Preliminary submission 

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Church of Leeds 

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Train of thought.

IF I were to Compile a list of important clues, it would read as follows:
1) The Music is Key
2) Between Athens and Cairo
3) The Route Leads There
4) This is not a Red Herring
5) Lawrence, Kansas
6) not quite sure yet.

I believe that Between Athens and Cairo could refer to several things, Which I will begin to try and pull apart. The first is that it refers to the capitols of Greece and Egypt and that something in between them is a clue, or a reference to something else. Another Option is that it points to two Cities in the US. And that there is something ‘between’ those two cities that is relevant as well.
Another one of MTSM’s clues is to ‘Simplify’ I will do my best to try and keep a level head without going too deep into one specific clue.
Clue #1, as it is Listed, says ‘The Music is Key’. Well, there have been a few references to Music so far, but the clue still seems pretty vague to me. Therefore, I’ll just kinda work my way down the list and see what I can come up with.

Between Athens and Cairo.
I started to play with this toady for the first time, and this is what i've come up with.
The First Urn went like this:
Find where it was played meant Hastings, England. That Translated into Hastings, Michigan. So, I'm going to try that approach with this clue.

Three things lie between Athens and Cairo:

Crete,
Alexandria,
and the Mediterranean Sea.

Doing a Mapquest Search for Crete in the US come up with 6 answers:

Crete, Il, Will, US
Crete, NE, Saline, US
Crete, NE, Chase, US
Crete, PA, Indiana, US
Crete, IN, Randolph, US
Crete, ND, Sargeant, US

Doing a Mapquest Search for Alexandria comes up with 10 answers:

Alexandria, VA
Alexandria, LA
Alexandria, KY
Alexandria, MO
Alexandria, IN
Alexandria, MN
Alexandria, PA
Alexandria, NE
Alexandria, NH
Alexandria, OH

Doing a Mapquest Search For Mediterranean in the US comes up with 0 answers.
I think it would be safe to rule out Mediterranean as a possibility.
A fellow puzzler said that if you stick with the unification theory, Atlantis was also believed to exist in the mediterranean. Possibly off the coasty of Crete. I Haven’t gone down that road just yet for sake of simplicity. The Unification Theory was not used to find the first two, but I won’t rule it out all together. I will keep this on the back burner.

The other path of thought seems to be the one that most of the other forum members have subscribed to. Athens and Cairo refer to Cities in the United States. And that something lies between these two cities that is important. Here is a list of those cities.

The Listings for Athens:
Athens, GA, Clarke, US
Athens, AL, Limestone, US
Athens, OH, Athens, US
Athens, TN, McMinn, US
Athens, TX, Henderson, US
Athens, IL, Menard, US
Athens, LA, Claiborne, US
Athens, Me, Somerset, US
Athens, MI, Calhoun, US
Athens, NY, Greene, US

The Lisitngs for Cairo:
Cairo, GA, Grady, US
Cairo, IL, Alexander, US
Cairo, KS, Pratt, US
Cairo, KY, Henderson, US
Cairo, MO, Randolph, US
Cairo, NE, Hall, US
Cairo, NY, Greene, US
Cairo, OH, Allen, US
Cairo, WV, Ritchie, US
Cairo, AL, Limestone, US

There were actually 10 matches for each of the cities. Also, there are five sets of Athens/Cairo cities that exist in the same state.

Athens, GA, Clarke Cairo, GA, Grady
Athens, IL, Menard Cairo, IL, Alexander
Athens, OH, Athens Cairo, OH, Allen
Athens, AL, Limestone Cairo, AL, Limestone
Athens, NY, Greene Cairo, NY, Greene

You will notice that the last two pairs actually exist in the same county. I’ll start with the two in Alabama because I don’t think that they are relevant. Simply because I can’t seem to find any information on them.
Athens and Cairo, Alabama lie at the vary top of the state. They are both in Limestone County. Upon examination of maps of the area, There doesn’t seem to be much between them. They are only 13 miles apart. Two cities, lie relatively between them. Shanghai, imagine that, and Oakland. I liked the sound of Oakland because I never really thought that the LA DNA OK Anagram related to the second urn. It wasn’t needed. That’s up for speculation however. There is also a body of water between the two, the Elk River. I tried to find information on the two cities here, but no luck.

