Great write-up as always, Mark!
I stood my ground till 4:00am, logging Herschell 1 targets. My surprises of the night were seeing you intrepid observers decked out in hunting boots and face masks, braving the wind chill. It certainly was chilly up there! The temperature inversion wasn't as pronounced as last month. With wind from the central valley, the influence of the ocean was not very pronounced.
Thanks for the large aperture view of the horsehead. This was my best view since The Godfather! I was able to spot hints of it through my C11 last month, but not nearly so clear as this!
As far as Herschell objects; I closed out the April targets in Leo Minor and Sextans. The surprise of the evening was the Spindle galaxy, ngc 3115. What a bright knock-your-eyes-out image!
I wasted an hour trying to zero in on 4127 in Camelopardalis. This object got the best of me, but my only reference was RA and DEC numbers, no finder charts. As a last resort I tried elevating the Dec from 4147 as they are within a couple of RA minutes. Before long, I'll try to get The Sky to help me zero in on this object before it passes from view this Summer. I've plenty of time!
As the night passed, the influence of jet contrails became more pronounced. They seemed to seed the formation of N-S bands of cirrus that took longer and longer to dissipate. At 4:00, it made no sense to stay. There was just no sky to view.
I was happy to have the excellent company while it lasted! Glad you enjoyed the Genepi! I may have enough herbs to make another batch this Winter.
BTW, the Porsche was still there when I left. The tow truck came up at 2:30 - 3:00, looking for the family and the ranger's house. Our night was much nicer than that gentleman's!!