#1: [03-Nov-01]

28-Dec-2000 -- This confluence submission has been a year in the making. Our group of first time confluence hunters sorely lacked experience and as a result brought a cheap disposable camera. After developing the film we, to our dismay, found the GPS photo unreadable. Disheartened, we believed all of our efforts to be wasted. The unscanned pictures remained in Emerson's bedroom while he returned to school in New York.

One year later... after a West Texas road trip yielded three successful confluences the decision was made to submit this confluence. A search of Emerson's bedroom yielded only negatives. A quick trip to the local Eckerd Pharmacy produced the necessary photographic evidence.

The Trip
We discovered the Degree Confluence Project some months earlier and decided to visit a confluence when everyone was home from their respective universities over winter break.

We decided to make the trip on the 28th (or was it the 29th?). In preparation we had printed aerial photographs and maps.

We left Waco by way of US 84 and arrived in Brownwood around lunch. We drove the main drag a few times looking for a local restauraunt to eat at, finally selecting a Mexican Restaurant whose name has long since slipped out of memory.

After lunch we sat outside the restaurant waiting for the GPS to get a lock. After approximately ten minutes the GPS finally located our position (later inspection showed that the initilization area had been set to 32N 99E). We then set off north on US 183 towards the confluence. We found FM 583 and drove until we came to the general area of the confluence.

It was a short walk from the road to the confluence, through a field with tall grass. We came to a dirt driveway and after crossing it the GPS unit zeroed out. This was it, this was our first successful confluence visit. We took some pictures and looked around the area of the confluence for a bit.

After leaving we took a different route back to Waco in order to pass through Carbon, Texas (a satisfying feeling in that science nerd sort of way). We returned to on SH 6 passing through Dublin, TX, home of the oldest Dr. Pepper Bottling Company in the world. They still make Dr. Pepper with pure cane sugar rather than a corn based sweetener. We stopped at the "Chigger Ranch Food Store" and bought several six packs of Dr. Pepper. After indulging our collective addiction for sugar, we travelled homewards triumphantly carrying the seeds of our own procrastination. Here, at last, are the slow-growing fruit of our travels presented to you.