Re:Total Eclipse (1982)
by mordechai9000 on Thursday August 10, 2017 @03:18PM
(#14983121)
I will be flying in to SeaTac from AK on Friday night and driving down to Oregon on Saturday. We have a place to stay in Bend, but no plans beyond driving back North to the region of totality. Redmond, 15 miles north gets 38 seconds of totality. We would like to be as smack in the middle as we can manage, but it will depend largely on traffic and weather.
We will probably try and find a nice open field and hang out during the event, then head back to Bend sometime the same day.
We may also wind up heading east from Bend, then north, again depending on traffic and weather.
Now that is hardcore. Here I was wondering if an eight hour drive was too much trouble. :-) Keep in mind that all predictions are that traffic anywhere near places like Bend, Redmond, or (worst of all) Madras is going to be a mess. Plan accordingly, especially if you're used to AK where heavy traffic means someone is in front of you at the stoplight. I'm hearing "hours" to get through Bend or Redmond on eclipse day. But there are little to no historical data to work with, so who knows?
Anyway, if you see an old yellow VW Westfalia with its top popped way up on a hill northeast of Madras, honk as you go by.
It’s that or nothing. Every campground and motel within the totality band in OR has been booked for six months. I’m hoping we get there a few days early, plop down in the middle of nowhere and not be bothered. I’m truly curious to see how it goes. Could be the clusterfuck that’s predicted, could be a bust when less than hardcore folks decide it’s not worth the hassle.
Cloud cover in the OR high desert in August? How many times have I wished for such while on the motorcycle in OR? If that rare event were to happen on eclipse day, then God truly hates us. YMMV in other parts of the country.