More Snow Biking

For the second week in a row, snow made it impossible to ride on the road on Saturday so it was time to do more snow biking. This week I decided to ride the canal path from Princeton to Rocky Hill. The ground was below freezing when the snow fell which made the snow more icy than last week. The path had about 2 inches of snow on it which made it another tough ride.

I was glad I still had the knobby tires on the mountain bike as I needed the extra grip. There were a few icy puddles under the snow that caused a little fish tailing but I managed to keep upright for most of the ride. I almost lost it on the spillway where the ice on the jagged stones on the spillway were as slippery as an ice rink. After trying to ride it for 10 feet and almost falling twice I put my feet down and walked the rest of the way over the spillway. I didn't want to risk breaking anything.

After the spillway the rest of the ride to Rocky Hill was uneventful. There weren't many people on the trail so it was a quiet ride where I could concentrate on enjoying the scenery.

One way back I stopped at the dam to take my usual picture of the red house in Kingston.

It was there that I noticed the strange spider cracks in the ice like shown in my picture at the top of this post. I assume something like falling ice from the tree caused these. I was only on the trail for a little over an hour an a half but according to my average heart rate it was a pretty good work out. Hopefully the weather will get a little better so I can do a little road riding over the Christmas break.

The Line between Fun and Stupid

There is a fine line between fun and stupid. I will confess to being close to the line and have sometimes been little over it. This weekends snow made it hard to get a ride in but I was determined. I try to ride as much as I can in the winter. If it is too cold to go on the road then I will mountain bike on a trail. We got somewhere between 4-6 inches which would make it hard to ride even on the trails. However because the ground was warm it didn't really stick to much to roads and paths.

I sent out an email to a few people but didn't get any takers because they were concerned about slipping and falling in the snow. I was concerned too but have ridden enough in the snow to think I could do it. My plan was to ride the Lawrence Hopewell trail starting from the parking lot on Princeton Pike. When I got there is was just below freezing so quickly got ready and hit the trail. I road down the road for the first mile because the trail was snow covered and looked mushy.

Once on the actual trail it was slow going but not hard. The trail had somewhere  between no snow and a couple of inches on it. The snow was very powdery so it wasn't hard to ride through. Since the pavement and ground had been warm before the snow there was no ice to speak of.

I was being cautious since I it was hard to see the path in spots. On most of the paths although there were some foot prints there wasn't any bike tracks. When I got to Mercer Meadows I saw some other mountain bike tracks in the snow. After a little while I saw three people on mountain bikes. I caught up to them when I got to the pole farm and it turned out to be Chris, Ken and some one else I didn't know. They had started from the dog park by Rosedale Lake and were doing an 8-10 mile loop.

I hung with them to for a while heading towards the lake. The snow was a little thicker here so it was slow going. Riding with them added a few miles to the trip as they took some tails that took me off the main trail. Eventually I left them and continued on my own.

The Rosedale lake area was very scenic with the snow. By the parking lot was a lot of kids sledding down the little hill on the other side of the lake.

It was at this point that I realized that this was going to be a very tiring ride. Riding the 20 mile LHT loop is a good work out without the snow. With the snow it was going to be a longer ride than I wanted to do. I kept going and made my way along a couple or roads where there is no trail. These roads were actually a little icy and more dangerous than the trail. When I got to Wargo road I decided to not do the northern part of the trail because that would have meant riding  a long stretch on Carter Rd which I didn't want to do because of the conditions. Instead I took Bayberry then a quick section on Carter to get to the ETS center. I stopped on Bayberry to take a couple of pictures for Laura

Cows....

....and sheep

From ETS I jumped back on the LHT trail. There was still snow on the trail and my legs were feeling tired but I kept going because I knew I wasn't far from the end. The last stretch on Province Line was much better this time since they added a new path along the road so I didn't have to deal with traffic.

By the time I got back to the start I was pretty beat but glad I did it. I spent 3 hours on the trail and it was fun but a little tougher than I expected. If I road this trail again in the snow I would probably do a shorter loop. Still I think I kept to the fun side of the line this time. I'm sure I'll have chances to hit the stupid side some other time this winter.

A Day at the Beach

We were blessed with good weather for the Thanksgiving weekend. This allowed me to get two good rides in. On Friday I did a ride with team social security. I try to ride with these people a couple of times a year to get a peak at my possible future. It actually looks pretty good. We had a brisk ride to Jackson and back and with riding from my house I got 45 miles in. It was good catching up with some people I don't see that often and reaffirming that riding is what keeps us feeling younger than we really are.

On Saturday I did a solo ride to the beach to do a check on the codo in Avon to make sure it was ready for the winter. It was hovering between 40-50 degrees for most of the ride so it was not as much fun as a normal ride to the beach. This was a one way ride since my wife met me at the beach so I didn't have to worry about saving anything for the way back. Because it was sunny the beach was actually a busy place. There weren't many people sunning themselves on the beach but there were a lot of people walking along the boardwalk and visiting the shops. By the time I got to Avon I had done another 45 miles and enjoyed some scenic views of the beach.

Then is was a little maintenance on the condo before stopping at our favorite BBQ place for well deserved meal on our way home.

