Friday 24Jan20 Organ Pipe National Park

Day 8

Woke at 8. After walking the dogs I had the usual breakfast. Drove to Goodyear and had coffee at a McDonald's then I  drove by the Airbnb that Martha and I stayed in several years before.

I had brought her to Phoenix to take a hot air balloon ride on Valentine's Day. That was a an amazing trip and the balloon ride was so cool. Everything was perfect until the pilot asked me what names to put on the flight certificate and Jerry and Alison rolled off my tongue.

I then drove to a Sam's Club and fueled up with 91 octane fuel. after that I ate a hot dog in their deli. From there I drove south on hiway 85 South to Gila Bend. I dumped the holding tanks.

I Drove on to Organ Pipe NM and parked in spot 131. I walked back to pay but saw instructions directing late arrivals to pay the next morning. I was excited to read that there was a star party that night.

Went straight to the star party which was pretty lame. The lady ranger said a couple of times that one needed to reach 775 MPH to achieve orbital velocity. Venus was one object observed but the image was to bright to to distinguish any form. It should have appeared as a half lit disk.

After the star party I took a shower in the men's room using the solar shower. The water was not very warm.

Back at the RT I made a moca, laid in bed and read.