11-Jan-2004 -- On a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon we attempted our first confluence. Several months beforehand I had read about the confluence project and became intrigued with the idea. Mary and I piled the girls (2-1/2 years old and 7 months) into the van and set out to find the zeros.

We passed through East Berlin, PA and turned north on Rt 194. It was a nice country drive with farms, cows and horses along the road. Sadly, the girls could not enjoy it…they were too busy catching the zzz’s! Five miles north of East Berlin the confluence point lay a little more than 70 meters off the road. I recognized the area from the photos of previous visitors.

We pulled off onto a small driveway up the hill from the CP. I ventured up to the house of the presumed landowners, but no one was home. Mary and I decided not to wake the girls so I trekked into the small patch of woods alone to find the CP.

Briers tore at my coat as I walked along the frozen ground. It took me a little bit before I could get within 0.2 seconds of the CP. With the tree covering it didn’t look like I could do much better, so I took the pictures. It was an exhilarating hunt and we plan on doing many more!