2 years ago we set the plan in motion. My friend Joe Powers (44 year old scientist) came up with the idea to travel to the only city in the country that would see the full solar eclipse at 100% totality. A lot of people were "close" to 100% totality. (ex: 99.9%,99.1%, 99%) but the only city in the entire country to be at 100% totality was Madras' Oregon. 2 years ago my friend Joe told me about the idea and I responded out of pure emotion "IM IN". Keep in mind I am a born and raised city boy that didn't have a lot of knowledge on space and science, let alone eclipses and "totality". At the time, the word totality sounded funny to me. At 5pm on August 17th 2017, in a 2016 Ford 12 seater van, myself and 7 others pulled onto route 80 west and didn't look back.
We made a few pit stops on the way to Madras' (Denver Colorado, Snake river falls, Evil Knievels cannon jump) but time was not on our side! We needed to arrive by Sunday morning in order to set our telescopes and tents up. The eclipse was set to arrive at our location Monday August 21st, 2017 at 10:16am. Excited was an understatement. Everyone in the van was extremely excited and in good spirits. We arrived early Sunday morning (completely missing the horrific traffic the news was talking about) and started setting up our home for the next few days. We set up on a farmers land in the middle of a corn field. We were not the only ones. Campers, Rvs and cars as far as the eye can see. After we got settled in and some quality sleep (the van was not an easy sleep) we started to mingle with the other people at our location. Scientists, students, fans and just people that love space! It was a beautiful thing! To the west we had Mt. Jefferson and to the North we had Mt. Hood. Both mountains with white caps. Very beautiful. Mountains that I have never seen in my life. We don't have mountains anywhere close to Cleveland OH. One of the scientists was a current employee for NASA and had a telescope the size of a canoe. It was huge! He told us we could come over later and look at the stars with his telescope. I took him up on that offer and he set the scope facing southeast and locked it in on the planet Saturn. It left me speechless. I could completely see the rings around Saturn and through the scope it was the size of a softball. I had never seen anything like that in my lifetime. I headed back to my tent and got some sleep as I wanted to be ready to go by 9:00am. I was so excited for the eclipse I kept waking up periodically throughout the night. Coffee in hand we were now 10 minutes out from witnessing the total solar eclipse at 100% totality. The energy was in the air. We all got our protective eye gear out and started to look at the sun slowly getting smaller. 9 minutes and 50 seconds later there was a very small piece of the sun showing and then boom! It went from 85 and sunny to 60 and pitch black. We took our glasses of and looked at the moon! That was the climax! A sight I still to this day cannot find words for. Like an incredibly bright crystal corona that was almost blinding but so beautiful. Almost like a diamond ring. Truly amazing. Cheering and celebrating as far as we could see. High fives and hugs. Lots of love in the air. A few minutes later the sun started coming back and the temperature starting going up. I was honestly shaking and later I found out so was my friend Joe Powers and a few of my friends in the group. I didn't know why my nerves were filled with so much emotion. It was a different feeling, a feeling I had never felt. We all packed up as quick as possible after the eclipse with hopes of missing the crazy traffic on the way out. We wanted to visit a few historical landmarks on the way home. (Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Pacific Ocean, black hills) We got stuck in a few hours of traffic before we were able to branch off and start our journey back. I hope that you enjoyed my short story and felt the emotions that I did. Stay tuned for part 2. Traveling from Madras' Oregon back to Cleveland OH.
-TravelMan-
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Welcome to Steemit bud! Love the photo of the eclipse! Wish i could've seen it that well. You're off to a great start here on Steemit, keep up the good work!
Please reply, and I will nominate your post to @OCD for possible additonal votes & exposure for your new post!
except!! thanks feel free to share!! Id love that!! @ocd
Great. Thanks for sharing. I'm starting to follow you.
thank you!! I will be posting a lot of travel stories. #introducemyself ! <3
Fuckin epic my brother.
Can't wait for the Steemit community to meet @thetravelman o weeeeeeeeee
MARVELOUS
thanks dude!! cheers
This post received a 4% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @chiefmappster! For more information, click here!
thanks @chiefmappster LETS GO
Thats dope man!! Im originally from cleveland myself but ive been in atlanta for a while and took the trip to north georgia to see it in it totality..like 99.9+ percent
It was definitely an experience that was worth the trip!
O snap @opinizeunltd you are from Cleveland. That's where I am from as well. Wtfff. I was born in the suburbs, Brecksville, but I love all parts of the city for real.
Cleveland o weeee let's gooo
LoL thats dope bro!! Yea i gotta get back there to visit soon...i here its a lot of new development out there
Man you do.
Holy shit there is so much life and energy in the city. It's absolutely incredible to see.
The city is alive again you could say my friend :)
such a good time right? the next one is in 2024
Yea it was crazy...i'll be more prepared next time
I was in Madras for the eclipse as well (my post about it is here). It's so cool that we shared this experience as strangers!
However, I think the title of your post is a bit misleading - a large swathe across the United States experienced 100% totality, and the largest city to do so was Nashville. Even better, on April 8, 2024 the path of totality will pass directly over Cleveland, so you may have the opportunity to experience it again!
actually from what NASA told me is the other states were 99. whatever totality. Madras OR was the only city in the country with 100% totality. NASA said it lol
Interesting! I hadn't heard that at all - everything I read said Madras was popular due to the highest likelihood of clear skies along the path. Do you have the NASA source?
My friend does I will track it down , but you are correct. Because of the elevation and clarity a lot of people went to Oregon in general ! I mean did you look at the stars during the night? WOW I am from the east and we do not get skies like that!! Breath taking!
Ok you were actually correct there was 2 other cities that received 100% totality, however like you said Madras' was hands down the best place to watch it because of the elevation and location. Rock on girl! If it let me edit it i would change it to the best place lol... all good ment it with a kind heart!
No worries, and thanks for checking and getting back to me. It was definitely an awesome place to watch it, so much energy and a once-in-a-lifetime experience even if we make it to other eclipses.s. :)