Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
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Third Quarter 2008

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD85-BYYH Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.7019° W 088.6538° State: Illinois Date Found: 7/4/2008 3:50 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam, Sherry Temperature: 74°F/23°C Closest Distance: 95.8 meters Sandwich, IL Far SW of Chicago 22.33 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Seventh Anniversary - Definitely Knee High June 29 2001 - I read up on Geodashing, and decided to try my first cache. It was a failure only because I didn't read the rules closely enough to know I needed to be within 100 meters. Having only gotten 0.15 miles (240 meters) close, I missed a chance at SCORING the first dashpoint ever. Has it really been seven years? My summer has been pretty busy after landing the part of Nathan Detroit in the Summer Place Theater production of Guys and Dolls and rehearsals and going to be VERY busy after the holiday, so today was my opportunity to keep my 85-game-participation-streak intact. The family and I went to see WALL-E at the Montgomery theater and then drove about 17 miles through the country-side to Sandwich, Illinois and headed south on Somonauk Road. Just south of a little bridge over the Somonauk, we pulled over and I hopped from the car to stand just next to a corn field, and it was indeed knee-high on the Fouth of July, no curling of leaves and looks like a good crop. We've had moderate temperatures and plenty of rain this growing season - good news for beleaguered farmers fighting ever increasing cost of fuel for their farm implements. After finding the point we traveled south and turned around in the Larsen farm driveway on the east side of the road. 3 Anniversarial Points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Waste Not Westmont by Right2It N 41° 47.130 W 087° 59.076 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 7/6/2008 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I was out for a rehearsal for Guys and Dolls for Summer Place Theatre - we were having the rehearsal in Downers Grove to avoid the Ribfest in Naperville - and I had time and saw this one blip up on the radar. A nice quick find on a warm day. Just the thing I needed. Unfortunately, no writing implement so I will count on the goodwill of the cache owner.

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX18-RYWY Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.3243° W 088.3663° State: Illinois Date Tried: 7/18/2008 4:19 pm Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 85°F/29°C Closest Distance: 219.1 meters Flag: Swaziland Farmland southeast of Morris, IL - across the Mazon River from Rainbow Council 23.11 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is Geovexilla point.

Geovexilla Name: Bilnd Person Area Decided to load up some Geovexilla locations to my GPS before heading down to my alma mater, when my oldest son was spending the week at band camp. I tried for this one after stopping by the local BSA Council shop/Scout Reservation, but the area was too far afield. Numerous road signs indicated that the person that lives at this farm is visually impaired.

Don't forget to Log it! by niki090909 N 41° 13.381 W 088° 25.405 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 7/18/2008 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

I had a couple caches in my GPS from a quick survey of caches on the way down to ISU. Since I was picking up my son after a week of Band Camp, I figured I would have some time on the road to pick some of these up. Heading south out of Morris on Route 47, this one blipped up on the radar. I zeroed in and found it pretty quickly, even though I was a little aprehensive about the location being private property. But no one bothered me and I signed the log and was on my way.

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX18-KYGU Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 40.6810° W 088.7153° State: Illinois Date Tried: 7/18/2008 8:30 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew Temperature: 84°F/29°C Closest Distance: 197.0 meters Flag: Honduras Farmland between Lexington and Chenoa, IL 71.10 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is Geovexilla point.

Geovexilla Name: Farmland Grids at Sunset After picking up my son from Illinois State University in Normal, IL, we road with the tuba in the backseat and took some of the Route 66 road instead of Interstate 55 and came across VX18-KYGU on our radar. Unfortuantely, time was pressing and while we were within 200 meters of the point, getting to 100 meters would have meant a short hike into dark farmland in the height of the growing season.

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX19-NUUZ Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.6304° W 087.9192° State: Illinois Date Found: 8/14/2008 11:15 am Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 75°F/24°C Closest Distance: 63.2 meters Flag: Canada Homer Glen Area, Southwest of Chicago 15.98 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is Geovexilla point.

Geovexilla Name: On the Way to C-21-08, Weekend 1, Part 1 Seeker: Markwell Closest Approach: 63m Temp at Find: 75°F/24°C Markwell Title: On the Way to C-21-08, Weekend 1, Part 1 Brief Description: Homer Glen Area, Southwest of Chicago Date/Time Closest (CDT): Aug 14 2008 11:15:28 am Date/Time Closest (UTC): Aug 14 2008 4:15:28 pm Location is on 143rd street near a power line greenway. Access is gained via a parking lot behind an Italian Beef store.

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX19-QOCY Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.6081° W 087.9117° State: Illinois Date Found: 8/14/2008 11:36 am Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 75°F/24°C Closest Distance: 63.6 meters Flag: Cayman Islands Homer Glen Area, Near Stan's House 16.53 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is Geovexilla point.

