Getting ready for the eclipse! Are you?

[Radio]

Got on Amazon and ordered some eclipse viewing glasses:

These, a pack of 4 real plastic frames like some safety glasses are made from:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072Q9SQFC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And these, which are welding goggles with the correct filters for eclipse watching. (You have to be careful to get the right filter if you are going to go the welding helmet/goggle route.) Plus, you can weld with them. Or take the filters out and use them for Minion goggles. Or help Snoopy with his Red Baron efforts.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y4FDFT5/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There's another eclipse in 7 years, goes across Texas. Never been to Texas. I'll pack my eclipse stuff away and have it to use over again then. I'll be retired by that time. That's why I'm not going with the $1 cardboard viewers.

This will be the first outing this year. Schedule got crimped when Sweet Wife changed jobs and I've got a mouth full of dental work to be done. Have a new BBQ grill, new rocking chairs and a patio rug all waiting to be tried out.

Probably take the HF rig along, too. :headphones:

Less than 2 months from now. Who's gearing up? :jitter:

[electricflyer]

I'll be right next to you at Lake Hartwell. We have site #9. I arrive on Thursday and leave on Tuesday. Bought my viewing glasses on Ebay several months ago. I am looking forward for some peach cobbler. Peaches are more expensive this year since they lost 80% of the crop due to bad weather. You may want to make apple cobbler instead, we had that a rally in early June up in Helen, Ga. Stayed at Yonah Mountain RV Park, pretty nice, Norma guides you around to pick your site and she keeps everyone in line to be quiet at 10pm. If you bring a HF rig I may pack my FT-450 along too with an Eagle One antenna. I've got a FTDX-1200 also but that is a little big to drag along. I'll wait to see what propagation looks like for that time period before I commit.

Don't forget you have livestock now and can't be gone too long. You don't want a novice looking after the flock for a very long time.

Never been to Texas? Shame on you. I'll have to look up the path but chances are I may be pushing up daises by then. That would make me 85 and I don't think I will be doing much RVn by then.

[Radio]

I'll be right next to you at Lake Hartwell. We have site #9. I arrive on Thursday and leave on Tuesday.

<snip>

Never been to Texas? Shame on you. I'll have to look up the path but chances are I may be pushing up daises by then. That would make me 85 and I don't think I will be doing much RVn by then.

Yeah I've been looking at the maps. That will be fun. When we picked that site we considered having children from Sweet Wife's school come up as a field trip so we wanted to be close to the parking lot and playground. But she has changed jobs and is no longer teaching there. :party: :clap: :cheer: :green:

We arrive Friday morning and likely leave Tuesday. Might stay till Wednesday if the world is going nuts on the roads and such.

Peaches are easy. The simple recipe calls for canned peaches, so that's the plan unless we see some roadside stand with fresh really ripe ones, and Sweet Wife is willing to peel them.

If daughter stays home, and it gets dark enough here in S Atlanta, it might be fun for her to check and see if the hens get fooled into going back into the coop.

As for reaching 85... you never know, take good care of your rig and see what happens!

[electricflyer]

Peeling the peaches is easy, just boil them and the skin just slides off. I'll see what the weather is like and maybe stay another day at the lake if the site isn't reserved for someone else.

July is pretty full with ham radio license classes. We have a 4 day session for people that work weekends and mostly for youth. Then Cobb County GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) wants a class for 50 people right after that so we will be busy.

Our next rally will be in Gadsden, AL the 1st week in October. There is a city owned RV park that is pretty decent at Nocalola Falls. We've been to that rally 2 other years, quite a get together for FROG's (Forest River Owners Group). Great ribs and chicken BBQ furnished by Forest River.

[Radio]

If you want to go with Marv and me, there are 31 sites still available at Lake Hartwell State Park (SC) Sites 1, 2, 12 and 13 are near us.

They're not raising the rates for the eclipse. Still $24 a night (for the sites on this loop, anyway) The park has pretty good reviews. There's room for a few more.

[electricflyer]

I just checked Reserve America and it shows nothing is available from the 17th to the 21st, 100% full. The place is almost empty for the 22nd. I think we will stay another night or two since the dump station will be a nightmare on the 22nd. Where are you checking the open sites?

