Linda, Suzy, and I took a month-long camping adventure that was a mash-up of camping, family, sightseeing, and ham radio. The primary motivation was to visit relatives in Kansas and Oklahoma. We camped in a 24-foot travel trailer. All our stops were at state parks. I planned the stops to be a little over two hundred miles apart to make the travel not so taxing. Of course, this was a great opportunity to activate each state park on the journey for the Parks On The Air (POTA) program.
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| The 100-watt setup at Lake Lurleen State Park in Alabama |
POTA is one of my favorite portable outdoor activities. I had a great time activating the state parks. I did thirteen activations among the nine state park stops for 482 contacts total. The POTA hunters were very appreciative of my activations. I appreciate their help.
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| My POTA Activations |
I was also chased by ham friends from Florida, Canada, and Colorado.
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| Contacts with friends via Ham Radio |
and the Flight of the Bumblebees from Keystone State Park, Oklahoma.
The highlight of the trip was launching an APRS pico-balloon payload from Oklahoma. I tracked it on APRS for ten days. I'll do a separate post with the details.
Our goal was met with a week's stop in both Kansas and Oklahoma for visiting relatives. Linda and I also visited Elvis's Birthplace in Tupelo, Missippii, and his Graceland home in Memphis. We enjoyed the Museum of the Automobile next to Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas.
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| A view of Lake Bailey at Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas |
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| Linda on the porch swing at Elvis's birthplace home in Tupelo, Missippii |
Suzy had many walks to meet and greet other campers. She also claimed the bed and the couch in the trailer as hers.
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| Suzy in the trailer |
Linda and Greg
