Anyone need another good reason to take a ride, this time to what may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for you?

I'm thinking about heading north to view the eclipse this weekend. The event is Monday morning. Closest to me will be SE Idaho or Western Wyoming.

I'm heading out of Las Vegas and will plan to get up there sometime Sunday evening. Motels will be super tough if not impossible to find. Some in Madras, Oregon, for example, have been booked for two years now. I may have to figure out who I know within a few hours ride so I can crash on their sofa LOL.

Weather will play a factor as well, can't have cloudy skies!

Anyone else going or thinking about it? If so, here's an interactive Google map that shows the path and time the sun will be most blocked out:

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html?Lat=36.18258&Lng=-115.17100&Zoom=5&LC=1

The map above is coded in the Universal Time Code (UTC) so you'll need to convert it to local time. Use the following map to convert. At the bottom of the map you'll see a number such as -7 so that means you SUBTRACT 7 hours from the UTC shown on the map. If the UTC shows 18:00 you'll subtract 7 and the local time is 11:00 or 11 AM.

Here's the time conversion map:

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/

And check the weather forecast here (plug in a town or zip code):

https://www.accuweather.com

I normally wouldn't get too excited about this but it's the first time in 99 years it's gone coast to coast and I really want to see what it's like to experience total night darkness in the middle of the morning.

Even in Las Vegas it'll be over 70% concealed so even in a fully sunlit morning we'll see a dreary version of daylight. This map will show that same result for the entire nation. Just click anywhere on the map as well as zoom in or out.

The quickest for me is straight up I-15 (boring!) to somewhere in Idaho, about a 650 mile ride. We rode 440 last Saturday without batting an eye so this shouldn't be too tough. I'm home alone flying solo this weekend so this may be the perfect covert mission LOL. Time to play hooky on Monday, right?

Weather may be cloudy in Idaho on Monday morning though so I'm going to keep checking...

Here is a site that you can plug in your zip code to (or destination zip code) to see how much coverage and what the local times for that zip code will be. I am going to try to get up to the path of totality in south central Nebraska. Time will be tight, but I cannot get out of here until about 8:45 and it is about a 3 - 3.5 hr drive with normal traffic. I doubt traffic will be normal. I figure I got to try, chance of living long enough to see another one at my age is questionable. . .

http://boingboing.net/2017/08/17/preview-what-mondays-eclipse.html

I will be watching it..I'm fortunate that it is coming right thru my backyard........

Well in looking at the map, my first choice is Stanley, Idaho, which is at 6200' elevation and about an hour north of world famous Sun Valley, Idaho.

Stanley, ID Eclipse Map

However in checking the city's website it looks like it's going to be a total zoo and that hour's drive in from Sun Valley may be 4-5 hours instead.

Rooms are virtually impossible to find. Morning temps between Sun Valley and Stanley will be in the low 30's if I opt to try an early morning attack.

Damn. It's 100* here in Vegas! I love the cold weather but don't want to have to deal with icy mountain passes in early morning hours.

I'm thinking about staying in Twin Falls which is three hours south of Stanley and then trying my luck in the morning. Even if traffic stalls in Sun Valley I'll still be in full immersion (blackout) for more than a minute. Pretty easy to pull a bike over to the shoulder on a highway vs. that of a car.

The town up there is gorgeous and I'd love to check it out there in the mountains. Never been through there. I really like the ride up through Eastern Nevada on Highway 93 which will partially retrace my route past Area 51 from last weekend. The interstate through Salt Lake City and Northern Utah is scenic but boring since I've driven it many times. But there may also be some stormy weather on Sunday and I'd rather avoid that if possible.

Further west is also an option but that adds hours of riding and will still be crowded.

Still checking but I'd like to take off sometime today...

I'll be at work and the interactive map says 79.4% eclipse for there.

Have a good time MR. I hope you get a taker on joining you. Unfortunately I can't get away.

I'll have my welding lens at work with me....

Ctkog wrote:
I'll be at work and the interactive map says 79.4% eclipse for there.

Have a good time MR. I hope you get a taker on joining you. Unfortunately I can't get away.

I'll have my welding lens at work with me....

Thanks! I spent HOURS researching a place to be, starting with location and weather, next the distance from home, and then a place to stay for the night.

There is NOWHERE close to the totality zone that has a room available for under around $500 a night, if at all. Many of the towns have no rooms left whatsoever. That left me with Plan B of staying a few hours south and riding up in the morning. Almost the same issue, rooms $150-250 a night, if available at all, and I'll need two nights if I'm on the bike. Exception being Evanston, Wyoming, who seems to be living on another planet. $39 plus tax and right on the interstate but weather doesn't look good. In fact the only 'guaranteed good weather' seems to be in Eastern Oregon. The town of John Day in Oregon is a good choice but a heck of a lot further for me.

My first 'final choice' was Stanley, well above Sun Valley, in the center of upper Idaho. I was hoping to spend the night in such a remote town. No rooms. But if I have to ride up in the morning chances are good that I'll be stuck in traffic (I can't know but need to plan). The city website even says to expect gas shortages.

So I went to Plan B which was a town called Chilly, a couple of mountain ranges east of Stanley. It looks like a great ride because after the eclipse I can head north and then west through the mountains and come back south through Stanley and Sun Valley. I checked on rooms and locations all the way from Oregon to Wyoming. But do I want to spend $400+ to get a room three hours south and pull this off?

