Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
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October 2005

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD52-CAAH Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.4173° W 088.2606° State: Illinois Date Found: 10/1/2005 4:18 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Temperature: 83°F/28°C Along Ridge Road West of Channahon, IL (SW of Chicago) 15.68 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Surprise Dashpoint by Aunt Carmen and an APE Went out this afternoon with the boys while the wife was at a baby shower. There were two dashpoints only about 13 miles apart, and neither too far from home (15 & 25 miles). This first point was straight down Ridge Road to Route 6, the old US Route that parallels Interstate 80. For those parents out there, we had an interesting problem with "Go to the bathroom first" - "I don't need to" - followed by the inevitable "Dad - I REALLY need to go!". About halfway down Ridge from Plainfield to Channahon, we had that conversation, and pulled off onto Jones Road to find a bush for my 6 year old. To our great surprise, we found a field gone to seed, and an abandoned farmhouse. We stayed near the field and a set of trees to "take care of business" but took a side trip to the old farmhouse just to drive closer and take a look. The house had no more doors or windows, and some of the nearby buildings are near collapse, but it was still neat to see it standing tall. It was also obvious that some of the local hooligans had discovered the area, as it was obviously tagged for a particular gang, but since we were there in bright sunlight near 3:50 on a Saturday afternoon, we were able to drive up unaccosted, and then drive away without so much as a peep. Pictures of the house will be uploaded. As far as the dash, there appears to be tons of new housing sprouting up to the west of Channahon - and the placement of the housing made what I thought was going to be an inaccessible dashpoint, accessible. Turning on Route 6 and heading east from Ridge, I watched the GPS count down the meters until I reached about 400, and I thought for sure I would have to pause along the road to hoof it based on the aerial shots. WAIT - a new subdivision had a side street heading to the south from a point west of the dash, and a new gravel road heading to some point within the magic circle, and our vehicle was within scoring range. To the south were the large power line towers that stretch their tethered march to the Dresden Power Plant and Collins Street Power Plants to the south of the DesPlaines River. Also in fairly close range (less than a mile) lies the home of my wife's sister Carmen, and beyond (just to the north of the river) the forest preserve that holds Chicagolands Project APE cache (one of three remaining ones in the United States). 3 early points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD52-CABA Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.2996° W 088.0651° State: Illinois Date Found: 10/1/2005 4:48 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Temperature: 84°F/29°C Kahler Road East of Wilmington, Illinois (SW of Chicago) 25.21 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Power Lines, Turkeys, Forsythe and a Giant The second of the two close dashpoints for the day, this point lies to the east of Wilmington, Illinois, high school home to my parents, and many other previous dashpoints. The point is on Kahler Road, in the middle of farm country - with corn to the north and south, and 3 trees stationed along the south of the road within the magic circle. At the closest point (40 meters) the large power tower - not from the same line from the other points - loomed over the corn, and there was a farmhouse to southeast. Along the intersection of Old Chicago Road and Kahler I took a photo of something commonplace to us around here, but I realized that many of my dashers from other areas might not know this when they see it. I've uploaded a picture of a tornado siren, similar to those stationed at strategic locations throughout the area. After scoring the dashpoint and taking numerous pictures, we headed in to Wilmington on Kahler Road, passing Forsythe Woods, home of one of my Geocaches (Cachiversary 4.5) and then into Wilmington proper, but I saw something on the way that made me come to a screeching halt. Along side Kahler Road and east of town was a trukey farm, with loads of domestic turkeys gobbling in the pen adjacent to the road. My boys and I stopped for pictures and a listen at the birds, and I even was able to take a short movie. I'll try to whittle down the size from the 5 MB MOV file to a more reasonable MPG and get it posted to the web. After visiting the turkey farm, we visited the gravesite of my paternal grandfather and grandmother, and the original parsonage to the Wilminton United Methodist Church (which is now a library, as the church built a new building to the south). Pictures were taken for my mom, as she spent her high school years living in the parsonage, while meeting my father in Biology Class. Of course, no trip to Wilminton is complete without a visit to the Gemini Giant and getting ice cream at the Route 66 Launching Pad. We set the camera up on a timer and took another photo. What a great trip! 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Geo-Golf Course Completed Course: GGAAXG Course Radius: 12.1 Center: 41.7067, -88.1909 Total Strokes: 34 7/23/2005 - 10/6/2005 GeoGolf is an offshoot of Geodashing, which uses randomly generated points. Geo-Golf utilizes a denser course of 18 “holes” - randomly generated points on the earth's surface radiating from a central point of the player's choosing and within a desired radius. The closer you are to the actual spot, the lower your score. An exact duplicate request for GGAAPG (ending March 18)

