It's off to work I go. Our club has had two large telescopes donated from UPa's Flower and Cook Observatory near Malvern, PA. We have a work trip to disassemble/crate the scopes (one 28", one 15") for transport back to Jacksonville.

I'll be leaving 9/4 or 9/5/07 up I-95 to US 301 north of Richmond, to SR5 at Brandywine, I-495 around DC to SR295 (BAL-DC Pkwy) to I-95. US-202 at Wilmington to Malvern.

Congratulations on your good luck.

Rusty,

Due to multiple construction projects, I'd suggest you try to avoid Rte 5, 495 & B&W Parkway (295)....add a fender-bender anywhere close and 5-10mph will be the norm for miles....

Look at staying on Rte 301....it turns into 97 just NW of Annapolis and tees into 95 near the Baltimore harbor. 301 is divided, limited access for much of the way.....

I'm 2 miles from 495/295 interchange on NE side of town: flat ground, 30amp & H20 if ya need it.

Road Construction Is My Life...but I definitely appreciate your advice. I'm kinda attached to US301, as the traffic has always been modest, and there haven't been obstructions due to accidents or construction in the years I've used it...I've always found it much faster than I-95 and its offspring.

So I'm altering my proposed route to carry US301 into the "Balmer" suburbs; since I usually run only at around 62 mph, my coach's best speed, it'll be just as quick....

Sked pretty well nailed down - leaving Oh-Dark-Thirty 9/4, peeling off I-95/I-295 past Richmond to US 301, RON around Bowling Green, VA, rejoining I-95 near "Balmer", US 202 just North of Wilmington, DE, to Malvern, PA.

quote:

Originally posted by Lee:
Rusty,

Due to multiple construction projects, I'd suggest you try to avoid Rte 5, 495 & B&W Parkway (295)....add a fender-bender anywhere close and 5-10mph will be the norm for miles....

Look at staying on Rte 301....it turns into 97 just NW of Annapolis and tees into 95 near the Baltimore harbor. 301 is divided, limited access for much of the way.....

I'm 2 miles from 495/295 interchange on NE side of town: flat ground, 30amp & H20 if ya need it.

BTW, Lee, thanks for the updates. We have a pair of our members going independently, and, well, they intend to "enjoy the I-95 DC traffic" in a minivan....what can I say, the primary driver ain't the brightest light in the chandelier...in fact we've assigned one of our members to keep him out of the way of those of us actually working...

Last post for a week (I suspect). Leaving tomorrow. Happily, the control board on the Norcold reefer took a sabbatical, but it works fine on LP, and I have plenty aboard.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Last post for a week (I suspect). Leaving tomorrow.

Safe trip Rusty!

Have a good ride Rusty!

Looking forward to hearing about the equipment you will be bringing back.

The equipment we recovered was a pair of antique scopes. The first was a Fecker 28.5" compound reflector; its mirror and holder weigh about 700 lbs. The tube was 1000, the pier, 1500, and the fork (in which the tube with mirror sits), was ~1500 lbs. My task was Loadmaster for all this scope except the mirror. Sadly, because of time constraints (some of which was my having a two-day delay occasioned by the master brake cylinder problem - see "Adventures in Barthing Mark III"), I wasn't able to secure the equipment like I planned, but two of us did the best we could, and we'll see tomorrow if it survived the truck-train-truck trips. Value of the entire ensemble will be ~$6,000,000 when refurbished.

The second scope is a specialized 15" refractor (view through the main objective). I brought the main lens back in StaRV II (for safety). While aboard, the main lens and auxiliary lenses I also carried increased the value of my Barth and its cargo by a factor of 20 (about $800,000, $1,500,000 when restored, if one is counting).

Both scopes were abandoned by U PA, but the buyer of the property refused to break them up for scrap - and in fact donated $12,000 for a contractor to help move and load the components. The value of the former observatory property (where all the remaining structures will be razed) is ~$3,000,000. A McMansion will be built on the land.

BTW, the property (before becoming an observatory in the late '40s) - had originally been a "residence", and had an inground swimming pool - of aluminum ("Ah, the rich, they're not like you and me!")

Wrapup: All the equipment made the trip safely, and is now secured in the Florida Community College Jacksonville's hangar...