#2: [17-Nov-18]

30-Jun-2001 -- I have been following the confluence hunt for a few months now and all the points near my home have been quickly gobbled up, so my wife Libby and I decided to take advantage of a trip up north the give it a go.

We were headed to Johannesburg, Michigan, to my brother in-law's retirement party and there are signs all through that area noting the 45th parallel half-way to the north pole. Since there were a couple hours to kill before the party we headed about 20 miles east going through the small town of Atlanta until we came to 84 degrees west longitude. About 100 yards before was a small two track heading in the right direction with a gate and no trespassing sign. We parked right on 84 00.000W and the GPS said we had to go 453 feet due south. The side of the road was not posted so we headed into the woods. It was fairly level ground and although the underbrush was a bit thick it only took 10-15 minutes to reach the general area. The tree canopy had some openings but it was difficult to get a good fix but after almost an hour of zeroing in and being off by .001 one way or the other we finally reached 45 00.000N 84 00.000W and got a picture of the GPS after it had averaged for several minutes. Took some pictures in several directions and got our own mug shots. When we got to the party later everyone was interested in hearing our adventure so we explained the project to them. I'm not sure they didn't think we were nuts but hey, we had a great time.

Rusty...