Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
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Fourth Quarter 2009

Georgetown View by Lost Rabbit N 39° 42.221 W 105° 42.193 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 10/4/2009 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

While in Colorado, we decided to hit some caches, dashes and Geovexilla flags. This was the first of these - and a nice little cache to adjust to the altitude.

Travel Bug Bed & Breakfast by The Meandering Monkeys N 40° 14.422 W 105° 49.575 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Found: 10/5/2009 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Second cache for the trip, much easier now that we're getting used to the air. We ventured in to Rocky Mountain National Park, but were unable to transverse the Ridge Parkway due to heavy snows. So, we turned back around and caught the cache before driving out to Grandma's Nipple.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAA-ATOM Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 40.2690° W 106.4558° State: Colorado Date Tried: 10/5/2009 2:34 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sherry Temperature: 46°F/8°C Closest Distance: 533.8 meters North Central Colorado 953.40 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: At the base of Granny's Nipple While we were in Colorado on a wonderful vacation with me and the wife, we tried a dash, a Geovexilla and several caches. This was the dashpoint flag for the trip. Some 19 years ago, we honeymooned in Frisco Colorado, including whitewater rafting down the Arkansas River and horseback riding. This time we stayed at Devil's Thumb Ranch in Tabernash, CO, just to the west of the Rocky Mountain National Park. We decided on the Monday of our trip to take a drive to the National Park, and then out to hit a dashpoint to see the countryside. The early pioneers had a way with naming the mountains and the ranges. I guess they were quite lonely when they saw the Grand Tetons, but the peak that rises some 500 feet from the 7200 foot venue we traveled on has a name that will live in our memories for quite some time: Granny's Nipple. We checked out the paths around the mountain as it looked like the closest access via road was about 540 meters. There appeared to be a trail/road to the south and east (County Highway 27) that might have granted us access. It turns out that Highway 27 is a steep and winding cattle trail and any other “roads” that appeared on the map were nothing more than worn grass paths. But we had a nice drive to an entrance of a Carter Cattle Ranch on the road before turning around (now in after-recon it looks like there's a Carter Mountain and Middle Carter Mountain nearby). We went back to Route 40 and tried the closest logical point, but alas it was indeed only a 530 meter non-score attempt. Of note, in typical Geodashing fashion, we stumbled on a llama ranch on Route 40 between Grand Lake and Kremmling, at N 40.0664, W 106.25922. Pictures of the curious animals will be posted later. 0 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Geovexilla Icon to see the Map VX39-AGIV Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 39.5947° W 106.0559° State: Colorado Date Tried: 10/6/2009 4:45 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sherry Temperature: 42°F/6°C Closest Distance: 2457.1 meters Flag: Bermuda In the Bay in Dillon Colorado 943.94 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is Geovexilla point.

Geovexilla Name: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay While we were in Colorado on a wonderful vacation with me and the wife, we tried a dash, a Geovexilla and several caches. This was the vexilla flag for the trip. Some 19 years ago, we honeymooned in Frisco Colorado, including whitewater rafting down the Arkansas River and horseback riding. A return to Frisco was just one of the things we looked forward to on this trip, and it just so happened that a Vex Flag was in the bay off the south shore. Our first sojourn proved a dismal failure as the park that would grant access was closed due to a massive bike marathon taking place. However, we attempted again on the Tuesday of our trip and got much closer, but were thwarted again by barricaded roads. I guess it was not meant to be. Our closest approach was just over 2.4 km.

Clear Creek Wrangler by jeepcrzy N 39° 46.188 W 105° 48.980 Difficulty: Terrain: Date Tried: 10/6/2009 Hunters: Kelly, Sherry

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is cache.

