WHO/WHAT/WHERE
Northwest Ohio
Geocachers are the proud adopters of a two mile section
of US-24 (aka River Road, aka Anthony Wayne Trail, aka Toledo
Napoleon Road), west of Waterville near Grand Rapids, with a
portion of our section bordering Providence Metropark,
approximately from the 1.5 to 3.5 mile markers. You can trace the
route with Google's Street View™ in either
direction from the links below. This is the last year that our
section will be known as US-24, as the new limited access highway
replacement is due to open this year. We will have to watch to see
what our road section becomes renamed to. (From Defiance to
Napoleon the old route was re-named to Ohio
SR-424.)
Our commitment is to pick up litter
four times a year along our adopted highway section. In
return, ODOT has posted some free advertising for us on roadway
signs (see image above), at each each end of our adopted
section.
Coordinates of our sign at the east
end of our highway section (~.7 miles from parking
area):
N 41º 25.974 W 083º 49.871
-
Google Street
View™
Coordinates of our sign at the west
end of our highway section (~1.1 miles from parking
area):
N
41º 25.029 W
083º 51.446 -Google Street View™
ODOT will also place orange "SHOULDER WORK AHEAD" signs at each end of our
section for each of our clean-up events.
We are responsible for picking up
litter only between the berm of the road and the utility pole
line.
In the past, with enough volunteers
to make four groups, these CITOs took less than an hour to
complete. 14 volunteers, with 3 per group, and 2 shuttle drivers,
make up the ideal volunteer count.
These CITO events are actually a good
time, and as a bonus we also usually find a place to grab lunch,
socialize (usually in Grand Rapids) and often hunt caches after the
event.
Click
here to see photos of previous events.
We meet at the American Legion Post
232 (12580 River Rd. at Yawburg Rd.) parking lot, at the coordinates at the top of
this page, to coordinate our event, and to hold a "tailgate"
AAH Safety Briefing. Being close to the middle of our
adopted section, this is a good base of operations with safe and
ample parking.
If you can not, or do not feel like
walking and picking up litter, we can always use one or two drivers
to shuttle people, as well as deliver water and other
supplies.
Since we pick up litter along both
sides of the road, that equals to 4 miles of service over our 2
mile section.
We split into two to four groups
and work FACING TRAFFIC ONLY! Depending on the number of
volunteers, we start in the middle and work to the ends, and then
return on the opposite side, or start in both the middle AND at the
ends with someone helping to shuttle. Without someone to shuttle, a
group drives to each end, parks safely, and then gives their keys
to the group working from the middle to the end, as they pass each
other.
Volunteers who work the fastest,
and who are in the best shape, should choose the western
sections.
Each adult participant must sign a State
of Ohio group release form which should be available at the
event.
Children 12 through 17 are welcome
to participate only when accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Parents or guardians must bring a completed State of Ohio
Parental/Guardian Release Form to the event.
Please note that
that State of Ohio does NOT allow children
under the age of 12 participate in the Adopt-A-Highway
program.
By participating in this Event
Cache, you are agreeing to the guidelines and liability limitations
as described by Groundspeak's Geocaching.com
Disclaimer that can be found here. and on all other cache
pages. Additionally, you agree and understand that you
are participating as an individual, and that NWOGEO has no
insurance and assumes no liability in the unlikely event of a
mishap.
This year our NWOGEO volunteer contact
with the State of Ohio for this program is cachergirl27 (fka
jhenkel). Before each event she will coordinate the event date with
them.
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