DXPedition Report #32

By Horace Collar

DXpedition #17 to Lizzie Borden State Park in New York was yet another memorable experience for the participants. Dale Kalvo, Bill Rumbley and I arrived on Friday morning. Dale immediately announced that this time he was going to string a beverage to the southwest through a 300 foot-wide thicket we've dubbed "the mother of all thorn patches." He actually made it all the way through the patch. I've never seen a pair of blue jeans so torn up, though--not to mention what was under the jeans. Good thing he's a bachelor and doesn't like kids. The doctor tried, but . . . I'm just glad it wasn't me.

Ryan Finelli, Don Badger and Ray Hurley arrived after lunch on Friday. As usual, Ray hadn't bothered to bathe in the past week, so we threw him in the lake. Of course, with a foot of ice on top, he didn't get particularly clean, but it did make the rest of us feel better. Too bad about the broken leg. On Saturday evening we caught Don Badger list logging the BBC, so we threw him in the lake, too. It's becoming quite a tradition.

After supper, Ryan announced that he was going to DX 36 hours straight, this time without sleeping. A few minutes later, when he went to the bathroom, I fixed him and substituted decaf in his coffee jar. By 10 p.m. he was sleeping like a baby--actually more like a truck driver. I could hear him snoring through my headphones.

For Bill Kyle, the highlight was hearing Comoros at "armchair" level. It was really easy, as he used his cellphone. Of course it only worked because they had the studio monitor on in the background. He took notes and wrote up a reception report right in front of us. Now we know how he gets those QSLs! It's a neat trick, and I'm going try it this weekend, although I'm not sure how I can explain a call to Bhutan to the wife.