For several years we have thoughts about heading to the Chiefland Astrofest, held at the Chiefland Astronomy Village in Florida. The weather never looks promising for the whole week and when we were working, well, you hate to take vacation to be clouded out. But, now that we are retired, and having had so much fun on our Nebraska trip, we thought we'd give it a shot and headed down for the week.
It runs Sunday to Sunday but we thought we'd head down on Saturday, spend that night in a hotel and then be fresh on Sunday to set up camp and be ready for observing Sunday night. Once we decided to go, we need to plan carefully what we took and how fragile items, like a 14 in telescope and the computerized mount were going to travel. After a fair amount of brainstorming and trading ideas back and forth,
Barry built custom mounting boards.
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The telescope and mount loaded into the van on the custom transport mounts Barry built.
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With the van loaded the night before, we left around 9 am Saturday morning and Barry took the first driving leg. Since we live north of Atlanta, any southbound trip involves driving through the heart of the city. We were fortunate, traffic and road construction were light on this particular Saturday and we were south of the city before my first shift at driving. Amazing!
We took 75 south into Florida, except for a short segment on I-475, avioding Macon. The drive was fun with the exception of the massive wreck and standstill traffic just south of Perry. Fortunately we had gotten off the freeway to change drivers and rerouted on some side roads before getting back on.
We left I-75 just south of Lake City, FL and headed down Route 47. This was a good road, with little traffic, but a wonderful, scenic drive through old Florida. Some farms, some horses and cows and exceedingly low-stress. The speed limit was still a respectable 60-65 mph.
In Trenton, Florida, we turned south on State Hwy 129 into Chiefland. The whole trip had taken us around 6 hours driving time and a 1 hour stop for lunch at a roadside barbeque place, Smoakies in Cordelle, GA. They had pretty good beef brisket sandwiches and they were right off I-75.
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Chiefland is the Home of Manatee Springs State Park which we visited later in the week.
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Chiefland is an interesting town. It looks like it boomed a number of years back, went through a decline and is trying to make a comeback. There are two chain hotels and a number of locally owned places. We had reservations at one of the chains for one night - which was good because apparently with the rodeo, homecoming and some other activiy going on, the hotels were booked up!
Unfortunately while they found our reservation, it had been cancelled. The staff was very friendly and they worked really hard to accomodate us. After some discussion between the front desk staff and the housekeeping staff it appeared that there was a room available, but that particular room had not been on the list of rooms to be rented that night. I should have paid more attention to that.
Once we all agreed there was a room and on the price, the painful check-in process commenced. I still don't understand why it took so long but the clerk kept picking at the keys and, what seemed like 20 minutes later, he handed me a key.
That was also interesting because he explained to me that this was the last room that had a real key (the others had converted to electronic cards) and he proceeded to explain how one uses a key. In great detail. I worried that I looked like a person who didn't understand how to use a key.
We went to the room and inserted the key, then I understood why I had gotten key lessons. The electronic lock was installed, just not activated, but that meant you were using something akin to a master key and you didn't just turn it left or right ahalf turn - you turned it a good 5 full rotations to unlock and another 5 the other way to lock. So we got the door open and the smell hit me.
An interesting mixture of a full bottle of pinesol poured on the carpet, a strong room deodorizer and.....cat urine. The next day, you have never seen two people so excited to move into a tent in an empty field with portapotties!
We ate dinner at Bett's Big T restaurant on our first night. I think I would have appreciated it more later in the week. It is a local landmark and they do have tasty food, and if you are there on a Friday or Saturday, the locals were all going for the all-you-can-eat seafood.
After dinner Barry and I decided to drive out to the astronomy village to find it, get the lay of the land and to avoid going back to the hotel for a while. We followed the directions and arrived to find the observing field about 25% occupied. We were surprised since the Star Party didn't officially start until the next day. We later found out that the dates are sort of flexible and because the skies were clear Thur - Sat, many folks showed up early.
The next morning we had breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts - a nice clean establishment in the center of town. Great doughnuts, good breakfast sandwiches and the usual wonderful coffee but it can take a while to get them. A very long while.
We retraced our steps to the observing field, picked out a camping space and began setting up. Florida was hot and humid that day - but the skies were clear and we were hoping it would remain so into the night.
Camp was very similar to the Nebraska configuration. We brought our bright red Igloo ice fishing shelter to serve as our primary residence and the 12x12 canpoy with sunscreens for shade. After Nebraska, we had manufactured screens to fit on the Igloo's windows to block out mosquitos and let the breeze in. They worked wonderfully! Both tent and canopy were positioned on tarps.
The short road into the Chiefland Astronomy Village. A beautiful tree-lined oasis.
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A little out-of-focus but this shows our camp set-up with out distinctive red Igloo Ice Fishing Shelter-Tent!
