Katie and I coordinated a trip to visit her mother in Bend, Or. with a side trip
to Madras to be in the totality zone for the eclipse. Being in Madras for the Total
Eclipse was more than just viewing the eclipse, there was a mood and feeling in
the crowd. The eclipse lasted about 2.5 hours and the total eclipse was about 2
minutes. The experience was a day at the airport waiting for that 2 minutes and
the next 6 hours waiting to leave.
If all you want to see is pictures of the eclipse, jump down the page,
First was this trip worth it, YES!
Would we do it again, we are starting to plan a trip to Dallas Tx. for the April
8, 2024 Eclipse, so yes.
We left Bend at 6:00 on Saturday morning to drive to Madras, about 50 miles.
The idea was to beat the crowds by going early and avoid traffic. It worked, we
were in Madras in 65 minutes. We had virtually no traffic. By 8 or 9 there was a
line of cars trying to get into the airport. For the rest of the day it was a steady
stream of cars coming into the airport.
A Little Background Data
August 21, 2017, we were in Madras Oregon with about 30K to 40K other people,
city population is about 6K. We got a 20 foot by 40 foot RV space in a field next
to the Madras Airport, Solar Port. The City of Madras in conjunction with the Berg
Air (the company that has the contact to run the airport) put together the camping
experience. Some stats for the airport:
450 airplanes flew in for the event. There were a number of larger private
jets that came in early Monday morning.
In the field, we were in, there were 350 RVs and 1000 tent spaces (20 X
20).
There were two other fields with 750 and 1500 spaces.
So just at the airport there were 3600 plus the airplanes for 4050 total spaces.
With an average of says 3 people per space for about 12K people, just at the airport.
Across the highway, one lane in each direction, not much of a highway, there
was another camp setup by a private group, Solar Town. My understanding is there
was about 30K people in this camp. There was another 1K to 2K camping at the Jefferson
County Fair Grounds about 3 miles away (in town), Solar Fest. There was music and
displays at Solar Fest.
We passed the Airport camping information onto some friend and they shared it
with some friends... Lisa and her friends Rob and Amy got spaces to tent camp. On
Saturday afternoon Lisa and I decided to go to Solar Fest to see the NASA display.
In all honesty it was not all that great and we had to pay $30 to get into the Festival.
I am glade we went, I found a very cool eclipse necklace for Katie. We knew most
of the stuff at the NASA display, but picked up some swag like a star chart of what
to look for during the eclipse.
Post Event
Let me jump to after the event, Monday about 11:00 people started to try and
leave, right after the end of the total eclipse. I say try because I watched one
RV for about 2 and a half hours and it moved 200 feet. We waited and watched the
lines. The lines finally cleared and cars were moving about 5 pm, we packed up and
were on our way by 6. We listened to Google Maps and took an alternate route back
to Bend and were back to Katie's mom's house in about 90 minutes without any traffic.
Per Google the normal route (normally a 65 minute drive) would have taken two plus
hours and lots of traffic. Thank you Google.
The Eclipse
The eclipse is marked by four times;
First Contact - The beginning of the eclipse 9:06
Second Contact - The beginning of Totality 10:19
Third Contact - The end of Totality 10:21
Fourth Contact - The end of the eclipse 11:41
As the eclipse started, first contact, there was a little roar from the crowd,
more of an awe then a roar. As the eclipse reached about 25% we noticed it starting
to get dark, kind of a dusk feeling. Then we noticed the temperature stating to drop.
At about 50% we started to see stars (planets), the first was Venus. There was lots
of waiting around and just checking out the sun through eclipse glasses. Then as
it reached second contact all at once it got a lot colder and went dark and there
was this roar from the crowd. It was like being out on a clear night with a full
moon, a little brighter. It reality thinking back, it did not feel that dark, you
could see. But when you see the sun come back out you realize how dark it was. If
you looked round at the horizon it was like sunset, you can see the sun shining
over there, but it was all around you, 360 degrees of sunset. Then 2 minutes later
it got bright again as if someone turned on a light switch. All at once it was bright.
I have a video that shows the sun coming back out, you will understand when you see
it.
Pictures
Now that you know the story the pictures will make some sense. If you click on
a picture it will open a higher resolutions image in a new tab.
