The Great American Eclipse was Monday, August 21, 2017. By the time Candace and I decided we wanted to see it, hotels and campgrounds were getting scarce. The optimum places to view it, in the sense of lowest cloud cover probability, were Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, in each case, east of the mountain ranges. Our friends Susan and Steve still own a piece of a ranch in eastern Wyoming which they lease to ranchers Steve and Jackie. The ranch was in the path of totality and Susan verified with Jackie that it would be OK if we camped there. Also, Susan and Steve’s daughter and friends camped there as well.
Candace and I decided to make a road trip vacation out of it. The plan was to visit Candace’s family in Wooster, OH, go over the Mackinac Bridge to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, come through North and South Dakota (crossing both of them off both our bucket lists) and arrive at the ranch Saturday before the eclipse.
Candace’s friend Sue had to cancel a hotel reservation in West Yellowstone, and she passed it on to us; following the eclipse, we spent three nights in Yellowstone (instead of the original plan that had us camping in Jackson). On the return trip we visited my cousins in St. Louis, my childhood home, and Candace’s friends in Cincinnati, where she went to law school.
We took all the seats out of the van and packed it full of gear. We had camping gear, my newly acquired telescope and gear, bikes and bike gear, and of course the normal stuff you take when traveling. The telescope was not for the eclipse, but to take advantage of the dark skies in Wyoming for some star gazing.
We left Saturday, August 12, and returned Wednesday, August 30 - a 19 day vacation.
The rest of the story is in the photos below. Clicking on a photo brings up a larger version. There is also a slide show. Most of the photos were taken by Candace and me. A few are from Shannon or Monika.