A great day, today. We set out to activate 2 parks and met our goal. After a great breakfast at Newville Diner we drove down to Mont Alto State Park (K-1386). Initially I did not have high hopes for this park. It is a tiny park located along a somewhat busy road and is down between some hills. I didn’t think the radio signals would get out, combined with the contesting going on this weekend. I was wrong! We made 33 contacts including 5 park-to-parks , all on 40 meters during the morning! The only negative was that I had unintentionally started out too close to a net which I did not hear. I had asked if the frequency was open, heard no reply and listened for 2 minutes before asking again. I worked a few stations and then got asked to move. I apologized and found another frequency. Stuff happens. We spent about an hour there and it was very fruitful.

After picking up our gear, SWMBO and I went to Caledonia State Park, K-1337 where we worked a total of 28 contacts of which 9 were park-to-parks. There were a lot of people out and about in the park, biking, walking, and enjoying the day in general. We had one man approach us and ask questions about what we were doing and regale us with stories about his father having a Zenith short wave receiver which he used to listen to the world broadcasts on. A couple of pickup trucks pulled up next to us and we met face to face with W3TWB and N3AIR who were also out activating. We chatted for a few minutes before they took off and went to set up their operation. I was very pleased with how the morning went and SWMBO seemed to enjoy herself. She even got to see a very cool pavilion at Mont Alto next to Antietam Creek and she took a video of a waterfall at Caledonia. As has been said many times, many ways, a good time was had by all. Namaste Kidlets!

Charade the flamingo feeding off of stray rf at the foot of the antenna as Tootsie watches our 6