TSP 2007
(aka. Geek Fest 2007)

Image page | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Hey everyone, here it is, my favorite time of the year again, TSP 2007. Before I report on my adventures here, I do need to let everyone know what is new at the Observatory site in Columbus. I arrived at the site on Thursday evening to prepare for leaving for TSP Friday evening. As I took a break from getting my things together, I went to check my Email and while looking out the window, I saw a Roadrunner doing what a Roadrunner does best, Road running down the Picnic road. I didn't think much about this, except for the fact that I have never seen a Roadrunner at the site or in this part of the State. The next morning, I saw the Roadrunner again going down the Picnic road and after a while running back up the road towards the bathrooms. The bird repeated this again Friday evening. So I guess that there is a new resident living at the site.

OK, on with the adventures of TSP. I am going to try to update this page and the image page every day. First, I want to say Thank You to Brett Maiwald and his son, Quentin for letting me ride and stay with them in his new trailer.

5/11 - 5/12

We left the RV camp ground at Hatterman Lane around 8:30 p.m. Friday and drove to Bourne arriving there around 11: 30 p.m. The reason I mention this is because we stopped in Flatonia to fill up which led to the wallet hunt in Bourne. In Bourne, we stopped to make a pit stop and discovered that Brett's wallet was missing. We searched the truck and trailer several times with no results. Quentin was asleep in the back of the truck during the wallet search. After 30 minutes of searching and a call to the Flatonia gas station to see if it was there, Brett woke up Quentin and found his wallet under him. It was back onto the road and after a while, we pulled off and changed driving duties. About 20 miles east of Ozona, we pulled off for another pit stop around 3:00 a.m. and decided to get a few hours sleep. Around 7:00 in the morning, we were back on the road until we arrived in Ozona, where we stopped to get breakfast and some much needed coffee. The sight seeing (here and here and here) along the way was great. We arrived in Alpine around 11:00 a.m. at the Lost Alaskan RV Resort. After dropping the RV and setting it up, a much needed nap was in order. After the nap, Brett cooked hamburgers and we hade a few cold ones to drink (except for Quentin).

5/13

It is so nice to wake up and see this when you walk out of your RV to drink your first cup of coffee in the morning. Check the Image Link above for more images of "Good Morning America - Texas Style. All of us are still at the Lost Alaskan RV Resort and in no hurry to get to the Prude Ranch due to the long lines of RV's and people arriving there by noon. Instead, we sat around and enjoyed the scenery. Around 11:00 am. we hitched up and washed the trailer and truck ($10.00 to do this at the RV Park) and then pulled out and were on our way to Ft. Davis. We decided to get lunch at the famous Pop's Grill, known for their good hamburgers. After lunch, it was on to the Prude Ranch arriving around 2:00 pm. It took Brett about 30 minutes to get the RV parked. Then it was up to the upper field to find a spot to set up our telescopes. After setting up the scopes, we had dinner and waited for darkness. Randy Brewer and Ken Miller came by and Brett got his new Sky 90 telescope. A while later, Brett and I went up to the field and set up his new scope. Finally darkness came, and for once it was dark enough that I had problems finding my Constellations so I could continue working on my Herschel 400 list. I was able to get 8 more Herschel's logged, but I still have a long way to go. Around 3:00 am. it was time to shut everything down and go to bed. But before retiring, I sat down in front of the trailer looking to the Southeast watching Jupiter and the Summer Milky Way rising. Wow, what a beautiful sight. God did a wonderful job with his creation as I sat there, tired, but enjoying the beauty. I finally went to bed around 3:00 am. and slept like a rock.