What route are taking. I'm going straight through on I-20 and taking US441 north to Commerce and then catch I-85 North. I think I will miss most of the traffic going that way. It may be a little longer route and take a little more time but less headache. I believe it's 4 lane all the way on US441.

[Radio]

Really? I stand corrected. I was looking at the South Carolina system, or at least I thought I was..

I was thinking of just going around I285 and up I85. Google Maps puts that at just over 2 hours. Your plan has certain advantages... I shall think on that because getting to I20 on HWY 138 is fairly easy from here.

[electricflyer]

I am going to change route just a little, rather than go to Madison and pick up US441 it looks like a better shorter route for me would be to pick up 138 at Conyers and head NE to Monroe and pickup US78/10 there and go to the west side of Athens, stay on 10 and cross Hwy 316 on Hwy 10/Branch 78 and it makes a turn to the east and take you to the Athens bypass to then get to 441 up to Commerce. Don't take Hwy 316 into the Athens bypass. I'm using Good Sam trip planner and it says my mileage will be 163 miles, 3 1/2 hrs travel, probably closer to 4 hours for me. It looks like it will be about 25 miles less on that route. More 2 lane that way but that doesn't bother me.

I did a route from you house going Hwy 138 way and it said 138 miles to the campground. Maybe about 10 miles further than going 278/85 way. For me it's about 20 miles further than going 285/85 and playing in the traffic 6 lanes wide.

[Radio]

I think I will just take a few Valium and drive around I-285. :driver:

I keep running into people who have no idea this eclipse is coming. MSM coverage, I think, is woefully inadequate. Perhaps they're keeping it quiet to cover all the panic that ensues when the uninformed are surprised by the event.

I don't think people who live in the totality zone will be surprised. They'll get a heads up from all the tourists who pour into their otherwise uninteresting little towns.

I might stay that extra night and leave Wednesday just to let things die down and return to normal just a bit. My daughter works in a hospital. She's probably going to have an interesting time of it.

I did buy a new camera for my birthday and the eclipse trip. It's a Panasonic Lumix G7 with a 14-140mm lens. This is a new technology "mirrorless" camera. Still looks and acts like an SLR. Smaller than a 35mm camera this is what they call a Micro Four Thirds format. This lens performs like a 28 - 280 mm lens on a standard 35mm camera. With the small size and light weight of the system, this one lens covers all my needs. I'm long past having a bag of lenses to carry around,

Very lightweight, smallish and handles fast. Spent the weekend figuring out how to drive it. Should be a lot of fun playing with that on the trip.

I'm too old to drag around 30 pounds of camera gear anymore. I thought I'd wait until digital photography matured, recalling the great BetaMax vs VHS battle, I wanted all that settled before dropping serious funds on a camera.

I think this is just about perfect for what I want and my budget. :camera:

[Radio]

I've been reading on other forums where this whole eclipse thing is getting to be a little bit batty. For instance, ranchers are renting out space in cow pastures for $300 a night. (no water, no power, no sewer, just cows) All hotels and campgrounds of any kind are full for miles on either side of totality. People are letting RVs park in their yards and some are renting their homes for $1000 for the weekend.

Some are fleeing the totality area.

Rush is expected on food, fuel restaurants, whatever.

So I'm taking a few precautions:

1. I'm bringing it all with me, self contained, like a snow day in Atlanta. We usually don't travel that heavy and go out for fresh supplies. But we'll haul it all in this trip.

2. We'll not leave the park the day of the eclipse. The roads will be covered with in-and- outer crowd. I suspect since most schools are in session they'll be a lot of these.

3. We'll buy fuel for the return trip Saturday night or Sunday. And likely stay the extra day and leave on Wednesday.

I'm comparing it to a snow day in Atlanta. If I do it right, it'll be lots of fun. These precautions are simple, do-able and hopefully just me being over cautious and maybe a bit paranoid. :jitter:

[NN5I]

I'll spend the night at the home of friends who live in Goose Creek, S.C., just north of Charleston. Their back yard is comfortably within the totality zone.

