Living out in the country town of Labadie... I have ample opportunity to drive the beautiful and exciting country highways of Franklin county that curve this way and that way between hills and valleys and homes and farms. There's no way to get from here to there except to follow these roads. And if you like to drive as much as I do... then you learn to love these roads.
This particular road, Highway MM, is one that I drive from end to end... both directions... at least six times a week. I have to take this on my way to work and back... as well as many other places I go. There are farms, homes, Purina Farms, trailer parks and a couple of small businesses along the way. Depending on the time of year... there are beautiful fields full of crops or wonderfully colorful trees to be seen. There is always the possibility of catching a glimpse of hawks, turkey, vultures, raccoons, possum, owls, skunks and deer along this stretch of country highway as well... so watch where you're going.
In order to find the location of this cache... you will have to hop in your car and begin your journey at the coordinates at the top of the page in Gray Summit... and head down Highway MM until you reach the stop sign at Highway T in Labadie. Take note of the recommended speed limit on the signs warning about each of the curves or sets of curves along this beautiful stretch of road. For safety's sake... I recommend doing this as a team with one person driving and another taking the notes. These signs all have a diamond-shaped sign on top imprinted with an arrow in the approximate shape of the curves... and a rectangular-shaped sign below indicating the recommended speed at which you should take the curves (See the sample image a little further down the page). You want to make note of the speed numbers on the bottom signs. Write these down! Make sure you get them all. You'll need them to find the cache.
Note: Only include the signs facing you as you drive toward Labadie. None of the signs facing the other direction are taken into account... and they sometimes have different values.
Once you have taken note of all the speed recommendations on the signs on this road...
- For your own sanity... the checksum of the sum of all the speeds is 9
- Let A = The sum of the speeds from all of the even signs (2nd, 4th, 6th...).
- Let B = The sum of the speeds from all of the odd signs (1st, 3rd, 5th...).
- Let C = The sum of the speeds from the first three signs.
- Let D = The sum of the speeds from the last five signs.
- Let E = The lowest of the advised speeds.
To find the coordinates you're looking for... use the values calculated above...
- Lat:
- Degrees: N 38°
- Minutes: ((A * 186) + C -4) / 1000
- Lon:
- Degrees: W 090°
- Minutes: ((B * 267) + D - E - 7) / 1000
When you get to these coordinates... I'm throwing you one more curve - one that isn't depicted by a big, yellow sign. You will be looking for a small, metallic tag with the rest of the information necessary for finding the actual cache container.
NOTE: This is NOT on private residential property and permission has been granted by the business owner.
At this point... you should be under fifteen minutes from finding the cache. After finding this penultimate point... the final shouldn't take much longer... but it does live up to its terrain rating. You will likely be able to complete the entire trek from beginning to final cache in less than half an hour.
A miniature Found It geocoin is wired to the container and tucked slightly underneath it as an FTF prize for the first lucky finder. Have fun!
Congrats on FTF goes to PhilGeorge, Pastor G, BenedictJams and mwillming! It was great watching you all running around in the dark. Thanks for the patience with my error and letting me correct it for you all.
This cache owner is a proud member of
SLAGA:
