wigwamitus
LSB Active Member
2015-05-13
2100-2300
50F
5 MPH E
Goal: Night ride/walk
Environment: Rain, no moon or stars low clouds.
Equipment: .22LR, sling, ir-laser, eotech, thermal, lrf, 3x, .45, helmet, dual 14s, stick, canteen.
Activity: Put on gear in buggy. Able to find arm holes in wet suit top with no trouble. Able to position hands on zipper and zip quickly. One mistake was pulled left glove out of pocket before zipping wet suit, so had to put glove down. Rule is glove goes back in pocket.
This buggy has glass on front. To avoid fogging pushed window open from bottom. It opens about a foot at the bottom, but hinges at the top. I could see pretty well with the 14s, out the sides and bottom, around the glass but not through the glass with the rain.
First had to roll about .75 miles to neighbors to deliver mail inadvertantly left at our house. This happens 2-3 times a year, when there is a substitute mail person. I call myself "4th Class Mailman Joe" when making such deliveries. The neighbors smile.
The rain was steady and what I would call "moderate". But growing up in Florida, for me a "heavy" rain is one in which you can't see over 10yds.
Then rolled across Turtle Creek Bridge and up to the top of Signal (One Tree) Hill and went on foot. With 14s I could see two section lights within 1 mile, 2 towers within 5 miles, and bare haze of light from Topeka, about 35 miles away. It was dark. With thermal, I could see roofs of two of our buildings and horizons and ponds but nothing else all else was washed out.
Walked down East side of Signal Hill, across pond dam and up to hill 1309. From 1309 looking South the the thermal, I was able to find the cows. They were on the West side of the "Central Valley" as I call the drainage area which contains our pond. I cycles through the pallets and eventually decided the "rain" pallet was clearly best. The cows showed up red hot on either a green (top half of lens) or red (bottom half of lens) background. I decreased the brightness three clicks, and that seems to increased the contrast. The cows were quite "blob-like" but I played with the focus until blob-i-ness was minimized. I counted up to 13 cows. There was 37 over there, so the others were farther down in the draw, below my line of vision. I could see the cows moving. Blobs would split apart and merge together. When a cow was broadside to me, I could see the shape.
I decided to try to lase the cows to see how far away they were. I could not see them with the 14s. So I slipped on the 3x magnifier. Then I could see them. I lased between 372 and 395 yds for the cows. So they were closer than usual, farther down in the draw.
I then took a sip of water and headed back to Signal Hill.
In the buggy, driving was slow as I could only see out the sides and below the glass. But I know this ground, so was able to keep cognizant of the fence line and certain trees by which to navigate. I could barely see the buggy trail the grass has grown to high. When go down hill to Turtle Creek had to be careful. If you get off the trail here you will plung off the bridge either 15 feet onto rocks or 8 feet into a pond above this bridge. Or you might crash into the steel gate beyond. I managed to navigate through safely and RTB.
Gear was wet but all gear worked. I wore balaklava, wet suit top, light jacket (unzipped) underneath, glove on left hand.
Result: With other pallets, cows were barely visible, but with "rain" pallet they were very visible. Unmagnified 14s could not see cows, magnified 14 could see cows (black blobs). Glass can be a visual hindrance in the rain.
I need to get a DVR so I can resume taking video.
This was a fun ride/walk and I was happy the gear worked fine.
2100-2300
50F
5 MPH E
Goal: Night ride/walk
Environment: Rain, no moon or stars low clouds.
Equipment: .22LR, sling, ir-laser, eotech, thermal, lrf, 3x, .45, helmet, dual 14s, stick, canteen.
Activity: Put on gear in buggy. Able to find arm holes in wet suit top with no trouble. Able to position hands on zipper and zip quickly. One mistake was pulled left glove out of pocket before zipping wet suit, so had to put glove down. Rule is glove goes back in pocket.
This buggy has glass on front. To avoid fogging pushed window open from bottom. It opens about a foot at the bottom, but hinges at the top. I could see pretty well with the 14s, out the sides and bottom, around the glass but not through the glass with the rain.
First had to roll about .75 miles to neighbors to deliver mail inadvertantly left at our house. This happens 2-3 times a year, when there is a substitute mail person. I call myself "4th Class Mailman Joe" when making such deliveries. The neighbors smile.
The rain was steady and what I would call "moderate". But growing up in Florida, for me a "heavy" rain is one in which you can't see over 10yds.
Then rolled across Turtle Creek Bridge and up to the top of Signal (One Tree) Hill and went on foot. With 14s I could see two section lights within 1 mile, 2 towers within 5 miles, and bare haze of light from Topeka, about 35 miles away. It was dark. With thermal, I could see roofs of two of our buildings and horizons and ponds but nothing else all else was washed out.
Walked down East side of Signal Hill, across pond dam and up to hill 1309. From 1309 looking South the the thermal, I was able to find the cows. They were on the West side of the "Central Valley" as I call the drainage area which contains our pond. I cycles through the pallets and eventually decided the "rain" pallet was clearly best. The cows showed up red hot on either a green (top half of lens) or red (bottom half of lens) background. I decreased the brightness three clicks, and that seems to increased the contrast. The cows were quite "blob-like" but I played with the focus until blob-i-ness was minimized. I counted up to 13 cows. There was 37 over there, so the others were farther down in the draw, below my line of vision. I could see the cows moving. Blobs would split apart and merge together. When a cow was broadside to me, I could see the shape.
I decided to try to lase the cows to see how far away they were. I could not see them with the 14s. So I slipped on the 3x magnifier. Then I could see them. I lased between 372 and 395 yds for the cows. So they were closer than usual, farther down in the draw.
I then took a sip of water and headed back to Signal Hill.
In the buggy, driving was slow as I could only see out the sides and below the glass. But I know this ground, so was able to keep cognizant of the fence line and certain trees by which to navigate. I could barely see the buggy trail the grass has grown to high. When go down hill to Turtle Creek had to be careful. If you get off the trail here you will plung off the bridge either 15 feet onto rocks or 8 feet into a pond above this bridge. Or you might crash into the steel gate beyond. I managed to navigate through safely and RTB.
Gear was wet but all gear worked. I wore balaklava, wet suit top, light jacket (unzipped) underneath, glove on left hand.
Result: With other pallets, cows were barely visible, but with "rain" pallet they were very visible. Unmagnified 14s could not see cows, magnified 14 could see cows (black blobs). Glass can be a visual hindrance in the rain.
I need to get a DVR so I can resume taking video.
This was a fun ride/walk and I was happy the gear worked fine.
