Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
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January 2007

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD67-CABU Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 42.1421° W 087.8807° State: Illinois Date Found: 1/7/2007 12:35 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Other Members of Pack 13 Temperature: 34°F/1°C Closest Distance: 6.6 meters North Northfield, Near intersection of I-94 and I-294, NNW of Chicago 38.87 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: U.S.S. Cobia SS-245 and The Godmother's Church It seems as though I'm always asking for Scout's indulgence as I upload more than the 3 standard images for a dashpoint, but in my defense, in the last points, I've averaged 2 images per dashpoint. ;-) I've got five pictures because the surrounding experience behind this dashpoint was a great time! Back 3 years ago, my wife took her cub scout den (including my oldest boy) to sleep on the U.S.S. Silversides, a WWII Submarine in Muskegon, Michigan. This year, we asked if any families would be interested in sleeping overnight at the U.S.S. COBIA in Manitowac, Wisconsin. Our response was overwhelming - we had 65 people (maximum capacity) on this trip, and we'll be doing ANOTHER trip on June 23. We drove up to Manitowac, but since I was the "in charge" I needed to be earlier than anyone else - so no time for dashpoints. We arrived at 7:00 and spent the next 5 or 6 hours touring the boat and having a great time learning about life on a submarine. At about 1:00 a.m. we finally bunked down. To say the space was tight would be a gross understatement. We had 10 back out at the last minute due to illness, making it so we only had 55 on the boat. During its commission, the boat would normally have 80 crew members. I cannot possibly imagine the living conditions. Movies like Hunt for Red October and Enemy Below make it look like they've got tons of room to move around and relax. The crew quarters slept 60, with four bunks from starboard to port (two rows down the length of the quarters in the middle, with an aisle on either side, and two rows along either hull of the ship) five bunks running the length of the quarters (head to toe), and stacked 3 high - all suspended from the walls. The torpedo rooms each slept 10. There's a couple great photos below: here is a diagram of the Gato Class Sub and here is a photo from the U.S.S. Cavalla's crew quarters. The Cobia's quarters are in much better shape. On the way home after about 2 hours of sleep for this mildly claustrophobic scout leader, I talked my compatriot parent into a 4 mile jaunt off the interstate. While the northbound interstate we were on traveled about 300 meters from the point, we needed to exit to actually score. So - off Willow Road, and on to Sanders Road northbound. Less than 2 miles later, and we were stopped at the stoplight of Sanders Road and Dundee and we noticed the church at the stoplight was the North Northfield United Methodist Church. When my older son's Godmother (a minister) was reassigned from our church to a new parish, she was transferred to the North Northfield church. Cool. Back to the point, one block north of the light and one more block east and we were on the right path. The point is just in the yard to the northwest of a roundabout cul-de-sac-ish corner. The house to the north of the cul-de-sac is under some renovations (and a photo has been uploaded), and the house to the west has a distinctive wooden fish mailbox (photo also uploaded). With the tolerances of the scouts in our van and of the other parent all diminished, I smiled and waved at the curious onlooking neighbor before proceeding back to the interstate and on home the 40-some crow-miles. Scoring the dashpoint was a great cap to a wonderful weekend with the scouts. Thanks for giving us the slight diversion on the way home, and a chance to document our experience with my fellow dashers. 3 points for Markwell and the Trailblazers

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Last Updated:
February 2 2007