Droid X scavenger hunt

Just in case you ever get the urge to run from the Birmingham Museum of Art to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame on a July afternoon... Don't.

Verizon reps were in Birmingham today to give away a new Droid X phone. Clues have been trickling out though Twitter over the past few days as to where the Droid X would be hidden. This morning they confirmed what we'd already expected -- that it would indeed be in Birmingham. Then around 1:00 this afternoon, they dropped the final clue before giving out exact GPS coordinates: "Droid X designate #8 has hit south of Interstate 20. GPS coordinates transmitting in 30 minutes. Are you prepared?"

I guessed that this meant either the Birmingham Museum of Art of Linn Park, both of which are immediately south of I-20. I drove over there and sat at the edge of the park, directly across from the museum, figuring that if I was correct, I'd be right there.

The GPS coordinates came in, I plugged them into Google Maps, and saw that the destination was only a block south of the park. I was close, so I took off running.

As I reached 6th Ave., I glanced at the map again to try to figure out exactly where the phone was hidden. It was then that I realized my error. The destination was a block south of Kelly Ingram Park, not Linn Park. I still had another 2 blocks down and 3 blocks over to go, but by now I was too far from my car to double back and get it. I figured if I did, I'd lose any chance of getting to the phone in time. I kept running.

When I was about a block away from the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (which, by now, I'd realized was the destination), I saw two other guys dash inside. At least I knew I could quit running. As it turned out, they weren't the first ones there, either. There were a bunch of people in the lobby, some out of breath and sweaty, like me.

Here's the guy who won. He said he'd gotten lucky and parked about a block and a half away. There was no way I'd have arrived before him.

Local man wins Motorola Droid X phone during nationwide scavenger hunt.

Luckily, I didn't care if I won the phone. I'm still quite happy with the one I have. I just figured this scavenger hunt of sorts would be a fun way to spend my lunch break. And it was -- except for the running in the heat.