The long range forecasts are calling for a mild winter so hopefully that is true so I can keep riding during the winter months. 

Community

It was cold today. For last weeks ride I had a light jacket and it felt like early fall. Today, a week later, it felt like the middle of with winter. I had to put on most of my winter wardrobe to keeps warm. Given the weather report I wasn't even sure I was going to ride. It was 25 degrees when I woke up this morning and I usually don't ride on the road if its not 35 or above. However I didn't feel like a mountain bike ride and Jim had the Cranksgiving ride out of Cranbury today. I wasn't really planning on doing Jim's ride but because it was so cold I was afraid nobody would join him so I thought I would just ride over to Cranbury and just say hi then do a long loop back home to get a few miles in.

When I started out for Cranbury it was 27 and I felt very constricted in all the cloths I had on. I had enough layers on to be warm but it hurt a little to breath in the cold air. It got better as I warmed up some more and got the Cranbury.

Right before I got to the park I saw Jim, and to other people (Joe and Ricky) riding out of the park. It took a few seconds for them to recognize me in all my gear. I turned around and told Jim I came to support him but wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do the ride as I really didn't have a way to carry anything. He said that he could carry things for me if the Cranksgiving team didn't have people at the store to carry the food back for us. Some where along the way to the start of the ride I decided to actually do Cranksgiving. It just seemed the right thing to do.

After we got to the starting point at the fire house I had the boys pose for another picture for Laura. She again backed of joining us for a ride because of glass blowing class. We could have done the whole giving her the finger thing again but we decided to do something nice (which is so unlike us) and sent out the heart sign. I got the appropriate "Awwww" back but knowing Laura I think she might have been a little disappointed about not getting another middle finger picture.

Because Jim was leading the ride we got to the start of the Cranksgiving ride a half hour early. Since it was cold I wanted to keep moving so we did a loop to the Caspersen Rowing Center which is directly across from the Mercer Boathouse on the other side of the lake.

The Cranksgiving ride itself was interesting. We did a twenty mile loop on local roads that I'm familiar with. They weren't the best roads in the area because we had get to the different foods spots but it wasn't a bad ride. We stopped at three different places and bought some food. Stopping to buy food at each stop wasn't as hard as I was expecting and there were people at each stop to carry the food back to the starting point. All in all it was a simple well organized charity ride for a good cause.

When I do these type of rides I feel a sense of community. Its not just that I helped out a local charity but the fact that I was doing it with other people which gives you as sense of connection to others and the community as a whole. I also realized that this event helped me to connect to multiple communities. First I only went to Cranbury because I wanted to support Jim who is part of the Princeton free wheelers and a member of my insane bike posse. I sent the picture to Laura because she is part of our group and knew she would appreciated it. I did the Cranksgiving ride even though I hadn't planned on it because it gave me a reason to ride with people I like riding with. I had fun on the ride because I got to hang out with other bikers who are part of the overall biking community. I got to contribute, in a small way, to the Trenton area soup kitchen which helps the local community.

This ride reminded me that there are a lot small ways to connect to the different communities that I am a part of and have some fun while doing good.

Delaware Double Cross

We were suppose to be away on a trip this weekend. It was first going to be to Gettysburg then we decided we might go to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. However because of the forecast for Sunday's weather we decided to bail on the trip. Saturday's weather still looked great so I proposed a day trip to the C&D canal. This was part of a Delaware trip that I had planned a couple of years ago that we never did.

Unlike Delaware and Raritan canal, which is no longer used commercially, the C&D canal has been continually widen, expanded and improved and carries a significant amount of traffic, including 40% of all the ships out of Baltimore. The canal also has a newly completed paved bike path along its 14 mile length. I thought it would make for an interesting ride. Even though my Best Bike Rides Philadelphia book had a ride in this area that ride was done by my co-author so I had never been down here.

The ride I put together was a combination of the old Delaware Double Cross ride along with the ride from the book and then adding in the bike path along the canal at the end. I had 3 different routes planned. We ended up doing this route which was the longest one. I got Jack, Chris, Jim and Laura to join me for the ride. We met in Bordentown at 8am and made the quick hour and a half drive to the starting point in Delaware City.

Delaware City is on the Delaware Bay and is where the canal starts. Its directly across from Fort Mott in NJ. In the summer you can actually take a ferry across the river.

The ride started going south on Rt 9 and although I promised a very flat ride we had to get over the canal and so with in a mile of leaving the starting point we had a mile climb at around 4% over a semi scary looking bridge. The bridge had no shoulder and was really high but there wasn't much traffic so it really wasn't too bad. After we got down on the other side and off the main road I took a quick picture to show how high it was.

From there we rode through mostly quiet roads along marshlands and farm lands. We made a brief stop at a Wawa in Middletown which had some traffic but after that we headed back out in to what looked like horse farm country. We had to change the route when we got to Milton Rd because it said there was no outlet. I kind of expected this since the satellite view hinted that the roads went from black to brown and were dirt. We when down Milton Rd anyway to see if there was really a way through but there were several signs telling us to stay off the private property so we decided to not push our luck and turned around.

