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I went back and activated Lone Elm Park in Olathe today during my lunch break. This is another 3-fer which counts for the California (US-4566), Oregon (US-4576), and Santa Fe (US-4579) National Historic Trails. This site was a campground that many people stopped at on their way west.

It was pretty nice out today – around 55 Fahrenheit and no wind. There’s a nice shelter at the park which actually has a large wood fireplace and chimney – it might be fun to build a big bonfire out here and do POTA one night.

I think that a lot of people come to this park to eat lunch, so there was a fair number of people wandering around, especially on a nice day like today. No one talked to me, though.

I activated Minor Park in the southern part of the Kansas City metro area today. This park was a regular stopping point on three National Historic Trails: the California Trail (US-4566), the Oregon Trail (US-4576), and the Santa Fe Trail (US-4579) – this means it counts as a three-fer (triple credit) for Parks on the Air.

It was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit out. I tried wearing some thin gloves to see if it would keep my hands warm – I was still able to work the radio and my iPad and everything with no issues, but unfortunately, my hands still got cold pretty quickly.

Today was also the first time I had to explain to a non-ham what I was doing. An older gentleman dropped by and asked what was going on – I tried to explain what I was doing, and let him listen to the Morse code for a bit. He was just like “ok, thanks, have fun!” so… I guess it went OK?

I went back and activated US-7929 (Hillsdale State Wildlife Area) again this morning. It was a bit warmer out than last time, around 45 degrees F. I went to another boat launch on the north side of the lake, about a mile to the east of where I was last time.

I brought my dog Truman to see if he’d enjoy going out with me. I think he got bored after about 15 minutes – he’s a beagle, and he wanted to keep walking and explore the beach more. I tried to get him to just sit and relax, but he seemed like he was getting cold and restless, so I ended up letting him sit in the car for the last 30 minutes or so. I’ll try to take him out again, but I’ll probably wait until the spring, when the weather is warmer.

I had a lot of callers – there’s not a lot of POTA competition on a chilly December morning. My friend Robb (K2MZ) from LICW called me park-to-park as well.

Here’s some more photos.

I activated US-7929 (Hillsdale State Wildlife Area) the morning of Sunday, December 14. It was very cold (about 15 degrees Fahrenheit), and I had to stop after about 45 minutes because my fingers weren’t working.

This was my very first POTA activation, at US-12398 (Olathe Prairie Center)!