I have an Extra class as well. This weekend I celebrated another Field Day consecutive "miss" since 1976. It wasn't a 100% miss. My wife and I had plans for the Welsh Festival in Malad, Idaho. On the edge of the festival field was the local amateur radio group with a field day setup. There was an FT-991A just like mine on the table with an inverted V dipole strung up in the trees. The owner just passed his exams 2 years ago and is really enthusiastic. My wife and I signed his log for "eyeball QSO". My wife passed the TechPlus with the morse code proficiency on the last day that was offered.
I'm hoping to have time to enjoy my gear after I retire. Too much going on with a full time job. The Pocatello Amateur Radio Club has an 8 PM Sunday night net on the local repeater. Portneuf Valley ARES meets on a different repeater. The level of activity is significantly less than what we experienced in San Diego. My local packet radio breakfast group birthed Qualcomm. I had a nice job a PacBell at the time, so I didn't jump ship to stand up the company. C'est la vie!
"eyeball QSO"That made me laugh! I didn't know there was such a thing!
I haven't had anything to do with HF since I got out og the USAF in '81.