13-Apr-2006 -- We're still visiting my wife's family in Katy, outside Houston, TX. Today the women in the family wanted to go shopping, so the four men/boys tried some more manly activities: Sporting Clays (i.e. skeet shooting) and Confluence hunting.

After a couple of hours on the shooting range (Egil hit 33 out of 50 clays, I got about 15 and Fredrik 8, the first time he ever fired a gun), we set our sights on a virtual target: The closest confluence:

Finding this confluence was _very_ easy: Just point the Garmin Quest at the point and follow the voice directions: I10 west from Katy (& Houston) to the Brookshire exit, then more or less due north until either Davis or Waller (we took Davis to the point, then Waller on the way back) to make it exactly 2 miles further west. Next was Cochran due north for about 2.5 miles, until a dirt road named Purvis lead us almost to the point itself.

For Sale!

This confluence point is now for sale, we found a big sign shortly before the end of the Purvis road (see image #2).

From our parking spot on Purvis the remaining distance was just 300 m, which we covered in a few minutes. At the confluence itself, the GPSs agreed on where the zero point was located, and both claimed 2 m precision, with the Quest using WAAS differential corrections to achieve this.

On US 290, go 10.25 miles from the center of Hempstead, TX 77445. Don't take 290A (just before Hempstead), which is a limited access highway, as I am not sure what will be an exit and what would be a crossing. Just before the town of Waller, turn right onto a road called F-M 362. Go for a total of 3.8 miles (at 1.95 miles, there should a cemetery on your right), and turn right onto Baethe Road. Go 1.9 miles. Just after the road makes a sharp left, turn right to stay on Baethe Road.

Go 1.17 miles and turn left onto Cochran Rd. Go 0.56 miles, and take the next right onto Purvis Road. Go 0.4 miles almost to the end of the road and stop. Walk due north 1000 feet to the confluence.