I finally lost my pants... (Long and Boring!)

[foxtrot_xray]

You know, I remember hearing about people here losing their pants, and I laughs (along with everyone else!), thinking, yeah, I'm above that.

 

Well, Murphy be damned.

 

Last month, I took my trip out to Colorado from Atlanta. It was a two-week trip, taking a little longer than was needed on the road between there and here. The trip started out well - through the backroads of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, then cutting a quick jaunt across Tennessee and into Arkansas. Stuck to US64 / Old US64 for part of the way, then hopped on I-40 to finish though Arkansas and part of Oklahoma. I didn't have much in the way of 'planed' benchmarks to find. The most I had was that I was interested in marks along state borders. If any other came up, well, my laptop was sitting in the passenger seat with the entire country's marks loaded in it in DeLorme street atlas with USGS Topo Quads enabled. Connected up to a GPS, it showed marks I was near and coming up to.

 

Neat system! While ojn my trip, I came to the conclusion that I don't like intersection stations as a whole. I think they should be abolished. There's no fun in taking a picture of a water tower in a town you're driving through.

 

But, I digress.

 

The first mark I actually planned on catching was "BOUNDARY MON 73 WP" (FH1007). I read the description, and did a liitle research before leaving. Despite the confusing notes left on GC and the entries in NGS, according to the country records, 'Boundary Monument' *IS* supposed to be in the creek, however, THIS station is the witness point - hence the 'wp' in the designation. So now, in 89-degree weather, I get to the point, and have to walk about 300 feet. This was eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas. In the late summer. In hot eather. I stopped once, for about 5 seconds, and my skin turned black with mosquitoes. This was the quickes recovery I ever done. I think I only spent 30 econds getting a picture, grabbing a reading, and splitting as fast as I could. (On the down side, the trees were so thick that the distant shots I got - the ONLY shots I got - were blurry. I'm mad at myself for this, but figure it gives me an excuse to go back.) The rest of the day, through Oklahoma, as as could be best expected.

 

The next day, I had a couple plans. As a road geek, I had planned on taking Old US64 through the Dry Cimmaron valley in nort-eastern New Mexico, west out of Boise City, UT. Along that route, the ones I had planned on getting was "OK HIGH PT MON" GL1425, the high point in Oklahoma, "BOUNDARY MI COR CO NM OK RESET" HJ0488, the "new" tri-state (CO, NM, OK) border (and the old one, around there), and then two along the CO & NM border that I had asked about in an earlier thread. (About why one is Mile 313 with TX?)

 

So, I started out alright, old US64 just west of Boise City, OK is a "power benchmarker's" dream. It literally has one every mile, and I saw at least 6 from the car. I only stopped for one, because I was eager to get to the ones I pulled. So, the first was the OK High Point and the tri-state marker. Conveniently enough, the road leading to Black Mesa was labeled. When I got there, however, I found that the farm roads that I had picked out were no longer useable, and you had to hike in. because the sign said it was a 5 mile hike, I had to skip that one. That dropped my spirits a little, but then I got to the tri state marker. Easy enough to find, and like the datasheet says, the disk was ripped out from the monument, unfortunately. I sat there for a few moments, trying to remember where the old monument was. The laptop was down for the count, so I turned and headed back to the old Highway, eager to get to the last two. Now, note this. I got to the county road where I was supposed to turn to get to Jesus Mesa. The road had a fence up over it, and a sign that said "Road Closed Ahead due to washout". No private property signs, so I moved the fence (relatives run a ranch, so I'm familiar with certain types of fences.) and drive in. I was worried that the washout was before where I needed to part to get up the mesa. As it turned out, however, the washout (if that was the one they were mentioning) was easily crossed, and I parked. Get out, get some stuff in a bad, and start hiking up. Now, note that, in person, this Mesa looked a LOT STEEPER than on a map. Also, to top it off, the strong wind that I HAD while driving was conveniently still now. I made it up halfway before I had to give up. My spirits were *low*. I guess I should have figured, with all the roadblocks (pun intended) thrown in front of me. But, unfortunately, my day wasn't over. On my way down, a local stock herd decides that they wanted to stampede my way. I'm watching them about 100 feet above them, as they come running up the valley - right towards my car. They stop, about a half mile down the valley from where I park. Turn the car around, and - of course, they're ALL blocking the road. So after careful navigating and hoking, I get through. As I pass the wash, I see this odd sign on the ground at a Y in the road. I didn't see it coming in. I read it now, and it said, "No trespassing, for any purpose. For information, contact xxx, Amarillo, TX". Freakin' great.

 

Head out of the state, and on to my folk's house. This day was pretty pathetic. What made it worse was, at the end as I was unloading my car, I found the sheet for the OLD tri-state corner. Aargh. I have to go back that way now.

 

Unfortunately, it only got a LITTLE better for the rest of the trip.. But wait! Where are the pants? .. I'm getting to them.

 

During my trip, I went up to visit my bro In Wyoming. Got a few marks up there, but nothing unique. Then went down to Antonito, CO. There's "STATE LINE CORNER 172" GN0004 that I wanted to get - I never seen a 'Supreme Court' disk before, and the route seemed pretty easy. I was with my brother - he was driving a Honda Element - and we decided to go get it. Unfortunately, with my luck, a storm just passed through, dumping 2-3 inches of rain everywhere. A Honda Element isn't a bad car, but on the steepenst part of the hill (which wasn't that bad, sadly), we couldn't make it up. Yet another one shot down.

 

I spent a day with my Dad, we found a couple easy ones, so that took a little bit of the sting away.

 

So, the last part of my trip I met up with 2/3 Marine. We had a few in South Park, CO that we wanted to find. I met up with him, told him about my bad luck, and he laughed. Uhhuh. So, the first, CROSS JK1309 he mentioned he wanted to get there first, because it offered the best views. We get there, of course, and we're in fog thicker than bean soup. Of course, it was clear north of there, were we met, and all the way 30 miles west, where I spent the night. We climb up, and as you can see in his report, there was not much left. Who knew Bovine liked benchmarks so well? My bad luck in action! He saw it! Granted, seeing the mast still erect was neat for me, since here in the east those certainly don't exist anymore. No evidence of the reference marks - which was strange. I know that things don't decay fast out there (dry humidity) and one nail was supposed to be in the bedrock. If I plan another trip out there, I may head up and scout around more. So, dissapointed, we start heading back. I excuse myself due to a potty emergency. I catch back up with him, after having to pop over an easy fence. When I reach him, I feel cool.. in an odd place. Freakin' great. Despite being an EASY fence to cross, I somehow ripped a huge tear in the inside of my pant leg while going over. We head back down the mountain. Remember that fog that was there preventing us from getting good pictures of the park? Well, when we got back to the truck, it had instantly cleared up. Again, my luck.

 

Next on our list was FLINT JK1319. It was obvious (and stated on the datasheets) that Flint and Cross referenced each other. An easier track up the mountain - even with my pants threatening to bcome shorts - and we found it, and the cross after some measuring and distancing. So, my luck was turning around.

 

We found a few easier ones after that (I think 2/3 was being nice to me because he felt bad for my pants. At least, that what I tell myself) and a couple days after that, I went home. I did find the old Tri-State marker on the way home, so the only explanation I have is that Murphy just was in his mood against me for the first week and so I was on vacation. Getting back, I'm STILL trying to catch up on two eeks of missed work, I haven't been able to log ANYTHING yet, much less sort through my pictures. :/

 

Okay. End of story. Move along, nothing to see here.

Mike.

Edited October 4, 2008 by foxtrot_xray