#3: [13-Oct-18]

#2: [08-Jun-02]

21-Jan-2001 -- While certainly not the most successful attempt at reaching a confluence point, this may win as the most hurriedly done. The following serves to explain why the rush was necessary, why we missed our prize by less than 0.5 miles, and how my girlfriend almost missed her flight home.

Last week my girlfriend, Erika, flew into town and one of the activities we had planned for the weekend was to make a confluence point attempt. She arrived on Thursday and was scheduled to leave Sunday. As luck would have it, it rained all day Friday and the prospect of traipsing through a mucky field on Saturday wasn't too attractive; we had all but decided to postpone the excursion until a later date. 'Later' came in a fit of inspiration on Sunday at four o'clock - only two hours before Erika needed to be at the airport. The confluence point was only 25 miles away and the airport was on the way, so how long could it possibly take? (Famous last words.)

Erika packed her belongings before our trip in case we needed to go straight to the airport on the way back, and I'm glad she did. And a quick run through the house yielded all the equipment I needed - except the GPS unit! A few minutes later my neighbor, Vic, walked over and reminded me where I had last used the receiver (on another trip we had taken, but not to a confluence point.) Having collected the amenities we all jumped in the jeep and took off. It's amazing how a 25-mile trip can turn into an hour-long drive.

Thanks to the magic of Street Atlas, we neared our destination before 5 o'clock, but found the last half-mile of our journey lost beyond a cable strung across the road with both a "No Trespassing" and "Hunting By Permit Only" sign hanging off it. Granted, it would have been easy to simply drive around, but the prospect of getting arrested, or worse yet - shot, didn't seem attractive. Nor did we have time to hunt down the owner of the property (we drove by their house - but no one was there.) Instead, we took all of two minutes to take the photos seen to the left, and make a hasty retreat back to I-65. The trip back to the interstate went more quickly - travelling the alternate route would have saved us ten minutes on our arrival.

It's probably best that we didn't waste time trying to press for the last half-mile because on the way back my neighbor took great delight (almost too much) in raising the concerns of my girlfriend regarding whether we would actually make it back in time for her flight. He was quick to remind me of a quote from The Hobbit: "Adventures tend to make one late for dinner." True, but I still got her to Gate 6 with a full five minutes to spare. :)

So much for my first confluence point attempt. I look forward to more. Words to the wise: plan your route ahead of time, bring pictures to help convince property owners you're not there to inspect for marijuana (or at least wear orange to give them something to aim at), and realize it WILL take longer than you think. -- Gary