As I said in the previous episode, we topped off (I thought) at Cheyenne before joining Highway 85 leading to our target location. Round trip from the service station was only 204 miles. Normally, pulling the trailer, we easily get 300 miles. On the return leg in bumper-to-bumper traffic, top speed about 10 MPH, at 142 miles we were down to 1/4 tank. At Yoder, we pulled over at a traffic control point so I could put the gas from our jerry can into the car. This is the fuel for our gennie which I filled once and topped off once so I should have had at least 3 ยฝ gallons. But, when my wife first filled the gas can, she put the nozzle all of the way into the can and stopped when it cut off. So we probably only had 3 gallons to start with and it didn't get topped off in Cheyenne. So, at Yoder, we only had one gallon left. Not enough. A sheriff deputy told us that the fire department had planned ahead and had extra fuel available.
They gave us enough to get to La Grange where there were 2 unattended, credit card only, pumps. At La Grange, we found more Goshen County Fire Department volunteers who told us that they were out of fuel there. After he checked our fuel gauge, one fireman admitted that they had held back extra fuel for folks who absolutely couldn't make it to Pine Bluffs. He said that we had plenty and, while the low fuel light did come on just before Pine Bluffs, we made it. We refueled and got back to the campsite at Pole Mountain at 10:30, nine and a half hours after we left our viewing site 142 miles away.
One interesting takeaway for me was how polite, helpful, and considerate everyone, locals and visitors alike, were. I think the magic viewing the total eclipse had a lot to do with that.
At the traffic control point where I put in the little fuel we had left from the generator gas can, there were a couple of ladies whose clutch had gone out and had a 4-hour wait for one of only 2 AAA trucks working HWY 85.
That little parking lot had turned into a party location for a lot of folks.
LS
They gave us enough to get to La Grange where there were 2 unattended, credit card only, pumps. At La Grange, we found more Goshen County Fire Department volunteers who told us that they were out of fuel there. After he checked our fuel gauge, one fireman admitted that they had held back extra fuel for folks who absolutely couldn't make it to Pine Bluffs. He said that we had plenty and, while the low fuel light did come on just before Pine Bluffs, we made it. We refueled and got back to the campsite at Pole Mountain at 10:30, nine and a half hours after we left our viewing site 142 miles away.
One interesting takeaway for me was how polite, helpful, and considerate everyone, locals and visitors alike, were. I think the magic viewing the total eclipse had a lot to do with that.
At the traffic control point where I put in the little fuel we had left from the generator gas can, there were a couple of ladies whose clutch had gone out and had a 4-hour wait for one of only 2 AAA trucks working HWY 85.
That little parking lot had turned into a party location for a lot of folks.
LS
mama.sylvia wrote:
You didn't wave as you came through Cheyenne ๐
My DH and DD were right outside Torrington. Took them EIGHT HOURS to get home - normally a 70-minute drive. I stayed home with my own bathroom, running swamp cooler, and no competition to view 97% eclipse.
Did, too! You were busy texting at the time. ๐
The drive back will be "The Rest of the Story." Let's just say that this photo, taken in Torrington, sums it up nicely. ๐
LS
Well, I still haven't received all of the photos taken by the others in our small party, but this will give you an idea of the site I ferreted out. I had several possible locations from Guernsey, WY, east to north of Scottsbluff, NE. In the week running up to eclipse day, we were camped within a 3 hours drive of each location. I kept tweaking my plan by taking in the observed weather and traffic reports and expectations on the various local radio stations. I finally settled on a country road about 30 miles north of Torrington, WY, Co. Rd. 24.
We fueled up in Cheyenne right at HWY 85 which led to our site. Round trip to this service station was 204 miles. The drive in was what I expected, as we entered the Path of Totality vehicles began peeling off to find a viewing site. We continued north to ours and there was less and less traffic as we proceeded. The road, route 159, had people lining the soft shoulder pretty much the whole way but, with about 5 miles to go, there were fewer and fewer people until about the last mile nearest dead-center then the die-hards were lined up there. (At this point our driver, my wife, was ready to pull over anywhere (we were pulling the Casita, luckily!) and I was the navigator working at a disadvantage . . . I had forgotten to bring either of my 2 Garmin GPSs, the Tahoe's navigation and entertainment failed, our smartphone GPSs didn't work due to the cell/data system being overwhelmed, and the county roads were not numbered as county roads, but as streets! fortunately, I had looked at the online maps so much that I had them memorized and found Co. Rd. 24. We turned and drove another half mile to a mile until we topped a small rise. We pulled over right on the road. There was no one else in sight.
My wife took this picture. I'm on the left, the couple on the right were with us for the Cabo San Lucas Total Eclipse in Baja in 1991 and this was there 5th total eclipse that they travel around the world to view. This was the first total eclipse for the guy behind the telescope. He lives in Colorado Springs and is a friend from an online Military site I frequent and thought that it would be fun to see it. Boy, was he surprised!
My wife made it into the pic.
The drive back to the camp site is a WHOLE 'NUTTER STORY. I'll tell it later.
LS
We fueled up in Cheyenne right at HWY 85 which led to our site. Round trip to this service station was 204 miles. The drive in was what I expected, as we entered the Path of Totality vehicles began peeling off to find a viewing site. We continued north to ours and there was less and less traffic as we proceeded. The road, route 159, had people lining the soft shoulder pretty much the whole way but, with about 5 miles to go, there were fewer and fewer people until about the last mile nearest dead-center then the die-hards were lined up there. (At this point our driver, my wife, was ready to pull over anywhere (we were pulling the Casita, luckily!) and I was the navigator working at a disadvantage . . . I had forgotten to bring either of my 2 Garmin GPSs, the Tahoe's navigation and entertainment failed, our smartphone GPSs didn't work due to the cell/data system being overwhelmed, and the county roads were not numbered as county roads, but as streets! fortunately, I had looked at the online maps so much that I had them memorized and found Co. Rd. 24. We turned and drove another half mile to a mile until we topped a small rise. We pulled over right on the road. There was no one else in sight.
My wife took this picture. I'm on the left, the couple on the right were with us for the Cabo San Lucas Total Eclipse in Baja in 1991 and this was there 5th total eclipse that they travel around the world to view. This was the first total eclipse for the guy behind the telescope. He lives in Colorado Springs and is a friend from an online Military site I frequent and thought that it would be fun to see it. Boy, was he surprised!
My wife made it into the pic.
The drive back to the camp site is a WHOLE 'NUTTER STORY. I'll tell it later.
LS
No totality at Silver Lake State Park near Maple Falls, WA, but I did get image of what we had. I also found some neat sickle shaped shadows caused by the crescent sun (hard to see in the photo):
I found a great boondocking spot in ID just a few miles outside the 100% zone. Didn't get totally dark, but more like dusk. Definitely got cooler.
Someone else here had a small telescope projecting the image on paper. This picture is a few minutes before the max point.
Someone else here had a small telescope projecting the image on paper. This picture is a few minutes before the max point.
