I woke up to a foggy sky Friday morning, but that quickly burned off, leaving me with incredibly clear skies in all directions. I went shopping for provisions, then loaded the van with my astro-gear. I got on the road around 11am and headed for Salinas. As I turned south on US-101 I peered back at Fremont Peak, knowing that if San Antonio Lake didn't work out, I'd be back up there with some of the other Peak-ers later that afternoon. As it turned out, I needn't have worried.

I arrived at the SAL entrance gate a little before 1pm, told the gate girl that I was here to do some astronomy viewing at the Overflow Campground Area, and waited for her to confirm my request to use the OCA. I asked her about the skies the past couple of nights, due to the recent fog they'd been having; her reply was, "last night it was nothin' but stars!!!" Things were looking up (pun definitely intended)!

I pulled into the OCA and parked at the campsite that I had earlier decided was the best of the three under consideration. I grabbed a Foster's and decided to take a long, leisurely walk around the entire OCA, just to get the feel of it. The place was rife with deer and jackrabbits, lots o' birds, and the usual complement of raptors and turkey vultures (didn't see much rodentia, though). Yeah, jes' me an' de critters.............

As time passed and the sun slowly headed for the western horizon amidst soft, lacy cirrus clouds, it became more and more apparent that I'd be the sole user of the place -- a star party of one. No matter; the one good thing about being on one's own was that there would be no conflict, disagreement or indecision as to which of the excellent spots to use. In a way, it was kind of nice having the run of the place. So I decided to use the deep center field area of the old ballpark; this really had the best panorama in the OCA (e.g. the southern horizon blockage went from a maximum of about 20° to a minimum of maybe 5°). Nothing to do now except unload, set up, eat dinner, relax and wait for the darkness to gently envelop me...........

I started off working in Bootes where, until the fog descended upon us like a curtain at Coe last Saturday, I had just gotten "on a roll". I easily knocked off a number of faint fuzzies there, then turned to the Big Dipper bowl. More FF's. I glanced to the south and realized that I was looking at Centaurus. I tried for the Omega Cluster, but it had just slipped behind a short tree. Oh well.......later, perhaps. A re-acquaintance with some old favorites, then back to the hunt. Found a few in Libra, then a handful in Lyra, some more in the head of Serpens, then another try at the Omega Cluster.........nope, now it's dipping down; I guess April or May would have been the best time for it. Another respite looking at some more oldies-but- goodies (the Veil was awesome even without the O-III), then picked up a number of lesser-known open clusters in Vulpecula and Sagitta. My total catch for the night: 31 "new" objects (plus 11 from last week at Coe)........42 checkmarks in my target worksheets. Time flew...........

Amidst the rustling of dry grass under the hooves of a deer, the frequent owl hoots (love 'em!) and the occasional coyote yelp, I became aware of how mild the weather was, even well after midnight; I didn't even have to think about donning my Polartec suit until after 1am (and even then it was a toss-up as to whether I was more comfortable with it or without it). No gloves were needed at all. No wind, nary a breeze. And as for dew, there was virtually none to be seen or felt -- just the smallest trace of it detected around 2am on the top of my van and on my molded plastic eyepiece case (which will dew up just by looking at it cross-eyed); absolutely none on my scope, Telrad, tables, chair, atlas or notebooks. The skies were dark and clear with rather high transparency, though just a bit unsteady until around midnight (but not enough to even begin to impede the viewing). Oh -- and lots of short, bright shooters all night long..........hmmmm, nothing in my 1998 Sky Guide about any scheduled shower this time of year............

By the time I noticed my feet beginning to ache, it was almost 3am. I decided to take a break for about a half hour, then resume the search. I climbed into the van and reclined in my seat, intending to rest my eyes for just a few moments........ahhhh, that feels so good..........I looked at my watch -- 5:03am. Hmmmph -- looks like no more viewing tonight..........or should I say 'this morning', judging by the pale blue-grey skies now displayed above me?

Knowing that I still had another night of viewing to look forward to, I took my time packing up. Along the Interlake Road on the way back to civilization (yecchh!), I delighted in glimpsing the delicate wisps of mist straddling the slopes of the hills surrounding the SAL area as old Sol suddenly peered out from behind the Gabilans to the east. Looks like clear skies again tonight!