The next stop was see the upper, upper, part of the Chesapeake bay. Which at this point is called the Elk River.

This was by a marina and gave us a good view of the water. It was a very peaceful place and It would have been a good place to hang out and watch the sunset if we had the time.

The next stop was the western end of the canal in Chesapeake City. It is a small little town on the water that looks historic. It has a lot of restaurants and bars on the water but the cafe and bakery that I was expecting to find was closed. We found a little ice cream place that also had muffins by the water and hung out there for a while.

I took a picture of the bridge going over the canal to reproduce the shot that is in the book.

The plan was to ride over that bridge to get to the canal path that was on the other side. The bridge however had no shoulder, was steep and had a lot of traffic. We could have done it if we had to but it didn't look safe so we decided to head along the south side of the canal until we found a better bridge.

Jack was told by some one in town that there was a way to get to the canal path on this side of the river so we tried to head down a road to find it but when we found the path on the south side it was dirt and gravel. It was semi hard packed but it won't have been fun riding on it.

We continued east a couple more miles until we hit Rt 301 which had a bridge over the canal that had a shoulder. There was a lot of traffic but with the shoulder it wasn't too bad. At this point we were off any route I had so I did a little seat of the path navigation and just kept heading toward the canal where we eventually found the trail.

Once on the trail it was a straight ride east to the starting point in Delaware city. The wind which had been strong and annoying most of the day was still in our face. It must have changed directions because I thought we might have a little bit of a tail wind at this point.

The ride along the canal gave us a good view of it and how big it is. We saw a large barge being pulled by a tug along with a lot of pleasure boats going along. the canal. There were several interesting bridges along the way and stopped for this picture of new one in front of the old style.

By the time we got back we had 63 miles. It was a fun adventure and a good way to spend a warm Saturday. There are a couple other places down this way I want to explore so I may try to get back here some time next year.

Laura Blows Us Off

First let me explain the title. Laura had a ride scheduled for this Saturday but then had a chance to take a glassblowing class so asked me to lead her ride. Laura has covered for me a couple of times so I don't mind returning the favor and I know that the glassblowing class she wanted to take isn't offered that often. So although I don't blame her for blowing off the ride it doesn't mean we can't give her a little shit for doing it. As far as the picture at the top of the post that is going to take a few paragraphs to explain.

Laura didn't have a route picked out for the ride so I decided to do a ride out of Lambertville. If I was going to lead a hill slug ride it has to be hilly. We ended up doing this route. The main goal of the route was to get to Rick Rd so that we could have 4 and a half miles of uninterrupted downhill and open views of the Delaware Valley. Joining me on the ride was Jack, Jim, Ricky and Bob who is back on the bike after dealing with some back issues.

Before starting out on the ride I decided to take a photo of the group giving Laura the finger. The way we show our affection for each other, in this group, is through gibes and insults so the picture seemed appropriate. I texted her the photo and we went on our way. 

The first 10 miles of the route was mostly uphill there was nothing steep but it was a bit of a grind. Although it was a sunny and clear day it was a little cold at the start (47) so the climbing helped get me warm.

To get to Rick Rd we had to spend 3.5 miles on Rt 579 and climb about 400 feet. The climb wasn't bad as there were no really steep parts and there were a few flat spots along the way. However there was more traffic on the road than I expected. It was more annoying than dangerous but I will probably find a better way to Rick Rd.

Once we were on Rick Rd and started down hill I didn't pedal for 10 mins and was cruising above 20 mph. It was a clear day so the views were great. I didn't stop for any picture, well because that's what Laura would have done.

Six miles and 750 feet of vertical drop later we were at the Bridge Street Cafe in Frenchtown. I got a reply from my text to Laura that said the picture made her feel jealous and loved at the same time.

The cafe was really crowded with other cyclist there had to be over 30 of them there. Based on the Laura's reply Jim thought we should send her another picture. I was going to take a picture of Jim, Bob, Jack and Ricky giving the finger again but Jim went and talked to all the other cyclist sitting at the tables and ask them if they won't mind helping us with a picture. They were surprising enthusiastic about giving somebody the finger. I think in all 15 people flipped off Laura. I texted her the new picture saying "More love from the rest stop". I thought it was pretty funny.

On the way back we started out on 29 for 4 flat miles before climbing up Warsaw and making our way to Federal Twist where Jack made it down the top half safely before we turned on Raven's Rock to head back to Lambertville. By the time we got back we had done 50 miles with 3000 feet of climbing. It was nice to do a long hilly ride before the colder weather sets in.

Although we did bust Laura a little today for missing the ride we did miss her and hope to insult her in person next week.

Change of Pace

I passed on riding with the hill slugs this week to do a local ride and see a few people I haven't seen in a while. I rode over to Ira's C+ ride and picked up Herb on the way. Since it was a warm day there were a lot of people there. I think there were 20 people on Ira's ride including Lynne, Bruce, Marc and a few other people I haven't seen in a while.

Ira's took us through Roosevelt and down to Emily's hill before making a stop at Phil's. I spent most of the ride just catching up with everybody and enjoying the fact that I wasn't leading.

