Since the weather was good, SWMBO requested a bit of a drive, so we loaded up the car and departed for Hagerstown MD to the Beaver Creek Cemetery. Loading the car consists of putting camera equipment and radio equipment in the car. We headed out and soon after crossing the MD line, I realized that I had left my ham-stick antennae home! I took full advantage of my extensive knowledge of cuss words. We continued to the cemetery and did some photography there. SWMBO then found directions to another cemetery close by.

When we were in the second cemetery, I had an epiphany: I had an option for antennas in the car. I keep a Buddi-Stick in the back along with a tripod and 20 foot strip of copper mesh as a ground system. Well Well Well! Things were looking up! We went to Taylor’s Landing on the C&O Canal. It was a nice drive there and easy to find. We parked and SWMBO went to the creek to take pictures. I started getting my stuff out to set up and then I noticed the gale-force winds. I realized that there was no bloody way that my antenna would not blow over and I didn’t feel like picking it every 5 minutes so I cussed again and packed back up. Meanwhile, SWMBO had returned and reinforced my decision by telling me that she had almost been swept off her feet by the wind. Sigh.

Ok, we went to Walmart and did some shopping before heading over to Super Buffet for lunch.

When we got home I grabbed my antennae and went to Little Buffalo State Park US-1376. It took me about 5 minutes to get set up and get on the air. A bad thing did happen, though. I placed my lap desk on my lap and tried to close the car door. Problem was that I had knocked SWMBO’s sunglasses down and they got crunched in the door. Once again, I dipped into my large sack of swear words and let some loose. I got on the air on 40 meters and first worked a couple guys activating a park in CT. When I was through, I found an empty frequency to use and started calling CQ. The calls started coming and it was pretty steady for a while … then it dried up. I grabbed my 17 meter Ham-Stick and swapped that for the 40 meter one. When I got back on the air it did not take too long to start working stations including a J8 station from St Vincent. The wind was getting stronger at this time and the wind-chill was down in the negative Kelvin area so I packed up and called it a day after 42 contacts.

That is how I spent my day off. Now to sit by the pellet stove and drink coffee. Namaste, kidlets!