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Barry got the Celestron C-14 set up on the SoftWare Bisque Paramount MX+ and our heavy duty LX-200 tripod and pointed at his best guess of where Polaris was. While waiting for darkness, we had dinner in camp - using our camping stove and some dehydrated food packets. It was really nice to relax and cool down.
Since our Igloo Ice Fishing shelter was doing double duty as both our black-out area where we could use the computer and 24 in. monitor with impunity and not disturb other observers as well as our sleeping quarters we configured it first for scoping but organized the sleeping material in the van ready to access when it came time to switch over.
As an observing station, we had two comfy lawn chairs, a 24 inch card table, the laptop and monitor. Cables ran into the shelter from the telescope and the power outlets. This was one huge advantage that Chiefland offered - it had power connections on the field for the participants. That was really terrific!
It clouded over and we were concerned Sunday would be a bust, but it finally cleared and Barry successfully polar aligned, we did a 37 star T-point run (which picks out a number of stars and creates a set of corrections to improve pointing accuracy) and then got down to taking some pictures.
We used an SBIG ST-4000XCM one-shot color cooled astronomy camera with a guiding chip. The best of the pictures for the night was a 15 minute image of M-57, the Ring Nebula.
We also took a picture of NGC7331 an unbarred spiral galaxy in Pegasus.
Cloudy Skies at Dusk, Chiefland Astronomy Village. It cleared by 9:30 pm.
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The Ring Nebula - M-57. This photo won First Place in the Deep Field contest!
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NGC 7331 A spiral galaxy in Pegasus. It is a somewhat noisy image and the stars are a bit elongated due to wind gusts, but it is a pretty image which shows several adjacent galaxies.
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Monday dawned gloomy and overcast. We had a terrific first night sleep "glamping" in our Igloo! After finishing up taking photos, while Barry stored all of the telescope and imaging equipment in the van, I converted the Igloo for sleeping.
After the disaster with the small mattress deflating in Nebraska and the cold soaking through the ground and mattress, we dug out a queen-sized, double-height self inflating mattress which we had bought a number of years ago for company and tried it in the Igloo. It fit, with room to move around! So we brought that, sheets, a big fluffy comforter and several wooly blankets. Talk about luxury camping! Wow!
Anyway, we decided to do some exploring and after a rehydrated "Breakfast Skillet" we cleaned up and headed for High Springs. Barry had lived there when he was attending the University of Florida in the '80s and hadn't been back since.
High Springs was about 45 miles northwest and we set out after breakfast. When we got into town, we looked for some tennis courts Barry remembered near the town's center. After we found those, we headed out to look for where he used to live. He remembered the turn-off to their place was at the Shiloh Baptist Church. We found that off State Route 27 and went exploring, but while the area was familiar - we couldn't find the specific place.
Afterwards we had lunch in High Springs at the Station Bakery and Cafe - a nice locally-owned sandwich shop and bakery. If you like eclairs, theirs are outstanding!
Monday night it was raining and we went to the community center/shop at the Chiefland Astronomy Village and watched The Martian. We were concerned about people having to crowd around a relatively small screen but were excited when they projected it on a wall in the shop area
built for that purpose. It was terrific! I am sure I have been in multiplex theaters with smaller screens!
The tennis courts in High Springs - Barry and his brother played a lot of tennis there.
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The Shiloh Baptist Church and turn-off to where Barry lived. The church had really expanded in the 30+ years since he had been there.
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Tuesday dawned windy, gloomy and overcast. We were beginning to see a pattern - but the forecast was for clearing late in the day so there was hope for using the telescope that evening. We decided to head for Cedar Key and explore down there. It is on the coast about an hour south.
It was a fun drive and as we neared the coast, the area took on the Florida Beach vibe. Cedar Key is a fun little town with lots of restaurants, fishing and some shopping. We went down to the pier area and to walk around and take some pictures of the wildlife. It was very windy, but we had fun observing all of the sea birds in residence. We ate lunch at Steamers Clam Bar and Grill. The area was pretty deserted and I suspect it was a combination of a cold, windy day and being late in the season.
Barry is taking a picture of the abundant bird population.
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A group of Bonaparte gulls on the dock at Cedar Key.
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Lone Royal Tern balancing on an abandonded pier post at Cedar Key.
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Barry waiting for lunch at Steamers, Cedar Key. Interesting oyster shell wall behind him.
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Lori watching the birds at Cedar Key.
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A brown pelican near the dock at Cedar Key.
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Sea birds balancing on a rail, perfectly aligned with beaks into the wind at Cedar Key.
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Wind whipped waves crashing against the pier at Cedar Key.
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We noticed this Osprey at Cedar Key while driving around the island.
