Provided there is no issue with the terrain that does not show up in Google street view, I should be able to wander about 125 feet off of a highway out into the desert scrub and setup on the intersection of 4 grids tomorrow. Those being DM07, DM08, DM17 and DM18. Now THAT is a mouthful... so I will most likely opt for the phrase used by the rover warrior known as KL7R and just say, 'Delta Mike four grids'. (Trust me, we don't have to actually exchange grids numbers for the contact to count!)
The bad news is... there is no favorable SO-50 pass from there to reach the Eastern US. FO-29 however is more favorable. I plan to work the 1900z FO-29 and the 2021z SO-50 for sure. Working more passes after that will depend on several factors... weather, fatigue, how well the first two passes go, etc. If I know there are Western stations that will be ON the later passes, I would be much more willing to hang around. If I know someone back east works linear birds and misses me on FO-29 but is desperate for those grids, I may try AO-7 if available. (I've never worked AO-7 with my portable gear so there may be a learning curve and or other issues, please bear with me.)
So if you fall into one of those categories, let me know in advance. I will leave the motel by around 1700z and after that, I can only hope to get data coverage out there in order to receive e-mails and tweets. I was surprised I got it up in DM19 where my cell phone barely had one bar. - I'll do what I can to work everyone, but I'm not going to lie... the elevation, the constant wind & sun and ever present dehydration are starting to get to me. (We've gone through several cases of water.) If I don't see any clear reason to hang around, I will likely pack it in and head to the motel. I have to do laundry, pack up and rest a little before heading out Thursday for Winnemucca and the DN grids.
For those that were curious about my trip today down to the small restaurant and gift shop near Area 51... First, that valley is loooong. We topped the hill, saw the place and I swear it took 20 minutes to get there. Second, there were no big revelations to be had, no secrets and no aliens. (Unless you count the plastic kind.) But after years of watching TV documentaries and such with my daughter, I did have a moment of, 'Holy Implant, Batman! I'm actually here!' The majority of people stopping in were tourists and geocachers, folks looking for lunch and souvenirs. (Yes, I bought the T-Shirt!) Sorry, but no pictures of me operating in front of the fake UFO or anything... There was a mountain right in the way of the low SO-50 pass, so we skedaddled it back up the highway several miles and operated from a turn off on the side of the road. What DID get to me out there was that I could HEAR stealth aircraft flying around... loud! The sound seemed to come from all over... but we NEVER SAW THEM. Someone said they hug the canyons and the sound echoes around and you have no clue where they are. Just standing there out in the open gave me a very vulnerable feeling... As in, <squawk!> "Weird guy down there waving his yagi at us, sir... request permission to fire."
Okay, that is about as far off topic as I care to go... if anyone has a comment on the latter stuff, definitely off list, please! Same for requests about western passes. 73 and hope to work you 'from the high desert!' - Kevin N4UFO