Ted,

No Xponder. ATC in El Paso gives me a Mode-C waiver whenever I ask for
it, as long as I stay in radio contact with them for the entire time
that I am within the lateral boundaries of the ELP Class C airspace
below 10,000 feet MSL. They're good people.

The mountain range to the west of my flight was producing the wave.
There was still good lift at 18,000 feet. There is a Wave Box about 50
miles north of us over Alamogordo, New Mexico. The good news was that
ATC said they would be able to open it for me, but the bad news was
that the Restricted Airspace between me and the Wave Box was closed.
Oh well ... maybe next time!

Thanks to you, Greg, and Tom (via e-mail) for helping me clear up the
OLC scoring question.

Ps: What's the latest with the Region 9 competetion?

Chris