Leaving for a business trip Wednesday, September 19, heading
downstate to Peoria, I headed out on Interstate 80 heading west. My
proposed route was to go just 28 miles west of the intersection of I-
80 and I-39 and hit dashpoint GD3-0287. After driving through the
little town of Wyanet on route 6 (the old two lane path for I-80
through Illinois), I found the north-south road "To Bradford" heading
south from an antique store. After finding the off road that lead me
to the middle of a bean field, I parked the car and walked the 0.15
miles to the dashpoint zeromark, right next to a tree on a fenceline
between two properties. The fence line was convenient, in that I
didn't have to walk through the actual beans, just the grassy area
between the properties. I'll post the picture of the trees later.
Interesting to note that the dashpoint is just a mile north of the
I&M canal, which featured prominently in Project Ape Mission 12:
Blind Canal. Heading back on the road, I decided that my trip to
Peoria was just 40 miles due south of my present position and the
road I was on (country and two-lane) ran straight north/south.
Always being the adventuresome type, I took that road more or less
directly into Peoria, thus cutting an hour off my trip as I would
have had I gone back to I-90 in Lasalle-Peru, and then having to take
the extra 30 miles back west from Bloomington to Peoria. A good side
trip when a dashpoint can actually CUT your travel time. Markwell
Shoe Rating: Sneakers.

While at the meeting on Wednesday, I found the first 3 stages of a
multicache (GCAFE) Thursday night I did find a Geocache (GC1238), but
that just whetted my appetite for Friday afternoon. Leaving Peoria,
I went directly to a Geocache in Eureka (GC1977) which I found with
no trouble, and went south on Route 117 5 miles to the dashpoint GD3-
0287. The dashpoint GD3-0286 is just south of Interstate 74 within
listening distance of exit 112. We can add Giant Yellowbellied Deere
to the list of wildlife encountered, and I was able to capture one in
its natural habitate, as the dashpoint rested squarely on their
preserve. Markwell shoe rating: Sandles.

On to another Geocache in Bloomington (GC1879) just north of I-74 and
I-55 on I-39. From the Geocache, I was able to take country 2 lane
roads and sound barrier speeds through straight country. In these
lands of cornfields, beanfields and two lane highways, speedlimits
are long since forgotten, and I still have a maximum speed from my
journey of 89.6 mph. Transversing the 20+ miles from the little town
of Lexington on I-55, I whizzed through the fields to my ultimate
destination GD3-0267, located (you guessed it) just off a road on a
border line between a farmer's bean fields and his cornfield.
Markwell Shoe Rating: Drive by - the road itself got me within 80
feet of the dashpoint, but zeromark would have been in the middle of
the cornfield - and that doesn't really make for that exciting of a
photo-op.

Pictures for all three dashpoints (GD3-0267, GD3-0287 and GD3-0286)
will be posted later. Today's events: two dashpoints + two caches
= "double-double."

I must say that the weather today was postcard perfect, and with the
recent events, although the terrain is somewhat lacking in prominent
features, I found my Caching and Dashing much more rewarding than I
have before. It must be an appreciation for this great country we
live in and the glorious scenery.

9 points for Markwell and Team Trailblazers
-end Report