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=15845 Pictures all to be uploaded soon (I'll be uploading four, but they're small). The last picture I'll include is a combine harvesting corn. Quite a sight to see on a gorgeous day like today. Thanks for the outing. 3 Points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Creeky 63rd by kombrink N 41° 46.405 W 088° 03.665 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 10/21/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

A lunch-time cache excursion. The log on the web page was an ode to the sounds I heard while walking to and from this cache. I had been out here before to find Cacheopoly 1 -- No Trespassing in February of 2003, so I knew how to get here. This was a longer walk, but just as enjoyable. I'm so glad I came out here on a nice autumn day.

Castaldo Cache by Stunod N 41° 45.598 W 088° 03.565 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 10/21/2003 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Second time I've misplaced my sunglasses while looking for a cache. GRRR. It's a beautiful park, but I just don't like micros in woods. Seems kind of over-the-top to me. This is an area that would hold a traditional cache perfectly without any problems of looting. Ah, well. That's just my opinion. Since I did drop my sunglasses here, I will be back another day to look for them AND the cache.

A Shot in the Dark by Dad and the Dynamic Duo N 41° 49.731 W 088° 18.773 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 10/26/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

(Click and drag over the text (highlight it) to read.) My wife and I were headed up to Galyan's in Geneva to pick up our new Motorola Talkabouts ($10 for the pair after rebate!) and a couple of caches showed up on the radar. We also took this opportunity to check out this cache in the day time. The first marker was still gone, but I quickly spotted the second marker. This time, we also found the third marker that eluded me back in September. The fourth marker was where I remembered it, but I could NOT find the fifth. The Mrs. and I spent about 30 minutes looking in all directions that could be line-of-site with the fourth marker, but came up empty handed. Oh, well. I'll pop off a quick note to Dad and the Dynamic Duo. I don't feel quite so bad about it - after all it is daytime and only Greenback has found it in the daytime.

X Marks the spot by Dakota's Pal & Don't Dare Me 88 N 41° 49.880 W 088° 18.654 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 10/26/2003 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Since I was already right there for the recon work on A Shot in the Dark, this one was only about 300 feet from where the first marker was supposed to be. We quickly moved in and found the box at the X. The cache box itself was sitting out in the open, but I fel that was due to a loss of foliage since this was put out on Memorial Day weekend. Not a bad cache hunt though.

Eighteen GPS Spots
Centered around my own house
Gotta catch 'em all

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Last Updated:
Thursday, October 30, 2003 16:30 CST