Two days ago we were sweltering in 85 degrees in a summer that has seemed truly never ending. Today we are enjoying the sounds of a howling wind outside and temperatures in the 50s in Rockport, Mass. To make that transition, we spent 12 hours yesterday driving through heavy rain all up the East Coast as we clocked more than 600 miles to add to the almost 300 from the day before (not counting a 200-mile detour to attend a funeral). It was not much fun pushing on in the dark to make our way around New York City on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Freeway. Doing it at rush hour didn't help any either. When we finally hit the sack last night in Cromwell, Connecticut, we were fully tired and ready for rest. Then we got up this morning early to make our way over to W1AW, the headquarters station for the American Radio Relay League, the U.S. amateur radio group. I toured the ARRL headquarters and found talking with the people who edit and produce the league magazine (QST) and many publications very interesting. There were geeks aplenty and it was great to meet and chat with them. Then came the icing on the cake, a chance to sit at the controls and operate W1AW, the home station for the ARRL. The equipment and antennas at W1AW are a ham's dream come true and I had great fun making a contact with an English ham who was operating in his car in Southport. We chatted for a while and then it was all over, another item on my "bucket list" neatly checked off!
