I set my alarm clock for 4:30 this morning so I could get out and have a look at Jupiter and Mars rising in the east. The garage where my C8 spent the night was still warmer than I had hoped so it took a little while for the scope to equilibrate and tube currents to settle down. On the other hand, the seeing was phenomenal. Actually, according to Astrospheric, it was only "above average," but I'm still getting used to my new high desert situation. After the swamp of the Mid-Atlantic, everything is an improvement!
Once everything fell into place, I was surprised at how much detail I could see on Mars, despite a 6" disk. It showed a slight but distinct gibbosity, which agrees with the 89% illumination reported by the S&T Mars Profiler etc. This gave the planet an interesting billiard ball look--clearly a sphere, not just a disk.
The real treat was that I distinctly observed a dark patch near the eastern limb. I made a crude sketch:
Comparing to this:
It's a little hard to tell because of the way the flat projection distorts the features, but I think I either saw Syrtis Major coming around, or else the Mare Cimmerium. Either way, my first Martian surface feature of the opposition!