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD52-CAIG Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.8675° W 087.6291° State: Illinois Date Found: 10/15/2005 1:10 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Temperature: 64°F/18°C Downtown Chicago, Illinois, very near the heart of the city 34.61 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Chicago Clichés This report, and the one that follows, take the place of the abbreviated reports made over the weekend. A day off - what a grand time to take a trip to find two more dashpoints that I've been waiting for. Back on GD37-CAGI, I relived an early message from Scout: Markwell wrote: I think I have the award for the most boring two dashpoints for Game 2. Scout wrote: Be patient. I'm waiting for a dashpoint to land somewhere in the Chicago loop and hearing your adventures of trying to get a satellite fix long enough to pinpoint its location. I can just picture you leaping from rooftop to rooftop trying to keep a clear view of the sky. That was written August 25, 2001 - Yahoo Group Message 316 And now, yet again, I find myself in downtown Chicago, leaping from rooftop to rooftop trying to keep a clear view of the sky. In reality, I was trying to keep both hands on the wheel while I drove our still new minivan into the city. After stopping off at my office about 30 miles due west of downtown Chicago, I started on Roosevelt Road - a road that pretty much heads straight east-west and terminates at the Shedd Aquarium in downtown Chicago - part of the museum campus that also houses the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum. As I drove from the posh western suburbs with their wealth of commerce, I was slowly transported on this stop-and-go-byway to a land of the urbane, moving from drastic White Collar to drastic Blue Collar. Along the way, I passed Mount Carmel Cemetery, final resting place of the Chicago Cliché Gangster, Al Capone. One of the earlier caches listed in Chicago documents this location very tastefully. It was listed as GC26C4 back in November of 2001, and I found that cache back in April of 2002. The cemetery is also rumored to be haunted by the Italian Bride. But the most abrupt change was when I went from the very urban area of housing developments to the glittering shining steel and windows of the downtown Chicago area. It was almost as if Da Mayor had drawn an imaginary line in the pavement and said "Here lies downtown." As I neared the dashpoint, I crossed through the University of Illinois Chicago Campus and the Sears Tower loomed overhead. The boys and I were both amazed at the grandeur of coming in to the city from this unexpected and unfamiliar path. We saw my wife's former office - River City when she worked for the Regional Organ Bank of Illinois with organ and tissue donation. The office building is a scant 600 meters NW from the dashpoint. Oddly enough, just to the west of the Chicago River from the dashpoint was a store - a sub-branch of the Marshall Field store based here in Chicago, that is geared to the more affordable prices: Target. Nice. I've uploaded four photos (if Scout will indulge that fourth photo) including the Sears Tower from Roosevelt Road, the Dashpoint Region itself - with the nearby Condos for Sale, a shot of the famous Elevated Train that makes its loop around the center of the city (the "El" and the "Loop") and a final parting shot of the now mangled Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, which was refurbished to look like a flying saucer in order to have more seating. The desecration of architecture was finished in 2003. So - an exciting 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD52-BYYL Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.2277° W 088.5693° State: Illinois Date Found: 10/15/2005 3:11 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Temperature: 67°F/19°C North-Central Illinois, Near Mazon, Illinois (Far SW of Chicago) 33.67 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Crow's 2145 - Dupont Plant and Mine Road Just to show the complete ends of the spectrum, I had planned on finding this second dashpoint in North-Central Illinois on the same day. From GD52-CAIG, BBYL is 65.7 miles (105km) to the southwest, almost a straight shot out Interstate 55. Passing south of the Des Plaines River, I landed on Lorenzo Road, and skirted the southern edge of the river passing by the entrance to the Rainbow Council Scout Reservation, a place where I've camped with my boy and family many times. I gave a friendly thought to Scouts everywhere, including our own. As we passed south of Morris, Illinois, I turned west on DuPont Road, so named for the chemical plant that this road runs smack into just south of Seneca. From there, I picked up a country road and traveled almost straight south 8.7 km, until I was only 13 meters from the dashpoint. I continued south of the point and turned around at the next intersection, which gave me probably the most interesting contrast of the day. Here, 105 kilometers from one of the largest cities in the United States, was Mine Road. Mine Road heading to the east was actually nothing but a dirt path in between two farmers' fields. I took the opportunity to snap a photo (which has been uploaded). Back to the dashpoint, I turned around northbound on my entrance road, pulling over again - now at 11 meters. I took a photo westbound, showing the seed corn distributor's sign (Crow 2145) and the LaSalle County Nuclear power plant in the distance some 8.5 km away at Seneca. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

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Last Updated:
October 17 2005 16:30 CDT