2015A Day 1: You Can Call Me Larry

Home at last. After our 24 hr delay in Tucson, and listening to all the horror stories from people who had been trying to get to Santiago for several days, as soon as our plane pushed back the pilot cut the engines and we sat on the runway for an hour to let a thunderstorm blow through.

But all’s well that ends well. We made it safe and sound to LCO just in time for dinner tonight. The first steps of preparations are done: dust covers off, some Clio mounting hardware replaced, some organizing, and we checked on the mirror — it survived. Tomorrow the real fun begins, with moving and then opening Clio to add our new coronagraphs and reorganize filters. We also begin work on our new X-stage motor, which is more powerful than the current one.

Larry got some tea at the Santiago airport Starbucks.
Here we are in the van, having just departed el Pino on our way to the mountain. It always feels good when you start this last leg.
The last glow of sunset.

And from the better safe than sorry department, this is not a cover by Daughtry, but it is a cover by a band opening for Daughtry.