I’ll now turn my attention to Athens and Cairo, New York. This area seems to have a rich history. Just north of Cairo is the city of Woodstock. Woodstock is famous in it’s own right for the musical concert that went on for severl days. As a side note, Paul Hoffman, author of this puzzle, lives, or is rumored to live, in Woodstock. There is no knowledge like first hand knowledge, and what better place to hide something than your own backyard.

Again, there isn’t much that jumps out at me here, except for three things. Leeds, NY is a city that lies on the driving path between Athens Cairo. Some have suggested that this refers to the Dancing Men clue, The Route Leads There, but I think I have to disagree. I don’t consider Leeds to be part of the game.

The other two things that I have noticed are the two roads: Interstate Route 87 and U.S. Highway Route 9 west. According to Interstate Numbering, Odd number Highways run North/South and Even Highways run East/West. This being said Highway 87 would be classified as a North/South Interstate. This might even be supported by the Magnet in Mike’s car. Others have alluded that North/South could point to the Civil War. A good possibility and a lead that I’m not ready to throw out. I’m not quite sure which Road to pick just yet, but I would like to think that the Dancing Men Clue comes into play now. Here are two roads, or Routes. Where do they lead? Very Good question. One that I have yet to research. But I will. Are there numbers in the story somewhere that will corroberate my hunch? If I use the North/South hunch to Narrow my search, then I can confidently pick Route 87 over 9 West. So, where does Interstate Route 87 Lead? I’ll have to do some more research. And what can be gleaned from it as well?

The northern most point of Route 87 Goes all the way to the US Border. And turns into Canada Highway 15. The last City that 87 passes through is Champlain, New York. If you go South, from what I can tell, Interstate route 87 ends in The Bronx, New York, right in the middle New York City. If this is so, This could open up all kinds of possibilities.

The Borough of the Bronx, which is home to 1,200,000, was named for Jonas Bronk, a Scandinavian and one of the area's first settlers in 1639. Other early settlers were Dutch, French, English, and Swedish. Originally the Bronx was part of Westchester County. It became the borough not an island when it joined New York City in 1898. The Bronx has continued to attract immigrants and is now home to large ethnic populations. At 138th Street is St. Jerome's Church Yankee Stadium is also a sight to behold in the Bronx, located to the right on the Bronx side of the Harlem River.


Other than that, I’m not quite sure where to go with this clue, but I see one last option. Athens and Cairo are Street names. Located in a city somewhere, are the names Athens and Cairo, and they might parallel each other. I just don’t have a starting point to jump off from. Maybe this is where ‘The Music is Key’ plays into the solution.

Between Athens and Cairo

Between Athens and Cairo

I started to play with this toady for the first time, and this is what i've come up with.
The First Urn went like this:
Find where it was played meant Hastings, England. That Translated into Hastings, Michigan. So, I'm going to try that approach with this clue.

Three things lie between Athens and Cairo:

Crete,
Alexandria,
and the Mediterranean Sea.

Doing a Mapquest Search for Crete in the US come up with 6 answers:

Crete, Il, Will, US
Crete, NE, Saline, US
Crete, NE, Chase, US
Crete, PA, Indiana, US
Crete, IN, Randolph, US
Crete, ND, Sargeant, US

Doing a Mapquest Search for Alexandria comes up with 10 answers:

Alexandria, VA
Alexandria, LA
Alexandria, KY
Alexandria, MO
Alexandria, IN
Alexandria, MN
Alexandria, PA
Alexandria, NE
Alexandria, NH
Alexandria, OH

Doing a Mapquest Search For Mediterranean in the US comes up with 0 answers.

I then Cross reference these names against names found in this table, http://www.us-highways.com/usbt.htm, to see if there is a 'route that leads there'

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