I've been doing some bicycle based searching for benchmarks lately.  I'm trying to combine training for a one-day, 160-mile, bike ride and searching for benchmarks for a benchmarking contest I'm participating in.  Figure that's the only way I'm going to get to do both. Now, if I can just get the Central Illinois spring weather to participate.  The 4-6 inches of snow they are predicting tonight sure isn't helping.  Here is a photo of one of the recent benchmarks I found. I looked for this one for probably at least an hour a year or two ago and then, earlier this month, managed to find it under several inches of still dead winter grass and a few inches of dirt. This particular one is between Bloomington and McLean, Illinois, about 40 feet off of the old Route 66. There are a lot along the old Route 66 just between Bloomington and Chicago. I'm going to be trying to find as many as possible of the ones that still exist between Joliet and Alton, which is most of the old Route 66 area in Illinois.  A lot of this I'll combine with getting ready for that long bike ride, the RAIN Ride, which is across Indiana in mid July.