Wade, don't use the new camera for the eclipse unless you put the appropriate filter on the lens. Else, looking through the finder you will lose the sight of an eye, while simultaneously destroying the camera. It takes only milliseconds after the end of totality, and you can't react quickly enough to save yourself. Take pix of the people you're with. Take pix of the cute duckies waddling across the road. Take pix of the kittycats freaking out. Don't take pix of the sun.

[Radio]

I likely won't even try. I certainly won't be photographing anything that requires protective filters to look at.

We will have about 2:15 of totality. I been told that the corona (and all that other stuff) is about as bright as a full moon and of course is safe to look at with unprotected eyes. And cameras.

I suspect though, that since the lens only goes out to 280mm (35mm equivalent) that my images of the totality event will be puny and unimpressive. And there will be many online images I can point to and say "Yeah! It looked just like that!"

So you think if I limit myself to the first minute of the event and put the camera away I'll be safe?

****

On edit: I just checked pricing on a 58mm diameter solar filter and $60 or so is to rich for me, especially since NASA will be making much better pictures than me and giving them away. That and the aforementioned puny composition. That's just too much for a filter I'll use once.

I do have an older Fuji digital camera that I may take and put on a tripod to video about 5 - 10 minutes before/after the totality of peoples reaction and let folks see just how dark it did get. That might be fun.

Once I see the event with bare eyes though, I'll be mindful of the clock anyway as I'll be putting the goggles back on right about the 2:00 mark to catch the "diamond ring" effect.

[NN5I]

We will have about 2:15 of totality. I been told that the corona (and all that other stuff) is about as bright as a full moon and of course is safe to look at with unprotected eyes. And cameras.

Yes, that's correct. What people do sometimes, though, is get so involved with the corona, and their telescopes, and their binoculars, and their cameras, that they lose track of the time -- 2:15 can fly by -- and they're looking at the lovely corona through, say, a 50mm-diameter objective when the sun starts to come back out. That 50mm objective is rather larger than their eye's pupil is (perhaps 4mm max) and gathers about 300 times as much light. Bingo, no retina any more, and no more looking at pretty faces. Ever.

It happens to someone, somewhere, every eclipse, and it ain't worth risking.

Ten million people, and NASA too, will be taking pix, and surely some of them can take better pix than you or I can.

But I have a pair of filters for my binoculars (Fujinon 7x50), and I'm not gonna take them off during the eclipse.

[electricflyer]

Where we will be at Lake Hartwell State Park we will have about 2 minutes and 15 seconds of totality. Fair Play appears to be the closest community just a few miles to the east of the park. You can check out the path for SC here: http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/states/SC.htm If you want to look at other states in the path just change the state abbreviation in the address.

[Radio]

I read somewhere you want to be facing west, or slightly northwest now that I think about it. You will see the moons shadow approaching (at about Mach 2 or 3, I'm told) when totality begins and the the approaching light as totality ends.

Only visible for a second but worth seeing. I guess well get out a compass (I always carry one for finding off-the-air TV) and scout out a good westerly spot.

[Radio]

I found this webcam that's located on the Clemson U. rowing team building at Lake Hartwell. Gives some idea of weather conditions.

http://www.clemson.edu/webcams/?q=rowing

I wish it were tilted up just a bit more to see more of the sky. Maybe I'll find some others.

ON edit: This is a good sky shot, but 28 miles away in Anderson, SC.

http://weather.weatherbug.com/weather-camera/?cam=NDRSB

[Radio]

I collected this time of event data for Lake Hartwell State Park.

Lat.: 34.4969° N
Long.: 83.0429° W

Total Solar Eclipse
Duration of Totality: 2m11.6s
Magnitude: 1.007
Obscuration: 100.00%

Event Time (UTC/Z)
Start of partial eclipse (C1) : 17:08:07.3
Start of total eclipse (C2) : 18:37:16.9
Maximum eclipse : 18:38:22.8
End of total eclipse (C3) : 18:39:28.5
End of partial eclipse (C4) : 20:02:38.1

You can get your own local data from this map:

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive_map/index.html

The map gives you some other data that might be useful for a telescope. But, alas, I couldn't get the data formatting to survive :bag:

[electricflyer]

So, start 1:08pm eastern daylight time and end 4:02pm. I didn't think the total time would be that long. We should have a good view from the east shore of the lake, no trees to block it.

