From the Main Observing Field, I look to the southeast shortly before sunset. Down there is where you first enter the OSP site. You pull up beside the Registration Tent to a warm welcome. Inside you collect your Registration Packet, probably your 2008 OSP T-shirt, and for sure you put in your ticket for the DOOR PRIZE DRAWING on Saturday! Probably you check to see if you've got your dinner tickets and your shower tickets, if you purchased them....You drive up the road toward the huge tent that is the main meeting tent....For your camping, if you don't like being crowded, there is generally a lot of space where you can set up a zone of your own. Or, if you're wanting to be wall to wall with your astro buddies, you can have that, too.

Image Note: we are looking southeast, across the distant valley of the Crooked River. Down there somewhere is the remote little village of Paulina, and the tiny place named "Post," which is the geographic center of the State of Oregon. And there is an isolated, large US Forest Service center where my younger brother once worked; it's called the Rager Ranger Station. Off in this direction some 60 air miles is SENECA, Oregon's coldest town, the place that holds the record for Oregon's coldest-ever temperature, an astounding 54 degrees below zero.

Soon to come: "Campers of All Persuasions, a Photo Essay about the Variety of Ways We Make Our Homes At The Oregon Star Party." Be sure to check back after September 30th or so! Below are the first few images from that photo essay.

"From Big to Little, All Manner of Homes Come to Roost on OSP's High Praries." I was just fascinated with the creativity of using the ruggedness and power of a semi-truck to get ones trailer up to OSP!

Second image portrays an OSP camping option that makes a lot of sense to me: to rent an RV unit for OSP use rather than try to own and maintain one all year!