Had a great day yesterday. My long suffering wyfe and I went camping at a local state forest and I activated it for the POTA program. Please note that my wyfe isn’t into camping and only went along to keep me company as I could not find anyone else to join in on the adventure. The campsite we chose was very remote. While we were there no cars went by, which pleased me to no end. It is up on a dirt road on top of a ridge. The only amenities there are a parking area, a picnic table and a fire ring. This was very suitable. While we were there the wind was blowing which kept the bugs to a minimum, even though the temperature was in the 80’s (farenheit) or high 20’s in Celsius. We had the camp set up in about an hour and I was soon on the air. I got to try out some new equipment. To hang my antenna I used a weighted arborists throwing bag. This was easier than using a stick and allowed me to throw the line higher in a tree. I had my generator that I had won in a raffle and my tent which I had also won. Both my owls were there, Ptolomy and Tootsie (pictured below) to guard the camp. I even brought along a slingshot with steel ball bearings in case a bear showed up and I wanted to piss it off. In reality the only critters we saw were a porcupine which walked purposefully past the camp, a large beetle doing beetle things a big toad, and a racoon which came by the tent this morning to see what was blocking his path. As for the activation, I had a very successful time. I made a total of 78 contacts with 4 of them park-to-park contacts. I stayed on the 40M band as it seemed to have a good result. I worked as far away as Puerto Rico, and several places in the eastern half of the country and a few Canadian stations before I had to stop due to my power supply running low. Overall, a good time was had by all. Hats off to my wyfe who made us a great supper of cabbage and kielbasa!