A tale of a small telescope.

Nine months ago, I became handicapped in such a way that I can't carry
much and can't walk without a cane. With the Mars opposition coming, I
had thought of asking my brother to ship the parts of my 8" to me but I
was forced to drop the idea because I cannot possible assemble it let
alone use it. I dropped the idea of a telescope at all then.

A friend of mine with whom I had sometimes backpacked in better times
encouraged me to go camping with him. He lives in another city but is
willing to help me out occasionally. I was still using a walker then but
felt it would be nice to get out of the city even if I was tied to the
pickup truck. We were early in the camping season (mid May) so it was
quite cold. My water was frozen when I got up in the morning to make
coffee. This worked out nicely anyway and I soon hatched another
telescope idea.

I will never be able to stand while observing again. Thus a refractor
with equatorial mount on an adjustable tripod seemed right. I decided on
a 90mm as the largest I would be able to set up alone. 90mm is also fine
for casual car camping. I ordered the telescope, a longer focal length
eyepiece to go with the two supplied and a 2X barlow.

My friend and I took it on our next camping trip. Jupiter and Saturn
were up then and we found the telescope satisfactory. Later I was trying
for some other objects but fell off of the lawn chair while trying to
use the finder. The finder was not very satisfactory for me. Another
problem was packing and carrying all the bits and pieces.

I decided to solve those problems and ordered a padded bag for the
telescope, an accessory case and a reflex finder. My friend solved my
chair problem by buying an excellent camp chair for me to use.

But the camping trips since then have been disappointing. We have ended
up after dinner sitting in the back of the truck during thunder storms.
It grows cold even in summer at 8,000 or 9,000 feet so it is very hard
to get up at 2AM or so when it clears. We haven't succeeded.

Tomorrow after we finish my shopping for food and variuos drugs and
medical junk, we will head for what we call the "telescope meadow" where
we once used the telescope. It is a large meadow with a nice place on
the edge to camp under trees. We are hoping for our first view of Mars
along with some other objects. Too bad it is not dark time. Perhaps I
will be lucky and it won't rain.

The next time we would ordinarily camp would be the last week of August.
However, we have been invited for the whole week to the observatory of a
friend of mine. The place is about 150 miles from where I live so I
rarely am able to go there. There are several larger telescops though I
will have tremendous trouble using them because I cannot stand for more
than a minute or so in daylight and cannot stand at all in the dark. I
may bring the 90mm and a camp chair even to this week at the observatory
so I will have more to do.

In spite of the rain and other difficulties, I am quite pleased with the
90mm. Not only is the telescope as I have equiped it an excellent
beginners telescope, it is easy to use while camping and meets my
special needs due to my handicap. I shall surely have some clear nights
with it eventually since my friend and I will camp as late as mid
November if there is little snow.

Chuck
--
... The times have been,
That, when the brains were out,
the man would die. ... Macbeth
Chuck Simmons