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Tuesday evening, another movie was shown, but we passed on the opportunity hoping that it would clear as it had done on Sunday. We went out to dinner at ABC Pizza and had some decent pepperoni pizza.
When we got back it was looking promising. We hadn't deflated the matress but discovered that if you stood it up against the back wall inside the Igloo (without the blankets, etc), we still had room for the table, chairs and monitor. That would make transforming from observation room to sleeping room a whole lot easier.
It did clear and that evening we got pictures of M-74, a beautiful face-on spiral galaxy and NGC 246, the Skull Nebula (how appropriate with Halloween approaching!), a spooky blue objct.
NGC 246, the Skull Nebula in Cetus.
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We had planned to go to visit the University of Florida on Wednesday, but the plan changed when we found out there were protests ahead of a visit to campus by Richard Spencer. Again we wakened to cloudy, brooding skies and we decided it would be a good day to visit Manatee Springs.
Manatee Springs is a gem of a park about 15 miles west of Chiefland on the Suwanee River. It is gorgeous, serene, and teeming with wildlife, particularly birds. The manatees were not in residence, but we enjoyed it anyway. And, again due to it being off season, it was not very crowded.
There is a boardwalk that runs along the springs and it is a pleasant walk with turnouts that overlook the water. Barry had the Canon 60Da and a long lens and took some terrrific wildlife photos as we strolled along.
Manatee Springs State Park Boardwalk
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Blue Heron we spotted from the boardwalk at Manatee Springs State Park
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Vulture Convention in a tree along the boardwalk of Manatee Springs State Park
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A grouping of deer at Manatee Springs State park
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A view of the fish and long strands of algae in the springs at Manatee Springs State Park
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Barry captures the surface texture, reflections and colors in the water in this dreamy image from Manatee Springs State Park.
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A squirrel holding his nut at Manatee Springs State Park.
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Swampy land on the edge of the springs at Manatee Springs State Park
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If you look close you can almost see an imaginary sea squid in the springs at Manatee Springs State Park
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A stunning picture of a lone white egret in the trees
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Wednesday night it was again cloudy to start the evening, but cleared late. We got two images - M-16, the Eagle Nebula and NGC 253 an edge-on galaxy.
M-16, The Eagle Nebula
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NGC 253, the Silver Dollar Galaxy
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On Thursday we drove over to Hobos Restaurant in Trenton, FL. It was recommended by a friend and we had a wonderful lunch on the front porch. After that we headed back to Chiefland and went to one of the afternoon speakers.
The Chiefland Astrofest 2017 organizers had put together speakers for each afternoon of the week.
Late in the day, as often happens in Florida, a shower moved through and drenched everything. But it cleared and this promised to be the best night so far. We took pictures of M-20, the Triffid Nebula; NGC 891 an edge-on galaxy in Andromeda,
NGC 7662: the Snowball Nebula - another spooky, wispy blue object and we took another run at NGC 246: the Skull Nebula.
The Triffid Nebula - M-20
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NGC 891 - An edge-on galaxy in Andromeda.
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The Snowball Nebula - NGC 7662
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On Friday we finally made it to Gainseville to visit the University of Florida! Go Gators! We spent a few hours walking around campus and letting Barry show me where he went to classes and reminiscing.
Then we had lunch just off campus and rushed to get back to the astronomy village to listen to the afternoon speaker.
Later that afternoon, Barry got out the Lunt Solar scope and took pictures of the Solar prominences. We had been watching them all week and they were pretty large.
After dinner and the sky cleared, we spent our evening just visually observing through the telescope and enjoying the night sky.
A family, who were just visiting to see what a "star party" was all about, stopped by and Barry gave them a tour of the sky. They seemed to really enjoy getting to see the various objects.
The Aerospace Engineering Building where Barry took many of his classes on the University of Florida campus.
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Barry in front of the Swamp with the resident bull gator!
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The Solar Prominence. The sun is blown out to be able to pick up the wispy tendrils of the prominence.
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After checking the weather for Saturday night, we made the decision to head home Saturday morning.
Before packing up and to let everything dry out a bit, we headed to our new favorite restuarant, The Huddle House,
for breakfast. We had discovered the Huddle House the day we went to Manatee Springs State Park and had been back a number of times. It was clean, with friendly waitresses and had really good food.
The only thing that would have made it even better was Wi-Fi but at least the cell reception was pretty good.
When we got back to camp, we packed up and then went to the awards ceremony for the Chiefland Astrofest 2017 imaging contest. Barry won for our image of the Ring Nebula!
We were on the road by 11 am. We stopped for coffee and gas in a town near the intersection of I-75 and I-10 and found they had a Tesla charging station. The number of stations was pretty impressive.
We arrived home early evening. Another adventure done!
A huge Tesla charging station in conjunction with gas station/truckstop.
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