11-Sep-2002 -- Our journey towards our fifth confluence point started on 11 September 2002 at 10:30 UTC. It was the 1st anniversary of the WTC attacks and the radio programming reflected that on the route. The memorial service was about to start in New York at 12:46 UTC.

The distance from Varkaus to the confluence point was 123km as the crow flies and the actual road distance being 160km. We travelled through the towns of Jäppilä and Rautalampi towards Viitasaari. The confluence point situated about 40km before the town of Viitasaari, right by the shores of Keitele-lake. We left our car about 150m away from the point and navigated the rest of the way using the GPS-device. We reached the actual spot exactly at 13:09 UTC.

The place was called Soksniemi in a village of Autionkylä which is part of Viitasaari borough, which in turn belongs to Central Finland’s province. Sokssaari-island is situated only 700 metres north-west from the confluence point.

The spot was situated only 30 metres from the lake inside a rather thick forest. The lake’s shore had withdraw quite a lot since the summer had been so dry.

The weather was sunny and the temperature was about 20 centigrade which is pretty warm for a Finnish September’s weather.

In the surroundings there were various holiday residences, a bird house, and lots of Finnish lake-country landscape at its best.