Our DNF for the trip. This cache was at the base and first major switchback of the Bethold Pass road (route 40) that took us from the interstate to our cabin in Tabernash, CO. We were both pretty tired when we tried it, and I didn't have a lot of patience for a well hidden cache.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAA-CAGO Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.5085° W 087.6356° State: Illinois Date Found: 10/28/2009 9:32 am Hunters: Kelly Temperature: 50°F/10°C Closest Distance: 2.1 meters South of Chicago 31.98 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Pink Elephant Laundromat Fighting off a fever and a bad case of congestion, I had to stay home from work on Oct 27. Luckily my fever broke late in the evening, but in wanting to make sure I wasn't still contagious to my co-workers, I stayed home another day. With cabin fever instead of an actual fever and nothing more than a runny nose at this point, I decided to hit the closest drive-by for the month to my home, GDAA-CAGO. The point is in the very urban town of Chicago Heights, due south of downtown, near the Indiana border south of Interstate 80. I was able to take Route 1 (Halsted Avenue) off of I-80 and travel south just under 5 miles/8km past Prairieland State College to just north of Route 30 - the same US Route 30 that passes through my town as the old Lincoln Highway. Just north of the intersection of 13th street on the east side of the road is the Pink Elephant Laundromat, just a little north of the point at which I was within 3 meters (2.14) of the dashpoint. 2 points for Markwell and Trailblazers

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAB-CABO Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.8501° W 088.0837° State: Illinois Date Found: 11/4/2009 9:15 am Hunters: Kelly, Sam, DuPage Temperature: 59°F/15°C Closest Distance: 2.4 meters Wheaton, IL - west of Chicago 16.16 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Wheaton College - Home of Billy Graham An afternoon visit to the doctor's office allowed me to hit the closest dashpoint to home in quite a while - and VERY close to my office (less than 5mi/8km). Wheaton is the home to Wheaton College, a Christian college which was most notably Billy Graham graduated with a degree in anthropology, in 1943. The dashpoint is in a little cul-de-sac area of small ranch homes typical of the 1950s suburbs. The actual point is just outside the driveway of 1517 Coloma Ct North. There's a sign going into the driveway of these homes that indicates that there is NO OUTLET. Quite an easy little score for November.

Click on Dash Icon to see the Map GDAC-CAIR Terra Server Picture Coordinates: N 41.5383° W 087.6781° State: Illinois Date Found: 12/26/2009 4:16 pm Hunters: Kelly, Sam Temperature: 23°F/-5°C Closest Distance: 7.5 meters Flossmore, IL - south of Chicago 29.31 miles from home

Green Dot is home. Blue Dot is dashpoint.

Dashpoint Name: Webelos Activity Badge: Traveler My youngest son is a Webelos Cub Scout (grades 4-5) and is working on many Activity Badges - similar to Boy Scout Merit Badges. One of these badges is the Traveler Badge and among the choices of ways to complete the requirements are… With the help of your parent, guardian, teacher, or librarian, use a map site on the Internet to plan a trip from your home to a nearby place of interest. Download and/or print the directions and street map showing how to go from your home to the place you chose. With your parent or guardian, take a trip to a place that interests you. Go by car, bus, boat, train, or plane. Figure out what it costs per mile for the trip you took or planned to fulfill requirement 2, 4, 6, or 7. (Don't forget to include getting back to your starting point. Decide on four nearby trips you would like to take with your parents or guardian. Draw the route of each trip on a highway map. Using the map, act as navigator on one of these trips. It should start at your home, be at least 25 miles long, and have six or more turns. Check the first aid kit in the family car to see if it contains what is needed. Explain what you found. So, after building a First Aid Kit for my new car, and drawing the routes to Game Stop, his cousin and the Six Flags park about 50 miles north of here, he drew the route to GDAC-CAIR from our home and we headed out. The snowfall had been pretty heavy so there weren't too many people on the road this afternoon. My son navigated all of the turns from Google Maps and was completely accurate. We even had that wonderful experience where the directions said 'Turn Left' and we encountered a 'No Left Turn' sign - I asked him what to do, and he talked me through turning right, then turning left across the street into a Dunkin Donuts store (where we completed a bio-break and snagged some of Homer's favorites) and then turned right out of the parking lot. That's my kind of navigator! The dashpoint is a piece of property in the town of Flossmore on the south side of Cook County, near Chicago. It rests on a white house on Caddy Street that (according to the sign in the yard) is for sale by appointment only (pictures uploaded later). On the return trip, we did encounter some white-out conditions, and a jack-kniffed semi-truck halted traffic to a complete stand-still on Interstate 80, just east of where Interstate 355 intersects. Traffic was at a complete stop for about 25 minutes and no possibility of exit. Home and snow-blowed the driveway for rounding out a great day after Christmas. 3 points and and Activity Badge for Team Markwell and Trailblazers

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Last Updated:
Feb 3 2010