[sac-forum] Re: Gasline Rd last night

Janis,

Glad it wasn't the "company". Sorry it was mechanical. Yeah, I hit that
cattle guard at about 40 mph and everything in the back of the vehicle
must've jumped 6 inches off the floor, Ouch!. Always wondered how mattresses
end up in some of the spot's they do. Especially nowadays when the delivery
people usually haul away the old goods. Oh well some people are just slobs I
guess.

As, I said, the site definitely has potential. The upside is we have time to
make a decision. BY may we'll be heading to Cherry Road, so perchance the
march & April outings will be more conducive to a large crowd and we can get
more feedback. 


Rick Tejera 
President 
Editor SACnews
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
saguaroastro@xxxxxxx
www.saguaroastro.org


-----Original Message-----
From: sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Janis Schoenfeld
Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2007 10:30 AM
To: sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [sac-forum] Re: Gasline Rd last night

Rick......It was not our optimism that deserted us last night.  We both
became dyspeptic (read: really POed) about a problem that developed with the
field tripod.  As it was almost dark and having left our latex gloves and
array of scalpels at home, there was nothing for it but to pack pack up the
"Anti-Christ" and head back.  There was a cross threading problem that was
going to need some serious surgery.  We had really never intended this scope
for anything but a permanent mount, so this was to be a "dry run", more or
less, to see how it would work as a grab and go instrument.

That said, we liked the site.  The amount of earthen driving is acceptable
and drive time of about an hour from 99th Ave. & Campbell reasonable.
Actually, the only trekking problem we encountered was the infamous CATTLE
GUARD on the paved road.  We saw it coming and thought we had slowed enough,
but as my fillings dropped about two inches when we hit it, obviously not
enough!  There did seem to be a horrendous amount of traffic for much
further west of Litchfield Rd. than we expected.  So, I guess hard numbers
for the drive time will be a bit iffy to come by.

Ignoring the irradiated domes to the east, Saddle Mt. had some interesting
geology to gawk at till dark and the area doesn't seem to have been
trashed....well, there was that stray mattress parked on Elliott Rd.
 
Conclusion for Gasline:  Yes,  X  2.

Best,   Janis & Leon

Rick Tejera wrote:

>Matt Luttinen, Steve Perry & Myself were photon starved enough to 
>chance iffy skies and check out the new gasline road site. We met at 
>the McD's by the mini stack at I-10 Loop 101 about 1630 Timing on the 
>way out was messed up by unexplained traffic that had us down to 25 mph 
>on I-10 past Litchfield road. Anyway we found the site easy enough, 
>Steve marked it well, Also showing up were Janis & Leon Shoenfeld. 
>They, however lacked the optimism of the three of us and left the site 
>b4 dark. We decided to give it until 2000 and then we'd pack up if the 
>skies didn't clear. Our patience was paid off as the skies did open up 
>enough to get some eyepiece time in. Not the best seeing, but 
>considering I haven't looked though an eyepiece since October, it was fine
by me.
>
>
>  
>

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