At Phil's, Herb had a soft tire so I helped him change it. We told the rest of the group to leave with out us as we were planning on taking a longer way back anyway. After the tire change we headed out on 526 and in about a half mile I hit a large sharp piece of gravel that nicked the sidewall of my back tire and gave me an immediate pinch flat. So within 2 mins of changing Herb's tire I had to change my own.

At this point neither of us had a spare tube so we decided to take the shortest way back home. Which took us past Reed Rec area in Allentown where Chris and Ron were hanging out after their ride. We stopped by to talk to them for a few minutes before heading for home. We made it home with out any more problems. It was a nice relaxing ride and a nice change of pace after the last few weeks.

P.S.

I also heard from my Swedish astronomer friends. After an extended vacation in the US they are back home and sent me a few of their eclipse pictures. Since I didn't take any picture on today's ride I decided I would share the spectacular picture they took just as the sun was emerging from behind the moon. It is definitely one of the best eclipse pictures that I have seen.

Big Skies over Peace Valley

Last year I did a ride in the fall around Peace Valley when the leaves were at peak color and decided to do the same route this Saturday to see if it was as scenic as I remember. I called the ride the leg buster as I have been trying to give my rides interesting name. It was a hilly ride with around 2700 ft of climbing but the route was nothing worst than other hilly rides we've done this year.

The ride was entirely in PA so after we crossed the bridge at Bulls Island we headed up Flecy Dale then through Doylestown on our way to Peace Valley. Peace Valley is a park that surrounds Lake Galena one of the reservoirs in Buck country. Its a very scenic park so we hopped on the bike path to take a look a get a couple of pictures by the dam.

After that is was an straight up hill for a few hundred feet to ride along the quiet roads on the ridge on our way to Perkasie. The roads on the ridge are mostly along open fields and farmland so you have wide open views of the sky. It was a mostly cloudy and windy day which made for some dramatic views.

I made a few changes to last years route to go through the town of Dublin. This lead us to Rickert Rd and a bridge out which makes it an official Tom ride.  This wasn't much of a bridge out. The bridge was fully intact and just had a couple of concrete barriers that were easy to ride around.

Our rest stop was in Perkasie at the Down Earth Cafe. Its got good coffee and good baked goods and is my go to place when riding in this area.

After the break we made our way back through more open farmlands and some more big sky views. We had mostly head winds on the way to the rest stop and finally got a few stretches with some tail winds. Although there was some rolling hills and a few climbs it was a relatively easy ride back to our starting point.

I like this route. Its hilly enough to be interesting with out being too challenging. Its also very scenic so this in a route I may do at least once a year.

My Number One Fan

One of the great things about biking is the community that surrounds it and binds all of us together. It is always enjoyable to talk to other bikers and share stories and advice. On Saturday I decided to forgo the PFW picnic to do a little hill training in the Sourlands. I did this loop towards Stanton with Jack. We stopped at the Wawa on 202 and met a biking couple there. They had done the Grand Fondo of NJ and we wanted to know if it was a good event to do(they liked it). As we talked about the different rides we do I had mentioned I had a done a series of county high point rides in the counties where the fondo is and I could send them some routes if they wanted to explore that area some more. The woman, Bobbi (on the left of the photo), asked if I had seen the Road Biking NJ book which they thought had a lot of good routes. I responded that not only have I seen the book but that I was actually the author.

At that Bobbi got real excited and starting jumping up and down. She said she loves the book and wanted a hug and a picture with me and made me feel like a celebrity. I occasionally meet people who have bought the book and have received mostly positive feedback. I want to know if they like the routes, are they easy to follow, what other type of information would you like to see. Bobbi was so enthusiastically positive about the book that she is definitely my number one fan.

It is good to know that people enjoy the book and find it useful. Part of the reason I started this blog was to continue to share routes and stories about the best places to ride and visit in NJ. I have collected a lot of good rides over the years about where to ride in NJ. I don't know if I will update the book or write another one anytime soon but I think over this winter one of my project will be to overhaul the website associated with the book to better share all the places to go and things to see so that it will be easier for people to find this information. 

High Tech Table

Since I work from most of the time I have been slowly updating my office to make it more comfortable and efficient. I have made a computer rack to better organize my multiple computers and built a charging station to charge my many devices. My latest project was to replace a 30 old end table next to my recliner.

I have hated the end table since I bought it as Service Merchandise for $25 for my first apartment and wanted to replace it but never found anything that I liked. I wanted a good looking end table to be next to my recliner to have a place to store the books I'm reading and hold a pad, pen and reading glasses.

After looking online and in furniture stores I couldn't find that perfect table so I decided to build one. Its a two tone piece built out of maple and some mahogany Formica to match the other furniture in the room. Its a simple box shape but has some cool hidden features.

Although it looks like a solid box from the front it has a shelf cut out of the sides.

This give me a place to keep my reading glasses and current book I am reading. This table may look like it doesn't have a lot of storage but this is where it goes high tech. I used a linear actuator to add a hidden vertical draw. There is a switch in the cut out shelf that uses a linear actuator to raise the top of the table...

