Champaign's May 31 geohashing coordinates fell , so I could not have made it without breaking several trespassing laws. Fortunately, I was also driving to Chicago for a concert, so I could take the back roads past instead. The coordinates fell about an hour and 45 minutes directly north of Champaign.
The drive was sublime. The sky was clear, and the fields were just beginning to turn green. I had the windows and sunroof open the entire time.
Near Gibson City I saw dozens of wind turbines spinning on the horizon. I turned and drove to get a closer look. They were further away than I had expected; I drove at least five miles before meeting the first.
As I got closer, more and more turbines appeared over the treetops.
I had no idea that such a large wind farm existed so close to Champaign. According to , the , of which I saw only a part, covers 22,000 acres and produces 396 megawatts with 240 turbines. The that Twin Groves produces about half of Illinois' wind power.
After driving among the windmills like an ant among giant flowers, I resumed the trip north to the geohashing coordinates. The precise point fell in a cornfield near , population 145. To reach the field, I drove down a poorly-marked but well-maintained gravel road.
I was not surprised that no other XKCD readers were there since I arrived about 30 minutes late and the coordinates were so far away from everything. I did not hike into the field this time.
A pickup truck passed as I was getting back into my car. The driver rolled down his window and asked if anything was wrong. I thought about how I could explain geohashing but instead told him I just stopped to take some pictures.
From there, I slowly made it back to the main roads and arrived in Chicago in time for the concert.
Says:
You sure that’s downtown Campus? It’s been a while since I’ve driven through in the daylight, but I’m 99.95% sure that’s actually downtown Chatsworth, which is the town south of Campus.