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Merged Solar Eclipse 2017!

I watched it fron above Union Pass, Wyoming, on the Continental Divide at about 10,000 feet above sea level, right on the center line. Weather was perfect, with only small high clouds around, none obscured the sun through the eclipse. It was every bit as spectacular as I expected.the next range of mountains to the west (the Wyoming range,) went dark just before totality. Totality was like twilight, with a planet near the sun (Venus?)and a few of the brightest stars visible and the black circle of the moon surrounded by the corona was incredible.I saw the "diamond ring" at both start and end of totality.
 
I was at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia SC; where I saw totality.

While listening to the radio on the way home, the reporter stuck in his office, couldn't travel to see totality. "Disappointed" was the word he used. I dwelt on that word.

Two similar words popped into my head, "upset" and "sad."

When have I been sad? I've lost friends from high school, family members...heck...I even saw my 10 pound rat masquerading as a little black dog get hit by a car. I had to pick her body up off of the road and then explain to my wife and kids that Baby is gone.

Upset? Of course looking back at some of the decisions I've made (or decisions my kids have made.) Professional sports popped into my head for a long minute. I guess you could say I was upset with the Isles played like absolute **** in game 7 against the Caps a few years ago.

Disappointed - the word that started it all. Yeah, disappointed in myself for decisions I've made, things I have said and/or didn't say, and/or events I could have attended, you know, could've, would've, should've.

I've been trying to think about when I've been the most disappointed. I can't think of a time in my 43 years on this planet (granted, I don't remember all of them) when I was a disappointed that the eclipse was ending. With the tiniest portion of the "true" sun visible, the magnificent coronal halo was gone. That the sun's reemergence as it began peeking through the north-eastern section of the disc of the moon signaled the end of the most spectacular visage and experience of my life.
 
The local university science department gave out glasses. I made a pinhole viewer from a Pringles can, and another from a cardboard box and a saltine cracker - 12 images! I took them all out to the parking lot at work. I was very popular.

EclecticSkeptic used a colander, but the holes were slightly too large. She made a quick pinhole viewer. She also tried taking data on bird behavior, but with coverage only in the 70-ish%, there were no noticeable changes.

A cow-orker's spouse is an elementary school teacher. She bought 300 glasses from NASA. At the last minute, the school decided it was too dangerous to let the kids go out to view.

CT
 
Saw totality in Madras, fantastic!

Then I killed my car on the way home. (Thought I posted this already but I don't see it.)

We had excellent sky for the eclipse, the opposite as the last time when the clouds rolled in at the last minute. (I feel your pain, alfaniner.) Smoke and high clouds in the morning, cleared up in the direction of the Sun when the eclipse started through totality.

I'm with you, Noah, "Partial eclipses.... pfft." It's like the light switch turns off at totality making it look instantly different from even 99.99% partial. And the light came back on at the second totality ended. So cool.

I have to drive 4 hours back to The Dalles to get my car after it gets a new clutch. I should have known better and turned around and went another way. Now I know one more thing, burning your clutch out on a hill in stop and go traffic sucks, big time. The car stopped, would not even roll. And once the engine was off, I couldn't turn it back on because you have to engage the clutch for the engine to start.

Fortunately this guy, Roger Millar, Secretary of Transportation (WSDOT), was stopped in front of us with another stalled car. He got us a tow. The good thing about being stuck in the lane and not in a turnout, you get a priority tow.

What's money, everything else is fine. A friend of my son's drove 4 hours to come get us. That is a good friend.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Saw totality in Madras, fantastic!

Then I killed my car on the way home. (Thought I posted this already but I don't see it.)

We had excellent sky for the eclipse, the opposite as the last time when the clouds rolled in at the last minute. (I feel your pain, alfaniner.) Smoke and high clouds in the morning, cleared up in the direction of the Sun when the eclipse started through totality.

I'm with you, Noah, "Partial eclipses.... pfft." It's like the light switch turns off at totality making it look instantly different from even 99.99% partial. And the light came back on at the second totality ended. So cool.

I have to drive 4 hours back to The Dalles to get my car after it gets a new clutch. I should have known better and turned around and went another way. Now I know one more thing, burning your clutch out on a hill in stop and go traffic sucks, big time. The car stopped, would not even roll. And once the engine was off, I couldn't turn it back on because you have to engage the clutch for the engine to start.

Fortunately this guy, Roger Millar, Secretary of Transportation (WSDOT), was stopped in front of us with another stalled car. He got us a tow. The good thing about being stuck in the lane and not in a turnout, you get a priority tow.

What's money, everything else is fine. A friend of my son's drove 4 hours to come get us. That is a good friend.
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Ouch! Sounds like you think it was worth all that car hassle though. Get your car serviced before you drive to Texas for the next one.
 
Flew into Garden Valley, Idaho (U88) and got this a few hours later. What a spectacular sight! Well worth the white-knuckle landing.

I've seen partials and totals many times. I have to agree: totality or bust!
 

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After planning for years, I was worried my expectations were too high and the thing might be a slight letdown. Thank goodness my feeble imagination will never eclipse an eclipse. It far exceeded anything I could imagine. Indescribable.

I'm so pooped. The traffic coming home was also indescribable. Gotta take a nap.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Saw totality in Madras, fantastic!

Then I killed my car on the way home. (Thought I posted this already but I don't see it.)

