Total Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017

As a side note, does anyone want to buy any used wallets? Some in very good condition, others not... Cash only and would prefer to sell quick.. Asking for a friend

 

Sum bish.

Left Sunday night for Wyoming. Didn't make it. Got hit with a massive storm in Lake Oahe, SD. Truck looks like Kim Kardashian -- enormous, purple, and covered in hail damage.

Ended up getting to Mt. Rushmore in time to enjoy the near-total eclipse, run the kids through the monument and enjoy some of the gorgeous black hills scenery. Made it back home at 10 this morning.

To say I'm a bit exhausted would be an understatement.

 

DAMN, should have just got the kids those 3d glasses for an iphone and showed them the scenery. Sorry to hear about your truck, would not want to see anything as beat up and abused as Kim Kardashian. I am assuming that like her vagina your truck is now totally blown out and in need of a serious overhaul?

 

Nah. Drive her like the dirty whore she is and never look closely at it

And despite missing out on the totality, it was still a good break away and the kids had fun.

Plus, I finally got to Sturgis, and the vehicle used to get there is designed to burn oil.

 

I just saw the path of the 2024 one. Directly over our place. Anybody want to reserve a viewing spot now ?

 

I'm coming in a rental!

 

Messing with hookers now?

 

Had a great time.
Would not have gone to see totally total were it not for my kids wanting to see it.
Took 8 hours to drive 144 miles home.
I've never seen so many dirty hippies.

 

More like Joey $tupid...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4819304/Rapper-cancels-tour-staring-directly-sun.html

 

Joey Dumba$$

 

lol wtf? awww... i kinda like him too, he's not half bad for being part of the newer young dude crowd. what a moron.

 

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, my Cleveland, Chicago & Toronto shows on the Everybody Tour are cancelled."

No pun intended, I would assume.

 

FTFY

 

Just got home last night from our spot east of Glendo Lake WY. We went on through to Rushmore, Devils Tower, & Yellowstone after. It was a great trip. If you ever get the chance, definitely go see that area. Drive into Yellowstone from Cody. We only had a day there, and I feel we barely made a scratch on the surface of that park.

The eclipse spot was friggin awesome, though!

Late last year, we decided to stay in Sidney, NE as base camp for our eclipse soiree on Monday the 21st.

I've been planning to view the 2017 total solar eclipse since my childhood. In 1979 a partial solar eclipse shaded my then hometown of Tulia Texas, and my classmates and I watched it through pinhole projections set up by our teacher. (even as an 11 year old, I had the good sense to NOT look at a partial eclipse, unlike some I could mention...) During class afterward, we discussed historical and future eclipses, with the 2017 event being the next total eclipse viewable from the US. I decided right then I'd see it, even though I'd be old. (I was wrong about the old part)

The totality event isn't something that can even be described. The 76% my neighbors here in DFW experienced doesn't even compare. 90% doesn't compare. 99.9% doesn't compare. Full totality simply has to be experienced to be understood.

In the weeks leading up to the trip, I'd google-earth & google street-view scouted approximately 20 possible locations from Glendo Lake WY all the way to Grand Island NE, possible cloud cover all over Nebraska made the gameday decision a spot on Patten Creek Road just east of Glendo Lake. 42.4766 -104.8051 if you'd like to search the spot yourself. Earlier I posted a shot of the eclipse using pinhole projection through a colander onto the hood of our rental car. After that shot, I put the camera away & just lived the moment.

We got up and left our hotel at 3:30 & arrived at the spot at about 7:30. There was already a gentleman there who'd scouted the area on google and in person and had camped out there overnight to save room for his three sons who were coming to view the event with him. There was plenty of room (at THAT time) for all of us & he welcomed us to join him. As the morning progressed, a trickle of cars passing (with about a dozen staying) became a steady stream. The wide spot in the road would only hold about a dozen vehicles, unfortunately.

Note that I'd selected spots not simply "within" the path of totality, but spots that were within about 5% of the CENTERLINE of the path. That's called 'umbral depth', and our spot was at 94.77%, according to the google earth file I located regarding the eclipse. The weather cooperated beautifully with only a small cloudbank in the distant west that took nothing away from the experience.

Traffic heading back to the hotel was a bit of a headache, but some back road detours bypassed the worst of it. I 25 on the other side of Glendo Lake was still a parking lot several hours after we got back to our hotel.

Our spot:



View to the west just after the event:



View to the east:



I had a few backup spots scouted out depending on cloud cover forecasts. Just west of Alliance NE was the one I favored, but cloud possibilities sent us a bit further west. On the way up to Rushmore we went & looked at that spot, and I'm glad we went where we did. Alliance NE was a good spot, but the place we ended up was friggin PRIMO!