...to revel two internal shelves where I can store a lots of stuff. I also added an internal plug strip that has two AC plugs and 3 USB ports where I can plug my laptop in or tablet in to recharge it.

Although the table is really nothing more than a box and vertical draw with some shelves it was a little complicated to build. Getting the maple and mahogany Formica to fit perfectly together took some precision cutting and patience to get it just right. I had never used a linear actuator before so fitting it and determining how to connect it to the table and wire it up took some trial and error. 

However all the work was worth it. I am really happy the way it turned out. It is not only looks good but is a cool combination of high tech and functionality that perfectly fits into my home office.

CHOWDAH !!!

After 3 years I'm finally back in Cape Cod. We usually come up here for a long weekend once a year but because of my vacations to Hawaii and Alaska the last 2 years we just didn't have the time. Although I like to explore new places its also good to have a go to vacation destination that you enjoy and know what to expect. My wife and I come to Cape Cod mostly to relax on the beach and enjoy the local fair. If you like beaches, there are some great ones here that have been the subject of many artistic photos and paintings. If you like seafood there is no better place to be. To be honest I don't really like seafood except for a good clam chowder. Although I have tried clam chowder at a number of different places around the country the only place where they make is right is Cape Cod. It must be New England clam chowder (none of that Manhattan shit), it must be thick almost stand up a spoon in, and it has to taste good.

After a hectic summer it was good to hang out at a beach and just relax. We rented a house in West Yarmouth on Hyannis bay. It was a small place with just enough room for the two of us with an amazing view of the bay. 

In front of the house was a small creek with some resident swans. Across the creek was a beach overlooking the bay. The view and quiet neighborhood made it one of the best places we ever stayed in Cape Cod. We were even able to see the sunsets. Of course pictures don't do the view justice not only because they can't capture how it actually looked but also because you can't smell the salt air, hear the water hitting the beach or feel the wind blowing across the bushes.

We lucked out with the weather. We had 4 days of mostly sunny skies and it was warm enough to sit on the beach. Besides hanging out at the beach and enjoying our view we did a little sightseeing and headed to some other parts of the Cape to check out our favorite scenic spots and do a little shopping. There are a lot of artists and craftsmen on Cape Cod especially towards Provincetown. There are many of galleries of original art and unique crafts that are interesting to walk through.   

There are also many scenic vistas and light houses along to way so it is easy to spend an enjoyable day visiting them while doing some shopping.

As usual when we come up here we eat way too much. Not only did we get lots of clam chowder but also a lot of other food that tastes great and is not entirely healthy. Our favorite breakfast is at Pancake Man which merges a cinnabon and pancake and is as sugary and delicious (and filling) as it sounds. Then of course there is home made ice cream at the many road side stands that you just have to stop at. We even managed to find a new version of clam chowder. Its called fried clam chowder and if you are thinking how the hell can you fry soup let me explain. Its like a crab cake only made clams, of course, but some how it is soaked in chowder and breaded so when you actually bite into it it tastes exactly like clam chowder. I still prefer the soup but it just proves you can fry anything.

It was a good trip and a relaxing vacation but I've had my quota of fat, sugar, and salt for the year. It is time to go home to detox and get back to my normal riding schedule.

Flat and Fast

I did a lot of hilly rides in July and August so as a break and to get a long ride in I scheduled a Pineland Cruise for today. I was hopping to attract a good crowd and maybe get a couple of the Florida flatlanders to join. Maybe it was the holiday weekend or the possibility of rain but I only get a few regulars for the ride (Laura, Chris and Jack).

It was a cool morning and was barely 60 degrees when we set out. The route I created was as flat and simple as I could make it. We went out at a good pace and got to the first rest stop in the Wawa in Browns Mill in quick order. There aren't many place to stop in the Pinelands so we had to stop a mile 18 because the next possible stop was in Vincetown at 45 miles.

We made a quick bathroom stop in Lebanon State forest where we I checked the radar and saw the rain just south of where we were. It was headed west but if it moved north a little we would get wet.

For the next 20 miles there was some spirits of rain then some light rain as we skirted the northern edge of the storm. We really didn't too wet at all and once we turned north to Smithville we left the rain behind us.

When we pulled into the Olde World Bakery we had a 17mph average. It was still below 70 degrees and felt a little cold. We had just over 50 miles in and I was feeling strong so I pushed the pace a little to see if we could maintain our average.

We cranked along as fast as we could and made quick work of the last 14 miles back to Bordentown. We slowed down a little through Bordentown but I still finished up with a 16.95 mph avg which is the fastest ride of the year for me.

Although we got a little wet the weather was really perfect for a fast flat ride and it felt good to get a long ride in at a fast pace.

Eclipse Photos

Click Here for All the Eclipse Photos

I finally had time to go through all my eclipse photos and post them up to a google photo album. I made a couple of composite pictures to try show the full eclipse from start to end.

I also got some pictures from one of the people that was with us at Smith's Ferry. Her son is in the Air Force and had a colleague who was flying a U2 during the eclipse. First to see pictures from a U2 at 70,000 feet is just plain cool. What the picture below shows is the shadow of the moon moving across the clouds from left to right.

