Hamburg State Park, GA
The Oglethorpe Astronomical Association (OAA) of Savannah, GA was invited to do another "astronomy program" at Hamburg State Park, near Mitchell, GA, and there was also a hamfest in Lawrenceville, GA the same weekend. This offered the perfect excuse for Beth Ann and I to go camping. We left Savannah around 10:20am, Friday. About three hours later we stopped in Sandersville, GA, and ate lunch at the Dairy Lane. We finished lunch, and arrived at our destination shortly thereafter.
We registered and settled in to our campsite, site #9. It was a nice, spacious, site, overlooking the lake.
We rested for awhile, and then drove to the ballpark where the observing session was to take place later in the evening. There were some notable improvements to the ball field. There was headlight-shielding material on the fence, the grass was mowed, and there was a "porta-john" on the site. After checking out the observing field, we returned to the camper.
I set up my new Icom 706MKIIG ham radio that I purchased at Shelby and strung-up my multi-band trap dipole antenna. My first contact on the new radio was with a station located in Mississippi.
We ate supper around 6pm.
Beth Ann needed to stay at the camper to study for her "CPC" certification exam, so around twilight, I rode over to the ball field to set up my 4-inch TAK refractor for the astronomy program. Many OAA members had already set up their equipment. The Park Ranger brought and set-up his Meade 5 inch ED refractor. The weather was cool and the sky was clear. An estimated forty to fifty people showed up for the Friday night program. You could hear the "oooohs" and "ahhhhhs" from astonished visitors viewing objects through a telescope for the first time. After 10pm, the crowd began to diminish. I returned to the camper around 10:15pm. Beth Ann and I had to get up early to travel around 110 miles to the Lawrenceville Hamfest, located northeast of Atlanta.
We woke up early Saturday, and prepared for the trek to the hamfest. Before leaving, this picture of the sunrise over the lake was taken.
We were on the road about 2 hours before arriving at the hamfest. We met up with our friend Jack Norris from Six-Mile, SC, at the hamfest. We all wandered around the hamfest together for a couple of hours. I made a few insignificant purchases at the hamfest. Around 11:30am, Beth Ann and I told Jack "goodbye" and we left the hamfest. We then drove over to the Forest Park Farmer's Market, located south of Atlanta. We ate lunch at the Farmer's Market Restaurant and then rode through the market area. We purchased several flats of pansies to plant around the house.
We left the Farmer's Market around 2pm and travelled the backroads for several hours before arriving back at the State Park. We were tired after a busy day on the road. We ate supper and I went for a quick trip to the observing field. I was tired and did not set up my telescope. I did not stay long for the second night of observing. Back at the camper, I played around with the Icom radio for a little while. Beth Ann and I were tired from the day's travels. We had no problem falling asleep.
Sunday morning arrived. We got up. Before breakfast, I had a chance to contact Jack Norris, WB4TWX, via the ham radio. Thirty minutes later, I concluded my radio conversation with Jack. Beth Ann and I ate breakfast, and relaxed. By 11am, we were ready to go. We stopped to eat lunch at the Dairy Lane in Sandersville, then headed home.
We made it home safely around 4pm.
This was our last camping trip for 2005.
Next