Given the timing and distance of this event it was understandable we could not get more volunteers. We usually don’t do Saturday AOW events and not after another AOW the day before. But we pulled it off! The drive was actually very nice, only 30 miles past the George Observatory. It was an enjoyable stress-free drive in the country and took less travel time than the Friday Katy event.
This was a telescope/binocular only event. We arrived at 4pm to setup and got a little solar viewing in before they fed us sandwiches at 5pm and did the night viewing from 6pm to 8pm.
Todd Dunnavant used the club binoculars on a parallelogram mount. I had my 3-inch refractor setup for the solar viewing and my 8 inch Dobsonian reflector for the night viewing. Diana Gonzales assisted with setup, tear down and crowd control and oh what a crowd we had for the evening viewing. I am estimating around 150 to 200. Since this was the Scouts (both boys and girls) they were very knowledgeable and asked great questions.
The event staff, parents and kids were very appreciative, and we were invited back next year. Now that we have “scouted it out”, we can plan better for next year.
A big thanks to Todd Dunnavant who after this event went to the George, and after doing this event and the Katy event on Friday must now be really tired.
And, also to my wife Diana for being my traveling companion, taking the pictures and assisting during the event.