There is also an interesting shot of the corona reflecting off the pilots helmet.

And a composite showing the different phases of the eclipse along with a picture of the shadow of the moon.

My favorite picture that I took was halfway through the totality

It shows all the cool things about the eclipse. The wisps of the corona, the black circle of the moon, and a solar flare. It was fun to go through all the photos and remember how it felt to see the eclipse but now it is time to get back to my normal life...

The Day of the Eclipse

After 2 days and 800 miles of driving it was finally eclipse day.  I checked the weather and astronomy forecast one final time to make sure we had 0% cloud cover for the rest of the day. The clouds predicted over night had dissipated as expected so everything was going according to plan.   Getting up a 4am is was not easy especially after a couple of days of hard travel. Our destination was Smith's Ferry 70 miles north of Boise. To get there it was a straight shot up country road 55. This road went straight north over a mountain and along the Payette river. It would have been a scenic drive expect for the fact that it was pitch black which made it a bit of white knuckle ride. There was some light traffic but we moved along at a good clip. At mile 40 we when over Horseshoe Bend which marked the southern edge of where the totality would be visible. So we were in the zone and would almost be guaranteed of seeing the full eclipse.

 Another 45 minutes of driving on dark winding roads we arrived at Smith's Ferry. The parking lot across the river had been sold out weeks ago but the grass parking lot between the road and river was first come first serve and was mostly empty at 6 am when we got there. One of the reasons we got up so early was to make sure we would get a spot.  I parked along the river which had a clear view of the eastern horizon where the eclipse would be. Cars were slowly filtering in to the parking lot and it wasn't long before the spots along the river filled up. A BMW SUV pulled to the right of us and two jaunty older gentlemen with bushy beards get out. They weren't talking in English. They come over and introduce themselves. They are from the Swedish astronomy society and are seasoned eclipse chasers and have seen over 12 eclipses.

The first thing they do is to take out a set of small Swedish flags and stake out the area they want to set their equipment up in. They announce that they claim this land in the name of Sweden. When I remind them that this is already sovereign US land they say they will give it back by the end of the day and we laughed.

I head to the lodge at the north side of the parking lot to see how to pay for parking and what kind of food and drink are available. At the lodge I find out that parking was just $5 which was cheap considering other places were charging $25 - $50. I guess what Kurt said about this spot not being as well known at others was true.

Now that we were parked there was nothing to do but wait for the eclipse to start. I spent the couple hours before the eclipse talking to the other people around me and setting up the my telescope. I also took a couple of test pictures of the Sun to make sure all my equipment was working. I notices a bunch of sunspots that would make for more interesting pictures.

The telescope I was using was a new telescope that I bought a few months ago since the drive assembly of my old telescope was becoming unreliable. The new scope is an ioptron Smartstar cube. It is a very compact telescope and has a wide field of view which makes it perfect for observing the Sun. It has a built in GPS and motor drive so once it is aligned to the sun the motor drive will keep it pointed at the Sun as it moves. To take pictures I have an adapter for my IPod touch that aligns it with the lens of the telescope. As a back up I had my good Canon 12x zoom camera on a tripod with a solar filter which I would also use for wide angle shots at the moment of totality. I spend many hours before the trip learning how to use the equipment and take it pictures of the sun. I will say the new telescope worked flawlessly and stayed perfectly pointed for the 3 hours or I was using it.

The excitement was building as the time approached for the partial eclipse to begin. At 10:16 am both the Swedes and I called out first contact as we saw the Moon start to cover the sun. As the eclipse progressed I had a constant stream of people coming over for a look through the telescope. By this point the people that had parked around us had become one big friendly group.

I took pictures every 10-15 mins to document the progress of the Moon passing in front of the Sun. As the totality approached I talked with the Swedes about what settings to use for taking the pictures since the light would be a lot different then. They gave me some pointers but said that each one is different so couldn't give me any specific.

About 20 mins before totality I noticed it getting colder and darker. It was really weird to see it getting darker as the Sun was rising. You might think it was like the twilight approaching before sun set but it felt different than that some how. Its really hard to explain unless you were there. In the next 15 minutes the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees and the sky when from sunny to a bright twilight.

As the totality approached I got both my IPod touch and Cannon camera set up for the 2 mins of totality. I wanted to get a least one good picture of the totality. I also set up my point and shoot Nikon on the roof of the car and started the video.

As my friend Fred said, who has seen an eclipse before, you want to take time to just enjoy the totality and not spend all you time taking pictures or you won't really appreciate it.

You can somehow feel when the totality is about to occur and as it approached the crowd started to yell and clap. When the Moon finally covered the Sun at 11:26 am everybody screamed and cheered. I quickly started taking pictures through the telescope which was easy as all I had to do was push the shutter button on the IPod touch. I took one picture with my Cannon camera then gave up on it as it didn't look like the exposure was set correctly and I didn't want to waste time working on. I stayed by the telescope just adjusting the exposure and a picture every 15 or 20 seconds. Since I had practiced so much before the trip I could do it with out really thinking about it. This let me just enjoy the moment and focus on looking at the totality with my naked eyes. It was a glorious 2 mins and 15 seconds that can't really be described.

