After three weeks, 5300 miles and 12 western states Beth and I are back in Rochester. I took along my K1 in a lunch bag so that I'd be ready for any ham opportunities.
One of our tourist stops was Crater Lake in southeastern Oregon. On August 19 I found a tree stump overlooking the lake, threw a 32' length of wire into a nearby tree and got on 20 meters. My location was on the western rim of the 5 mile wide caldera with the water around 800' below me. After a few CQs I worked Jim, W0CML, near Denver. Once he swung his beam around he was nice copy at 589 and I was 579. After supper that evening I operated on 40 from in front of our cabin at Mazama Village, 7 miles and about 1000' below the rim. Tim, AD7AN, in San Diego gave me a 529 while he was 579 for me.
"Picnic table QRP" continues to be a fun way to spend some spare time while traveling.
