Total Solar Eclipse - Afterwards

After the eclipse there’s the letdown, for me at least. Post-eclipse disappointment – can’t we do it

again? Packing up the scopes and slowly taking off layers as it warmed up. Josh and Jen headed out almost immediately, which turned out to put them in 2 hours of traffic delay. The rest of us ate sandwiches and chatted, heading back down to the cabin just before the sun came completely out from behind the moon. The clouds had thickened and covered the sun. It was only 1:00.

Back at the cabin we napped, read, showered, and chatted. Dave and I rearranged the suitcases. We went down to Casper and had pizza for dinner. Back at the cabin, Bill made a fire ad we sat and chatted and eventually it was bedtime. The next morning we got up and re-rearranged the suitcases when I remembered the weight limit. We had breakfast and chatted some more, then headed out at about 9:20.

That turned out to be about an hour later than we should have, since there was still plenty of eclipse traffic. We stopped at one exit in Cheyenne and spent a long time waiting to turn left, only to discover long lines at the one gas station. We stopped at another and got McDonald’s for lunch, but that gas station had even longer lines. Finally we found a good gas station on the third try. Meanwhile traffic was crawling through Ft. Collins, and I was trying not to panic about my flight. In the meantime I was on my phone looking for a hotel for Dave in Denver, and not having any luck finding one in the Hilton family – and also being appalled at the prices – nearly double what they’d be the next week  in most cases. As we got closer to Denver we were mentally going through checklists of what was in my suitcase, because if bag drop was a mess I was going to have to leave it in the truck in order to make my plane. While all this was happening Jen and Josh arrived at home, and then Josh called to tell us that his National Guard unit was being called up to go do fire duty. (They eventually left for Brookings on Friday morning) Jen and I made a plan for her to come over Saturday and we’ll do laundry and camping cleanup so she doesn’t have to do it all by herself.

Finally we got through Ft Collins and to the airport, and thankfully United’s bag drop was well organized, easy to understand, and not a zoo. Thanks to TSA precheck I zipped through security, and even had time to get a pretzel before boarding the plane. Meanwhile Dave had found a hotel and made a reservation, so all was well. I had an easy flight to Portland, had dinner there to wait out the traffic, and had no traffic on the drive home.

And that would be then end, until Dave texted from Grand Junction, CO, telling me the Expedition had died. Which leads to my last photo…

I like this person's writing about the eclipse, so if you're up for one more blog, here it is.