my report:
Holy bloody crap, that was unbelievably cool. Hands down one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.
Sorry doubters and cynics....it truly was stunning.
The drive there ended up being zero problems whatsoever. I faced a 460 mile drive, that was supposed to take about seven hours. Much of this was on a path that was designated as the second largest (and therefore predicted to be the second most congested) "driveshed" in the country. I braced myself for delays and problems and hit the road. Turns out we encountered NO traffic issues whatsoever....clear and smooth sailing all the way. Got there in just about 7 hours. Sweet.
Next came the issue of finding a suitable (and affordable) place to camp/park. Heard and investigated tons of horror stories of every place being booked months (or years) ahead of time, and that legal camping alternatives (if you could even find any) were costing $100, $200, even $350 a night. My original plan was to just commando camp on the side of the road or behind some gas station somewhere, crashing on the floor of the van. But for some reason at the last minute I decided to make a few calls and see if by some stroke of luck I could find a space to reserve. Went on a site on the internet that listed camping possibilities in the area I was shooting for (Idaho Falls/Rexburg region). I figured I would get shut out but said what the heck I'll give it a shot. Hit that "stroke of luck". On the second call I made I got a retired couple that was letting folks camp on their property in Rigby......just a nondescript 4 acres in mostly farm country. She said she had room, was super nice, and told me it would be $50. I told her I'd take it. When I got there it was perfect......flat area but with some nice grass a few trees....just two other couples there.....porta-pottie......nice dogs (and pet rabbits).......all good. The retired couple in question were way nice, made coffee for everyone, had spare filter glasses.....again it was pretty much perfect.
Woke up in the morning to simply ideal viewing conditions.....totally clear sky, nice temps, views to the horizons, etc. There was a small bit of haze from wildfires in the air, but honestly it made absolutely no difference when looking straight up (which of course where the eclipse was happening at 11:30am). The only place you could even detect the haze was looking in the distance to the horizons. For our purposes, the sky was dead clear.
So, the eclipse itself. No words to actually describe it so I won't even try. But it honestly was stunning beyond belief. I've looked at a bunch of "excellent" photos and videos posted online this morning and they were NOTHING like what was really going on. Someone here said that what they saw wasn't as spectacular as the shot I posted earlier (post #30). Weird, because what I saw made that picture look weak in comparison. For all the hype and excitement I had beforehand, I was truly unprepared for how amazing it actually was. One of the most incredible two minutes and fourteen seconds of my life.
So, there's gotta be some bad news right? Yep, the drive home was awful in the extreme. All the traffic horror predictions finally came true. Took five hours to cover the first 60 miles. The total drive home was almost fourteen hours long. Got home past 3:00am. Far and away the worst traffic nightmare I've ever been in. Awful, awful, awful.
But wow, seeing that corona.......worth it without question.
s6