Geovexilla Name: On the Way to C-21-08, Weekend 1, Part 2 Seeker: Markwell Closest Approach: 63m Temp at Find: 75°F/24°C Markwell Title: On the Way to C-21-08, Weekend 1, Part 2 Brief Description: Homer Glen Area, Near Stan's House Date/Time Closest (CDT): Aug 14 2008 11:36:45 am Date/Time Closest (UTC): Aug 14 2008 4:36:45 pm This one was even easier that then previous one - driving on Will-Cook road, I was able to score outside the neighborhood of one of my fellow Wood Badge staff members. Stan lives nearby in the County Woods estates.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD86-CAAZ Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 42.1293° W 087.9898° State: Illinois Date Found: 8/31/2008 4:10 pm Hunters: Kelly, Drew, Sam Temperature: 81°F/27°C Closest Distance: 23.5 meters Buffalo Grove, near Arlington Heights, Northwest of Chicago 35.78 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Burr Oak Near Shalom Cemetery I wasn't sure if I was going to get a chance to score this month or not - so while some of my co-players are already getting ready to score their first points of Game 87, I'm scoring my first (and last point) of game 86. Buffalo Grove is a pretty well-to-do area, and some of the locals call it “Boo-FAH-loh Groh-VAY” to emphasize the swankiness, but this was a middle class area of the town. In a neighborhood marked by elongated east-west roads, this brown split-level home at 555 Burr Oak is a modest little home with a red Monte Carlo car in the driveway. The house numbers are mounted above the garage written out in full English (cursive): Five Fifty-Five. To the west of this neighborhood is the Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery at the intersection of Illlinois 53 and US Route 12. Also in the area are Woodfield Mall (one of the largest malls in the United States) and Arlington Race Course. Of note, this dashpoint is only a half-mile (0.85 kilometers) from GD73-CABA that I visited back on July 4 2007. 3 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

2008 Annual Picnic by Geocachers of Northeastern Illinois N 41° 42.784 W 087° 57.615 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 9/6/2008 Hunters: Kelly

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Went to the picnic.

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX20-JUIG Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.6786° W 088.2368° State: Illinois Date Tried: 9/11/2008 9:15 am Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 78°F/26°C Closest Distance: 173.5 meters Flag: Mali North of Plainfield, on 111th Street 2.54 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is Geovexilla point.

Geovexilla Name: Central Sod Farm Seeker: Markwell Closest Approach: 173m Temp at Find: 78°F/26°C Markwell Title: Central Sod Farm Brief Description: North of Plainfield, on 111th Street Date/Time Closest (CDT): Sep 11 2008 9:15:23 am Date/Time Closest (UTC): Sep 11 2008 2:15:23 pm Central Sod farm is one of the major companies around the Plainfield area supplying ready-made lawns in neatly rolled clumps of top-soil and grass. To achieve this feat, they use productive farmland, plant grass, irigate the heck out of it and then scrape it off, with two or sometimes three harvests per year. Considering the depletion of viable topsoil as an environmental concern, I'm not too proud to have these people as neighbors. But their northern farmland holds the Mali flag until September 22 - as my closest approach was from 173 meters to the north, not wishing to trod on the sod.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GD87-CACA Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.6600° W 088.0332° State: Illinois Date Tried: 9/30/2008 6:35 pm Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 69°F/21°C Closest Distance: 299.8 meters New Avenue Near Romeoville Refinery, Romeoville, IL 10.14 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Romeoville Refinery New Avenue is a road that travels along a sanitary canal from Lemont, Illinois through Lockport, Illinois and parallels Route 171. The new interstate 355 extension has an intersection at 127th street, and this point is not far from that intersection. Unfortunately, it's a little more than 300 meters beyond the gated truck entrance along New Avenue - so this is a bust for my search. However, this area is a wealth of history - especially about the surrounding refinery. Here's an excerpt from a website about significant fires and emergencies in Illinois, and the 1984 explosion that I remember feeling about 17 miles away… Around 6 PM on July 23, 1984, a refinery worker noticed vapors escaping from a hairline crack in a high-pressure, 55-foot tower filled with gas. The worker tried to shut down the tank, but before the pressure could be redirected a spark from an unknown source ignited the vapors. The ensuing explosion launched the 34-ton tank more than 3,400 feet and engulfed much of the refinery in flames. Firefighters from the Union Oil Fire Brigade responded immediately with the company’s two engines, followed closely by the Romeoville Fire Department. In fact, Union Oil did not need to alert the city fire department as firefighters had felt the blast at the fire station. As a result of the explosion, many towers, tanks, and other refinery structures began to rupture or collapse and the site’s fire hydrant system was damaged. Forced to draft water from a nearby sanitary canal, firefighters were just beginning to attack the flames when a tank containing liquefied petroleum gas erupted. The explosion created a huge fireball that rose thousands of feet into the air and sent many emergency responders running, but several members of the Union Oil Fire Brigade were caught in the blast. Later reports stated that the explosion was felt fifteen miles away and an airplane carrying two Romeoville police officers 1,500 feet over the city at the time was hit with debris from the blast. On a side note, I also remember this refinery exploding back in the 1970s as well. No Points, but interesting memories

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Last Updated:
Oct 1 2008