[electricflyer]

I just got off the phone and talked to Ruth at the park about staying another night. Got extended to leave on Wednesday the 23rd instead of Tuesday. Nearly the entire park will empty on Tuesday and the dump station will be a test of patience that day. There are 115 campsites and about 110 will leave on Tuesday. I told Ruth that was my reason for staying an extra day, she said "good thinking". For a look at campsites here is a web site to look at them. https://www.campsitephotos.com/campground/sc/lake-hartwell-state-park/

[Radio]

So, start 1:08pm eastern daylight time and end 4:02pm. I didn't think the total time would be that long. We should have a good view from the east shore of the lake, no trees to block it.

Yes. Using solar viewers it takes about 1 hour 20 min for the moon to begin encroaching the sun until it covers it completely for just over 2 minutes.

I'm planning on leaving Wednesday as well. Just haven't told the park that, yet.

It's not just the dump station line (btw there are two dumps) but all the crazy traffic headed back home. We'll let things calm down a bit before venturing out.

[electricflyer]

Just give Ruth a call at the park to add a night. Even with 2 dump sites it will still be a backup as over 100 campers will be leaving on Tuesday, that doesn't include the tent campers. Take a look at the reservation site for Tuesday night and you will see you can have your choice of about any campsite in the park. I was prepared to move to another site if necessary but there was no problem. BTW there is a YouTube video that shows every campsite in the park also, and the campsitephotos web site has a lot of campsite photos of many of the state parks in Georgia (and other states). Just use the filter to search it out.

When does school start down your way. I don't know when it starts in Paulding County but Cobb is going to start July 31st, a lot of people not very happy about that. Hell, why don't they just go year around.

[Radio]

When does school start down your way. I don't know when it starts in Paulding County but Cobb is going to start July 31st, a lot of people not very happy about that.

Fayette County students return Aug 7. Teachers return July 31. Note that a lot of schools, depending on where they are, will be closed Aug 21 to see the eclipse.

Our 40th wedding anniversary is August 6th. For years there was a week or two before school started and we could always do something fun on our anniversary. Then the calendar began encroaching on our day. Sweet Wife has just changed jobs and is no longer teaching music. :cheer: Now she is the Music Ministry Administrator at out church. Much happier. And we can enjoy our anniversary again.

[electricflyer]

Speaking of wedding anniversaries DW & I will celebrate 57 years the day we arrive at the campground, Aug 17th. Celebrate may be a strong word, we celebrate by having a Pepsi and watching TV.

Good deal on not teaching at least for now. SIL was a music teacher at a large high school in Iowa and then took a position as Director of Vocal Music at the Community College where BIL was Director of Buildings and Grounds for numerous campus locations for the college also. She is also choir director at her church and still involved with judging music competition. Both are retired now.

[NN5I]

DW & I will celebrate 57 years the day we arrive at the campground, Aug 17th.

Wow, that's heartwarming, Marv. Congratulations and best wishes!

[Radio]

You'd never guess what Sweet Wife wanted for an anniversary gift:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cub-Cadet-3-in-250-cc-2-in-1-Upright-Gas-Chipper-Shredder-CS3310/205427964

Ordered it today. Free pick up at the store. It weighs over 200 pounds, plus the crate it comes in. I have no idea how I'm going to unload it when I get it home.

But isn't that the most romantic thing? Almost like the time I got her a tiller for her birthday. :kiss:

[electricflyer]

I think she was just afraid to tell you to get off your butt and clean up the grounds so this is a trap she set for you. Happy Anniversary. As to the unloading, just drop the tailgate and slide it off. Some assembly required. You have a son and BIL to help.

I probably missed half of my anniversaries, either on the road for business (I was a regional sales manager covering most of the east coast) or just plain forgot. As an example I have over 4.5 million miles looking out the windshield.

[NN5I]

Hey, Happy Anniversary to you, too, Wade. You and she seem to be feeling very chipper.

[electricflyer]

Got this from another forum on how the eclipse will look at your location.
http://time.com/4882923/total-solar-eclipse-map-places-view/