Right before the totality ended I took a couple of quick shots with the IPod touch. I was shooting in burst mode which takes 10 quick photos. I was really lucky and got this shot right at the end of the totality showing the exact moment of the end of the totality.  If the video below doesn't work use this link to see it

After the totality there was more cheering and most of us where just in awe of what we saw and couldn't stop talking about it. Slowly people started leaving but we, the Swedes and some other people stayed to watch the last part of the eclipse. The temperature and light started increasing soon after totality as more of the Sun was being exposed. It felt as weird as when it was decreasing.  I kept taking pictures until the Sun was fully uncovered. At this point it was 1pm and time to leave as we had to get to Salt Lake City tonight for the flight home tomorrow. One of the people we were hanging around with came over with a beer in hand that she had gotten from the lodge. I wanted to do nothing more in that moment than go get a beer and just hang out there relaxing but we had a long drive ahead of us. So we exchanged emails and said good by to every one before heading out.

Although people had drove up to Smith's Ferry, Cascade and the other towns on route 55 slowly over the course of a few days and camped at various parking lots and schools that the town had open for them they all were leaving at the same time. When you put 50,000 extra people on a road that was meant for only a couple of hundred cars an hour its going to get a little backed up. The hour and a half drive to Smith's Ferry took 3 and a half hours to get back to Boise. This was expected and I didn't really care. We saw the eclipse and this was part of the price you pay for seeing it. Everybody on the road was well behaved and the police and towns along the way did their best to make it as painless as possible. What also made it bearable was the scenery that we did not have a chance to see on the way up.

Once it Boise and got on the highway there was no real traffic but we had 250 mile to go before we could sleep. It was a long drive but the adrenaline of the experience kept us going. We did manage to find the middle of nowhere.

The middle of nowhere is in Malta Idaho on Sublett Rd. The reason I know this is that there is a gas station there that states this on the start up screen of the gas pump. Besides the 3 alpacas and one very loud sheep (who live at the gas station for some reason) there is nothing around for 25 miles(not even a bathroom) so it felt like the middle of nowhere especially at 9:30 pm  

By the time we got to the hotel it was almost 12 pm. We have been up for 20 hours and were totally shot but still exhilarated from the experience. Fred went right to bed but I stayed up to repack the telescope and take a look at the pictures that I had taken. They turned out better than I expected even the wide angle shot taken with the Cannon camera. I made sure they all got uploaded to my google photos account to make sure they would be safe. I then send a couple to my wife and posted one on the blog at around 1:30 am before finally going to sleep.

I got about 5 hours of sleep before getting up to go to the airport the next morning. I was sleep deprived and happy to be going home. At the airport we ran into a lot of people who saw the eclipse and shared stories of where we were and how it felt. We were all still excited about it.

The flight home was uneventful and I was glad to get home and finally have a good nights sleep. It was a grueling trip with a lot of driving just to see the eclipse but we did see it and it was totally worth it. I also met some great people and had some adventures along the way.  I am still working on processing all the picture I took but have shared the best one I currently have. I will publish a link later with the full set....

...However the important thing is that I understand now why people travel around the world just to see an eclipse. Its not the just to look at it and photograph it but to experience that emotion that it produces that can't be duplicate any other way. I won't go to great lengths or expense to see every eclipse that happens in the next 20 years but there is another on in the US in 2024 and I'm going to be there so I can feel this way again.

Adventures Chasing the Eclipse

Seeing the eclipse was the sole and overriding goal of this trip but it didn't mean we didn't have fun along the way. On Friday night we landed in Denver. Although the eclipse, as shown in the map above, would stretch across the whole country the weather west of the Mississippi had a 20% higher probability of being clear. From Denver I could get a 1000 miles east or west along the eclipse track in 2 days so it gave me a lot of flexibility. Before the flight to Denver I checked the weather and astronomical forecast and focused on 3 cities Casper Wyoming. Rexburg Idaho, and Weiser Idaho which looked to have the highest probability of having clear skies. Anything east of there looked to be cloudy on Monday. I found Clear Outside tool and NOAA's digital forecast tool to be the best and most accurate tools for forecasting clear skies. For two weeks before the trip I had checked them against the actual local weather in the spots when I plan to see the eclipse. They weren't 100% accurate but when they were wrong they over predicted the cloud cover not under predicted it which I liked.

We stayed in Fort Collins on Friday night and a check of the weather showed that there was a 30% chance of light clouds in Casper on the day of the eclipse. That meant you would probably see the eclipse in Casper but there was still a 30% chance that a stray cloud could come along at the wrong time and block the Sun at the critical moment of the eclipse. Casper would have been logistically the easiest place to go since it was a 4 hour drive from Fort Collins. However to get the best shot at seeing the eclipse we headed west towards Idaho where the eclipse forecast showed between a 0%-15% of cloud cover.

So on Saturday we got up and started driving west with the goal of getting to Ogden Utah just above Salt Lake city by the end of the day. This would put us in reach of Rexburg Idaho, and Weiser Idaho where the weather was slightly better than Casper.