5/14

Well, I woke up around 9:30 this morning and made a cup of coffee with Brett's coffee maker. This coffee maker is great. It makes one cup of coffee at a time in about 90 seconds. You just put the pouch in, press a button and instant coffee. No waiting on the coffee pot to brew. I got to get me one of these things. On with my blog, if this what you call it. Another lazy morning here on the Ranch. Around noon, Brett cooked lunch for Quentin and I. After that, we headed into Ft. Davis State park and drove around and then went up on the Scenic overlook and grabbed a few pictures of what else - Scenic. Here is a picture of Brett and I and a picture of Brett and Quentin (Quentin has GROWN quite a bit in this image). We went into Ft. Davis to the store and hardware store to pick up a few items. That's when we noticed a possible problem - RAIN!! We decided to head back to the Ranch and got there in time to see this (thanks Susan). So what does this mean, Steaks for dinner because it does not seem to want to stop with the thunder storms. This might look like a "Cloud Filter Night" tonight.  Dana Lindstrom and his son Matt came by and visited for a while. It rained off and on, but nothing serious. All of us sat outside and watched Mother Nature and her Lightning show and the famous Laser wars on the mountains while working on the "Cloud Filters".

5/15

I got up around 10:00 and enjoyed a cup of coffee (gotta get me one of these coffee makers). After a good shower, I step out side and see another Thunder Storm in the West heading our way. Brett checked the Radar, and believe it or not, this is the only storm around in the area. I guess when you get this many telescopes in one area, Mother Nature will invade the party. Hopefully, this will blow over and clear out tonight, but it didn't. We had stuffed Pork Chops for dinner. Man, these were good. We may not be getting any observing done, but thanks to Brett, we sure are eating good. Thanks Brett for the good hospitality. It was on to bed around midnight.

5/16

Quentin and I got up around 8:00 am. and I went outside to drink a cup of coffee and saw the clouds on the mountain to the Northeast. Another cloudy day in store for us. We ended up having eggs, bacon, sausage and biscuits for breakfast, which cleared up more space in the refrigerator. Not much on TV, so we are watching the Military Channel. More to come this evening. Well, evening has arrived with cloudy weather. Earlier in the day, Brett, Quentin, Dana Lindstrom and his son, Matt and I went to see an old friend of mine, Loyd Overcash. We all arrived at Loyd's place to find Randy Brewer and Ken Miller there with their telescopes set up and covered, all bummed out about the weather. We all sat around and taked for about an hour, then headed back to the ranch. Brett and I talked about starting to head back to Columbus on Thursday because the forecast for the rest of the week was mostly cloudy.

5/17

Thursday morning everyone got up and showered and we went up on the field and took all our equipment down and got everything packed up. Before we left, we went up to the McDonald Observatory to donate money to the Astronomy Gods at the Gift Shop there. Even this close to the big telescopes, we still couldn't see them due to the clouds. We got back to the ranch and hitched up the trailer and met up with Ken Miller and Kent Francis and headed back to Alpine to stop and get a sandwich. From there, it was on to Kerrville to spend the night.

5/18

We awoke at Kerrville and is was nice to see the sun again. We left the Guadalupe RV Resort and had breakfast at the IHOP. After that, it was on to Columbus. We arrived at the HAS Observing Site around around 2:00 in the afternoon. After unpacking my belongings from Brett's RV into mine, we decided to set up our telescopes and enjoyed a dark, cloudless night. It wasn't as dark as West Texas last Sunday evening, but it was clear. I was up until about 2:00 am. Getting up Saturday morning, it was back to reality - Mowing the field!!!  Well, my vacation is almost over. I go back to work on Tuesday ( I took Monday off thinking that we would be getting back on Sunday). About my adventures - it is always fun to get away from every day struggles and stress and to sit back and enjoy the scenery and the good friendships, no matter what Mother Nature throws at us, because there is always next year. From the Emails that I have seen, looks like TSP is going to be in June of 2008. I'm already looking forward to next year. I want to say thank you to Brett and Quentin for a wonderful time. I hope that we get to do this again next year. Happy Birthday Quentin (12 yrs). Also, I want to thank the HAS Web Master Kay McCallum for posting my TSP adventure articles. Until next year....

PS. The Roadrunner is still out here at the site.