Another snapshot of the star’s attempt
There is not much going on today; I am just resting from another 3 AM picture-taking attempt and yesterday's drive. And speaking of taking pictures at 3 a.m., I hadn't paid much attention to what Elephant Butte State Park looks like after dark, since I don't see that well in the dark, I’m usually inside by the time the sun goes down. But, walking outside the camper at 3 o'clock in the morning, I was amazed at how bright it was with all of the lights in the State Park. There are lights on the Park buildings, and streetlights here and there, all of which make the Milky Way difficult to see.
The City of Rocks didn't have any of those problems; it really was a dark area. Its biggest problem happened to be that I was on the wrong side of the boulders, so I didn't have anything interesting in the foreground.
The weather's been beautiful, with low 80s being the norm and mostly cloudless blue skies. Even though these cloudless skies are great for taking pictures at night, pictures in the daytime are definitely not the best.
I'll mosey to the Walmart in a day or two. I need a few things, and since I drive right past the gas company that refills propane tanks, I'll take care of that problem on the way to Walmart.
theboondork
My Milky Way snapshot didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. There was just too much light at Elephant Butte State Park. See the bright green areas at the bottom of the picture? That was from the streetlight near my boondocking spot. In fact, the whole area was so bright that the Milky Way looked faded, not the way it should in a very dark area. Based on the direction, I would say that the bright orange area you see on the horizon is probably the town of Truth or Consequences, known to the locals as T or C.
Oh well, I'll probably move to a different boondocking spot here at the Elephant and try again.
These last three pictures are just landscape snapshots I took this morning.