#5: [03-Jun-11]

#4: [17-Apr-11]

#2: [30-Nov-02]

#3: [16-Mar-11] (incomplete)

15-Apr-2001 -- It was a rainy Easter Sunday morning on Hilton Head, South Carolina as Andrew M. Gribble (N33 W81) and I, Tom (Duffy) McMurray, 75, WP2V (Ham Call Sign) decided to go confluence hunting. Namely for N34 W80. I had never heard of the Degree Confluence Project before Andrew explained it to me and being somewhat of an adventurer said "Let’s go for one," and looked up an available confluence fairly close. We packed up a couple of Garmin GPS’s, a notebook computer, a digital and a film camera and departed Hilton Head at 12:30PM out to I-95 northbound.

An hour or so after our departure, it quit raining and the sun came out. We made a quick stop for some fuel (for both us and the car), and were off again. Preferring the slower pace and more interesting scenery found off the interstate, we left I-95 and took some back roads. After a total of about 150 miles of driving, the maps and GPS's were telling us we were getting close. We eventually found ourselves on NERO CIRCLE, and discovered that it went almost all the way around this large thigh-high wheat field (still green). No fences, no dogs and no near-by houses. Great! I led the way out into the field of wet wheat about 420 feet from where our car was parked, and after an easy walk out found the N34 W80 Degree Confluence. A Topo Map showed us we were 131 feet above sea level, and after moving around a little bit the GPS’s zeroed out and we shot the photos. Simple as that. After plucking a few souvenir stalks of wheat and taking a few extra photos back at the car and smiling a lot, we headed back home to Hilton Head. We stopped along the way for a Subway sandwich and some more gas, and arrived back home having driven a total of 392.7 miles.

The next morning I took my film in to be developed and later picked it up and there it was, the photo of the Garman eTrex GPS showing N34.00.000 W80.00.000 Now to organize everything and submit it all for an official visit. Hopefully more Confluences to come... Neat project.

Tom (Duffy) McMurray WP2V