Meridian Forever Traditional Cache
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Size: 
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UNTIL FOREVER:
While researching this bridge, we heard about a 2016 independent film called "Until Forever" that shot a couple of scenes here. This movie was based on the true story of MICHAEL BOYUM, a young man from Minnesota who was diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia (a rare, aggressive blood cancer) who maintained a positive attitude, showed strong faith & even married his high school sweetheart of 6 years despite being terminal. It was 3 days after his 23rd birthday when he passed away. His findagrave memorial can be viewed HERE.
While watching the movie, we learned, much to our shagrin, that the 2 scenes filmed here actually mention GEOCACHING! It was cool to see, though we later learned that Michael passed away 7 months prior to the Big Blue Switch Day on May 2, 2000 🤷🏻♀️(shrug). We decided to contact his mother, Bonnie (the movie's producer) to let her know how we discovered his story while placing a geocache on this same bridge, & how the movie touched us enough to research more about her son. Because of the connection to our favorite game, we've decided to make this cache in his memory.
You can watch Until Forever on YouTube HERE (not required to log this cache). The 2 scenes on the Meridian that mention geocaching are at timestamps (4:48 to 5:42) & (56:39 to 58:46).
ABOUT THE MERIDIAN BRIDGE:
Built in 1924, this span, the area's first permanent river crossing, was a double-decker drawbridge originally designed to have train tracks on the lower level & cars above; however, the train lines never came through here. So, instead, it was used for northbound motor traffic on the top level & southbound on the bottom, as it was one of the final links in the Meridian Highway, an early north-south route from Winnipeg, Canada, to Mexico City, Mexico, deriving it's name from the Sixth Meridian, which it roughly paralleled.
The lifts for the drawbridge portion are still visible on the South Dakota end of the bridge, minus the cables & counterweights that lifted that section. Unique to the Meridian Bridge is the fact that the lift span was designed so that it could be swapped with one of the other spans if the river changed its channel. Meridian is one of only a few double-decked bridges left in the US.
Meridian was eventually converted into a pedestrian bridge when the Discovery Bridge was built to the west. You can see it from GZ, as well as in the second clip mentioned above, where it's shown silhouetted against the sunset glistening across the water.
CACHE NOTES:
Please be careful with retrieval that you don't drop the cache. If so, let us know ASAP. We have geofriends in the area who can assist us with maintenance as needed.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab pyvzovat be GBGGf erdhverq gb svaq guvf pnpur