#13: [13-May-23]

#12: [25-Dec-21]

#10: [19-Aug-18]

#9: [26-Jul-18]

#11: [11-Jul-18]

#8: [20-Mar-15]

#5: [19-Oct-13]

#4: [03-Sep-11]

#7: [27-Jul-11]

#3: [05-Dec-04]

#2: [04-Oct-04]

04-May-2001 -- My wife Luann and I, along with two good friends, Alex and Lauren, were wrapping up a week of wine tasting in the Bordeaux region of France when I noticed on my GPS that the latitude/longitude of the Chateau we were staying at near St. Emilion was approximately 6 miles (straight line) from 0º (is that east or west?)/ 45º N. Wow - that’s kinda cool if you’re a map geek like me: it’s halfway between the equator and the North Pole along the prime meridian - an easy spot to point to on a globe.

So before dinner on the evening of the 4th of May (2001), we headed out, Garmin GPS295 in hand, seeking the half-way point on the prime meridian. When we were within a few hundred feet, we pulled the car over to the side off the road and walked onto the grass to find it. We were just north of a horse stable, but fortunately did not need to climb any fences. The actual spot is right next to an on/off ramp for a new highway that did not appear to be open just yet - just a short hop over a drainage ditch, no more than 20 feet from the ramp. And despite the cosmic significance of the point, it is unmarked. But we took a whole bunch of pictures of the spot anyhow, just because it was cool.

And then we headed into St. Emilion for the only disappointing meal we had on our entire trip to France.