We had excellent sky for the eclipse, the opposite as the last time when the clouds rolled in at the last minute. (I feel your pain, alfaniner.) Smoke and high clouds in the morning, cleared up in the direction of the Sun when the eclipse started through totality.

I'm with you, Noah, "Partial eclipses.... pfft." It's like the light switch turns off at totality making it look instantly different from even 99.99% partial. And the light came back on at the second totality ended. So cool.

I have to drive 4 hours back to The Dalles to get my car after it gets a new clutch. I should have known better and turned around and went another way. Now I know one more thing, burning your clutch out on a hill in stop and go traffic sucks, big time. The car stopped, would not even roll. And once the engine was off, I couldn't turn it back on because you have to engage the clutch for the engine to start.

Fortunately this guy, Roger Millar, Secretary of Transportation (WSDOT), was stopped in front of us with another stalled car. He got us a tow. The good thing about being stuck in the lane and not in a turnout, you get a priority tow.

What's money, everything else is fine. A friend of my son's drove 4 hours to come get us. That is a good friend.
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That's amazing!

You actually found a government employee that was helpful? I don't believe it!

;)
 
Steve said:
Ouch! Sounds like you think it was worth all that car hassle though. Get your car serviced before you drive to Texas for the next one.
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It wasn't servicing, it was me making a really stupid choice not to turn around and go a different way. Slipping the clutch all the way up a hill in stop and go traffic is not a good idea. And, it's an older car.

Bad decision, oh well, you learn from them at least.

Ouch, yes, but worth it, absolutely.
 
Hellbound said:
That's amazing!

You actually found a government employee that was helpful? I don't believe it!

;)
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Not only that, but in the right place at the right time. If I believed in miracles. ... ;)

My son tells me Millar wasn't the guy. But the tow truck driver said the guy was the head of WSDOT.

Who knows, but he was a WSDOT guy in a WSDOT marked truck.
 
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My sister and her family got to watch from their backyard in east Tennessee, so no worries about the parking lot that was I-75 at the time. :p

No, I will not share my secret backroads routes to get to the spots in northern Vermont with 3+ minutes of totality on April 8, 2024. :p

2024 will be Texas to Maine, with longer totality times than what was seen yesterday.
 
Arisia said:
My sister and her family got to watch from their backyard in east Tennessee, so no worries about the parking lot that was I-75 at the time. :p

No, I will not share my secret backroads routes to get to the spots in northern Vermont with 3+ minutes of totality on April 8, 2024. :p

2024 will be Texas to Maine, with longer totality times than what was seen yesterday.
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Yep, and I live on the totality route, which is awesome.

ETA: I'm seriously considering buying 10 or 20 acres somewhere outside town, just so in 2024 I can charge eclipse-seekers $50 a night to camp there :D
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Saw totality in Madras, fantastic!
...vasectomy...

I have to drive 4 hours back to The Dalles to get my car after it gets a new clutch. I should have known better and turned around and went another way. Now I know one more thing, burning your clutch out on a hill in stop and go traffic sucks, big time. The car stopped, would not even roll. And once the engine was off, I couldn't turn it back on because you have to engage the clutch for the engine to start.

...vasectomy...
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My car didn't die.

However...from Raleigh NC to Columbia SC is about 220 miles.

The wife, the son and I drove down in about 3 hours, about an average of 70 miles per hour.

7 hours to get back!

7.

I know you can do the math, but that is an average of about 30 miles per hour.

That sucked.

But hey...totality was worth it.
 
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I took 780 shots in 4 hours. We only had 76% coverage, but the light quality was definitely .... different... From about 13:00 until about 13:15 CDT.
One of my friends, who is camped in Northern New Mexico, and runs pure solar on his RV during the day, reported a dramatic decrease in power starting at about 25% coverage.
I'd like to see more data along that line..

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
"Partial eclipses.... pfft." It's like the light switch turns off at totality making it look instantly different from even 99.99% partial. And the light came back on at the second totality ended. So cool.
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^^This. This. A thousand times, this!^^

Skeptic Ginger, you've nailed it. Your words succinctly capture what the folks in my clan were saying and thinking. A light switch. One second it is on. The next second it is off, and there is no in-between.

Switch is on. Diffuse light. Switch turns off. Boom. Darkness and Eclipse. And a lot of, "Woo Hoo!!"

If you ever find yourself arguing with someone who believes that 75%-99% coverage is almost just as good as 100%, tell them it is not and use the light switch analogy.

I can't say it enough. Partial and Total are two separate things. They are different and they are not comparable. When totality hits, you see something far and apart from partiality, and it is wondrous.
 
JayUtah said:
Flew into Garden Valley, Idaho (U88) and got this a few hours later. What a spectacular sight! Well worth the white-knuckle landing.

I've seen partials and totals many times. I have to agree: totality or bust!
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I guess I busted then. We watched from my cousin's driveway in Portland, where it was 99+%. But if we'd gone south, we'd still have been on the road northbound for the second cousin's driveway event, hundreds of Vaux's Swifts flying down the chimney of the vacant house across the street. Which was pretty much equally cool to the 99%.
 
C_Felix said:
My car didn't die.

However...from Raleigh NC to Columbia SC is about 220 miles.

The wife, the son and I drove down in about 3 hours, about an average of 70 miles per hour.

7 hours to get back!

7.

I know you can do the math, but that is an average of about 30 miles per hour.

That sucked.

But hey...totality was worth it.
Click to expand...
I don't get the vasectomy reference.:boggled:
 
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