I managed to capture 5 Herschel 400s from my deck last night, all OCs in and around Monoceros, which is a very productive night for me. I'm guessing I would have gotten only 1 or 2 without the O'Meara guide – his descriptions and pictures helped me get positive IDs on several. Transparency was pretty good. Seeing was so-so.
I also observed Mars around 8:30 CST and, for the first time I can recall, saw real detail on the planet. 200X wasn't too much for the seeing; about once every 2-3 seconds, the view would be very sharp for a fraction of a second before going fuzzy again. The tracking platform really helped me out as I wasn't nudging the scope during those fractions of a second. The northern polar ice cap was plainly visible, and there appeared to be a much larger white area on the southern edge. I could also make out some dark features across the face of the planet, and they really popped with a #25 filter.