To get to Salt Lake City from Fort Collins you head north to Wyoming and then head west on Interstate 80. After reaching the border of Wyoming we saw the bull silhouette that Laura had mentioned on her trip out there last year.

The drive west on 80 was uneventful but enjoyable as the scenery was interesting along the way.  We went over the continental divide so we went up and down some pretty big hills and were some where between 6000 and 8000 ft for most of the time.

To break up the long drive to Salt Lake we decided to do a side trip. My friend Fred, who joined me for this trip,  likes to visit tri-points. This is where 3 states meet. The side trip was to the Utah, Wyoming, Colorado tri-point. According to the research Fred had done it should be possible to get there by car along some dirt and gravel roads. The attraction for me was that is was the highest tri-point in the country so it kind of fit with my high point theme of a couple of years ago.

About three quarters of the way along Interstate 80 in Wyoming we got off the highway and headed to the tri-point. The route there took us through the town of Podunk up the county highway to nowhere. Half way to nowhere just past the town of "Why the Fuck would anybody live here" we made a left on Devils Elbow Rd which took us to Bender Basin Rd then on to Road 4 and finally got to a dirt path that the GPS said should get us to the tri-point. For the most part the roads were packed dirt and gravel some better than others. When we got 4 miles from the tri-point the road turned to just two dirt ruts through the prairie grass. We had rented a Nissan Rogue which had 4 wheel drive so as long as the dirt was solid I was OK to keep going. However the road started having some deep gullies caused by rain water run off. Eventually we got to one that I thought was too deep for us to attempt to go over. If we got stuck or broke down at this point it would be a 10 mile hike to the nearest main road. I also didn't think phones would work around here with all the mountains in the way.

I was sad that I couldn't get Fred to the tri-point but we didn't want to do something stupid and spend the night in the wilderness. We turned around and headed back toward the highway. I will say that although this is a desolate area it does have a certain beauty to it and I stopped to take a couple of pictures.

About a mile before we got back to the county highway we saw a heard of elk. There had to be at least a hundred of them going across the road. I took a picture and had to wait 10 mins before we could continue. It was a really cool thing to see and made the tri-point detour worth it.

Saturday night was spend in Ogden Utah. It wasn't a bad place, we had a decent meal and a good nights sleep before continuing on to Boise Idaho on Sunday. The reason we decided to head to Boise is that the weather on the western side of Idaho by the Oregon border looked better than the eastern side for eclipse day. It was just under 300 miles to get there but with the speed limit at 80 mph it was a relatively quick drive.

Since I didn't know exactly where we would be staying each night I couldn't really make hotel reservations but was also afraid of all the hotels being sold out as we got closer to where the eclipse was going to be. My solution to the problem was to book multiple hotels for the same day at the different places that I might be. I would only book hotels that had a free cancellation policy where I could cancel a day before I got there. This worked out pretty well as every morning I would decide where would be going and cancel the hotel rooms I didn't need.

The hardest place to get a room was Boise Idaho as this was just 50 miles south of where you could see the total eclipse. I got really lucky and 4 days before I flew out to Denver and found one room in Boise for Sunday night on priceline.com (for $60). There were a few other rooms available but they were close to $1000 a night and I would rather sleep in the car than pay that price.

The room in Boise was in the Boise hotel which was a crap hole of a hotel but the staff was friendly and the room was clean. It was better than sleeping in the car.

When we checked in they told us our room wasn't ready and to come back in two hours. We decided to head out to a park to test out the telescope I brought along to make sure everything was working. We ended up in a park just about a mile from the hotel.

We had a few problems with powering the telescope off the cigarette lighter because the accessories won't stay on for more than 5 mins and some of the connections won't stay together. We worked out the problems and got a few good pictures of the Sun. I'm glad we got all the kinks worked out of the system before the big day.

While at the park we met a man (Kurt) walking his dog. Seeing the telescope he asked where we were headed to view the eclipse. We told him Weiser to which he said that he thought Smith's Ferry would be a better place. He has been listening to the news all week about the eclipse and said most people would head up to Weiser or Stanley and he had heard that theses towns were already overcrowded. We had talked to a couple of people at the hotel in Ogden this morning who were heading to Smiths Ferry to see the eclipse so the more Kurt talked about it the more sense it made to us to go there instead of Weiser. The piece of information that sealed the deal was that Kurt said that if we couldn't find a parking spot in Smith's Ferry all we had to do is go over the bridge by Cougar lodge and talk to his friend Janet who would let us park on her property. It is refreshing to me that you can meet a stranger and talk to him for a few minutes and have them trust you enough to give you some good advise and offer to help you with out wanting anything in return.

So after the talk with Kurt we decided to go to Smith's Ferry which ended up being a good decision I think. Smith's Ferry was actually on the center line of the eclipse so it would give us the most time in totality and if Kurt was right we would have an easier time getting a good parking spot because it was less crowded.

So Sunday night we are in a crappy hotel in Boise but we only have 70 miles to drive to get the a spot to see the eclipse.  The weather is looking perfect for Monday all the planning is working out and I will get to see the eclipse. I was almost too excited to sleep.