The gang - John Arkley, Jeff, Ron, Terry and Al.

Here's Terry setting up his tent.

Jeff and Terry.

Jeff and Bill

One of my next door neighbors.

Al and I arrived a couple of nights early. Glad I was prepared and had my snow suit. Most nights were beautifully clear - but reeeealy cold!

Bill setting up.

Bill getting his Dob ready to gather photons.

Terry setting up.

Here's my setup. Since I don't have a lot of room in my car, I rented this van and a 2K portable generator (for charging up my batteries). Just stuck the air mattress and sleeping bag in the back and was very comfortable. The battery in the keypad died on the second night (a 5-yr battery that lasted 9 yrs. (I had a back up battery but it was 7 yrs old). A dead battery corrupts the object databases but leaves stars and planets OK. Jeff was super generous in helping to troubleshoot. In the end the mount still tracked just fine, so Terry hooked up his camera to my solar scope and got some nice images of the Sun.

Jeff and the formerly missing banner.

Looking from Jeff's camp toward Chez Dan's. They have a tradition of setting up eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Just wonder over - drop some money in the can, and you're having a nice breakfast with your friends. The trick is to get up early enough.

Terry's camera mounted on my Lunt solar scope.

The front end of the solar scope.

This was Terry's first attempt at solar imaging. There's one nice sunspot a little to the left of center, along with numerous prominences.

Video clip from the trip.

John, Jeff, Ron and Al

Jeff

Jeff

John

Binocular Telescope

Chez Dan's

Al and Ron

Imager's Row

I thought that this was a humorous series of Bill and his Dob. I'll let you, the viewer, add the captions. :)

Ron setting up the Lunt Solar Scope.

Ron chatting with Bill while Terry's camera goes to work on the Sun.

Getting an elbow bump greeting from Walter.