I embarrass myself in front of the Hubbards

After the Eisenhower Museum, I decided to get a few "confluences." Confluences are the points where even latitude and longitude lines meet, for instance 97W/39N, 98W/39N, and 99W/39N. Those were all on my flight path and just a few miles from I70. The first is located near Chapman, north of the freeway. I soon found it after a bit of dirt road driving about 100' SE of 2800 and Sage. It was in a planted field and no one was around. For a few reasons I decided to ask permission first. An older gentleman at a gas station off the freeway suggested I ask at the realtors in town. He wasn't around, but at the nearby hardware store they helpfully looked up the plat map and told me that Mrs. Meyer was the owner. Unfortunately, she wasn't at home, so I kept driving. (It gets slightly more interesting, just you wait.)

98W/39N is located near Keene, but the offramps were closed for construction forcing me to double back. After several miles of dirt roads, I found it about a half a mile from any road. I stopped at the house for the owners of this large plot of land, the Hubbards, and asked their permission. They had no idea they had a confluence on their property, so apparently I'm the only one who bothered to ask permission first. Anyhoo, they gave me permission, and I went through a few gates on their property. The gates were there because of steers (I guess that's what they were), and the steers quickly retreated on my approach. They congregated on a rise a few hundred feet from my path, and they didn't appear like they were about to charge. Nevertheless, I kept a very watchful eye on them. I was still a distance from the confluence when I decided that the steers could reach me before I could jump one of the fences. I'm not about to get stampeded just to take a picture of my GPS.

So, I went back to the Hubbards' and said I'd try it from the north. I was able to jump their barbed wire fence at a low point, go through some scrub and through a muddy creek before I came to another barbed wire fence. At this point, I could have looked for another jumpable point, but I was worried about having left my car back in the road, so I turned around again.

So, back to the Hubbards'. "If you get any people here again who want to go to the confluence, please don't tell them I was here." I didn't give them one of my "Lonewacko: Blogging Across America" cards, and I only gave my first name. I asked if I could come back and try again, and they said OK. I mean, it's not that big of a failure, and if not for the steers and the fences I could have jogged there and back. Let my embarrasment be your trip planning. Since it was nearing dark, I decided not to try for 99W/39N.

By the way, Mrs. Hubbard apparently is a licensed massage therapist as well as a seller of things Amway if you're in the area.