Start looking for a boondocking site: eclipse (Aug 21 2017)
It's never too early to plan that trip! Path of totality
Forum Discussion
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 ½ 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