Geek data. I was using a Nikon D3300 with a 55 X 200mm zoom lens and a home made
filter made from filter paper I bought from Amazon. Basically the same plastic in
the glasses you can buy, but in a larger sheet. For the full eclipse I changed to
my standard 18 X 55mm zoom lens. In retrospect I should have figured out a way to
make the filter removable so I would have had higher resolution images of the full
eclipse. I also left the exposure on automatic and the focus on automatic. I should
have picked my exposure and set my focus on manual. Live and learn for April 2024.
Click on Image to see a larger version
This is a 180 plus degree view of the camping area we were in. To the
left in the back is the 1000 tents.
Click on Image to see a larger version
While Lisa and I were at the Solar Fest, at the NASA display they had
a booth where they were giving away paper plates so you make these modification
to your glasses. I took a picture and texted it to Katie. Later I was listening
to one of the NASA people talking about viewing the eclipse. She was talking
about glasses and protecting your eyes. She went on to talk about how the
glasses were not really made for small children's heads and showed the example
of how to modify the glasses with a paper plate to protect the children's
eyes if the glasses slipped.
Click on Image to see a larger version
When I got back to the RV, Katie had made us our own NASA approved modified
eclipse viewing glasses. As advised by the NASA representative, we used
some caulk we had in the RV to decorate and personalize ours.
Click on Image to see a larger version
Bob and Katie Sporting their NASA modified Glasses
Click on Image to see a larger version
Lisa sporting Bill Nye the science guy glasses and Bob with his NASA
approved modified glasses.
Click on Image to see a larger version
The people in the site next to use has this killer home made telescope.
They invited us over to have a look.
Click on Image to see a larger version
The sun in full view just in the morning before first contact. 8/21/2017
7:04:53 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse - First Contact. 8/21/2017 9:12:38 AM You could see the moon
before this, but I waited a few minutes for the first picture so you could
see it a little better.
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse 8/21/2017 9:32:35 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse 8/21/2017 9:46:34 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse 8/21/2017 10:04:30 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse - Just before second contact 8/21/2017 10:18:28 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse - Totality 1 - 8/21/2017 10:21:29 AM
If you look to the lower left of the sun there is a spot that looks like it is a some
scratch on the lens, it is not, that is Mercury. I guess I bumped the
camera in this picture and it came out a line.
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse - Totality 2 - 8/21/2017 10:21:39 AM
If you look to the lower left of the sun there is a spot that looks like it is a some dust on the lens, it is not, that is Mercury.
If you look at the previous picture it is a line, line the camera got
bumped and it moved.
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse - Totality 3 - 8/21/2017 10:22:25 AM
If you look to the lower left of the sun there is a spot that looks like it is a some dust on the lens, it is not, that is Mercury.
If you look at the Totality 1 picture it is a line, line the camera got
bumped and it moved.
Here is a video I shot. It starts as we go into
totality, it is a little hard to tell how dark it gets, the auto
exposure on the camera is making up for the dark. In the early part of the video I pan past the sun. To
the right of the sun you can see Venus. The lights in cars, with
automatic lights, turned on. I clipped some of the totality out of the
middle when I set the camera down. As I pan around you can see the
"sunset" look to the horizon. It does not appear to be very dark out
until the end of the video as we reach third contact and the sun comes
out. It is like someone flipped a switch and turned on the lights.
Eclipse - Just after third contact 8/21/2017 10:24:12 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse 8/21/2017 10:27:03 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Eclipse 8/21/2017 10:45:12 AM
Click on Image to see a larger version
Talking with people around the airport, it was rumored that a private
just was flying in from Hong Kong for the eclipse. This jet arrived early
on Monday morning. Do not know where it came in from, but it was one of
the larger ones that arrived.
Click on Image to see a larger version
The line of cars trying to leave. What you cannot see, to the right is a
line of cars and RVs leaving the campground we were in. From behind me is
a line of cars and RVs coming from the other two campgrounds at the airport.
Down about a quarter mile in front of me is where this line merges with
the everyone leaving the large campground on the other side of the highway.
The line from our campground to the right was moving at 60 feet per hour.
We relaxed and waited until the line from our campground was gone and cars
were moving before we finished packing up and left, about 6pm.