No. So after letting that simmer for a while I came up with Plan C. Drive my van to within a few hours, pull my bike on a U-Haul bike trailer, and sleep in the van in a Walmart parking lot or something. Seemed like a winner.

Then late last night I had a look at my bike as to how I'd be tying it down in the trailer without risking damage and I realized that it probably wasn't a chance that I wanted to take with it. Hauling dirt bikes is one thing, this behemoth quite another. I hauled my sport bike in the back of my pickup a few times, at 450 lbs., but this will take some special strapping to be safe, which I don't have.

So I ended up heading out to play poker until 4AM hahaha. Now it's 2PM and I'm thinking about a Plan D. I originally just wanted to take a RIDE, along with viewing the eclipse. Both were equal as an objective. Do I just want to head up the interstate, crash in the van, experience the eclipse, and head home?

Hmmmmm... That piqued a Plan D/a, ride the bike, throw on a sleeping bag, and wing it. LOL I haven't done that one for around 30 years and back then I was awakened by a thunderstorm somewhere in the mountains of Idaho. And if I leave now I'll be riding at night which is something I don't want to do up there. Haha I should have gotten out of bed earlier! Slept good though...

Who ever knew that an eclipse on a weekday would be such a big thing? A Super 8 motel had ONE ROOM LEFT and it was $1036 before tax. OMG. A lot of the places had been booked two years in advance.

I may yet roll out of here in the van. Even if I hit one of the main towns along the interstate I'll be in full immersion for a couple of minutes and I can pull into town anytime tonight for that. Full eclipse is around 11:30 AM Mountain Time in Idaho, straight up I-15 from Las Vegas, 650 miles north. Is it worth $150 in gas to make the trip? Probably.

But I still have plenty of time to take a shot at loading the bike on a trailer and going, so time will tell. Did I mention that it's going to be in the 30's up in the mountains? Time to dig out some warm clothes. Do I still have any gloves? Somewhere, in my skiing gear if nothing else.

The plus about taking the van is that I can haul a lot of camera gear and that might be fun. We do some filmmaking and have all sorts of gear. Some interviews might be good to have on hand.

The clock is ticking! I'll post pics if I end up heading that way. You guys enjoy if you happen to get a chance to experience it all!

My backyard, Puyallup, WA. 93.4%. My son just left with his college buddies to drive to Oregon and camp where they'll have 100%. Good luck finding a camp site!

mbk wrote:
Here is a site that you can plug in your zip code to (or destination zip code) to see how much coverage and what the local times for that zip code will be. I am going to try to get up to the path of totality in south central Nebraska. Time will be tight, but I cannot get out of here until about 8:45 and it is about a 3 - 3.5 hr drive with normal traffic. I doubt traffic will be normal. I figure I got to try, chance of living long enough to see another one at my age is questionable. . .

http://boingboing.net/2017/08/17/preview-what-mondays-eclipse.html


You may get to see another one coming in 2024. Overlaying the paths of the two eclipses they make an "X" on the madrid fault line just SE of St. Louis. I didn't know the Madrid fault line runs so far all the way from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. An article I read says it has 15 nuclear reactors in proximity to the fault line, 3 of which in Alabama are similar construction to Fukashima?. Don't know how scientific or accurate the articles are. Is something or someone trying to tell the United States something.. with one in only 99 years and two now crossing each other?

Ctkog wrote:
mbk wrote:
Here is a site that you can plug in your zip code to (or destination zip code) to see how much coverage and what the local times for that zip code will be. I am going to try to get up to the path of totality in south central Nebraska. Time will be tight, but I cannot get out of here until about 8:45 and it is about a 3 - 3.5 hr drive with normal traffic. I doubt traffic will be normal. I figure I got to try, chance of living long enough to see another one at my age is questionable. . .

http://boingboing.net/2017/08/17/preview-what-mondays-eclipse.html


Actually you may get to see the other one coming in 2024. Overlaying the paths of the two eclipses they make an "X" on the madrid fault line just SE of St. Louis. Is something or someone trying to tell the United States something???


Yeah I'd better book a room NOW!!!

Three guesses which option I'm running with!

I'm going to drive to and sleep in Blackfoot, Idaho, 600 or so miles. Then I'm going to offload and leave at dawn to head out on a 400 mile loop through the mountains. I'll gas up in Arco and then again in Sun Valley, 200 miles, with gas to spare just in case they're out of fuel (next stop 30 miles).

From there I head back to Blackfoot and head toward home after catching a nap.

All of this for 2.5 minutes of glory! Oh, and 400 miles of brilliant scenic beauty on my bike...

And the great news is that there's a Walmart (my sendoff point) right on the outskirts of town where I leave from!

Here's the bike route:

https://www.mapquest.com/directions/from/us/id/blackfoot/to/us/id/arco/to/us/id/chilly/to/us/id/stanley/to/us/id/sun-valley/to/us/id/arco/to/us/id/blackfoot

And here's how I tied her down. There's well over a foot's clearance on the back end, for those who are thinking of renting one. Total two day rental cost, $32.00.

~
I will say this, you are one adventurous fellow Midnightride. Way to go!

The trailer looks more than adequate and rental cost is fair too.

Why rent a room? Maybe you could just take a bed roll and a cold weather sleeping bag and sleep under the stars in

that trailer somewhere safe. Be a hell of a lot cheaper than $1000+ per night!

..... weather permitting of course.