Dark Side of the Sun
Sunday, March 31st, 2024 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flwydFor a trip I've been in some stage of planning for more than two years there's a surprising amount left to the last minute.
I didn't really think about taking pictures of the occluded sun until a week and a half ago. Mike's Camera had solar lens filters, but no adapters to fit my lens; fortunately I had a week to get an Amazon delivery. I almost forgot to get an oil change before the road trip. Duffel bags sat empty in my bedroom for a week and a half, not summoning the energy to select clothes until 40 hours before departure.
The truck jenga situation is kind of amusing; the truck seems more full for a 5-day camping trip in Arkansas than it was for two people's Burning Man stuff (including bikes) last year. "This is kind of my favorite part," Kelly says. "We get to recreate a small version of home."
It looks like we might hit near the sweet spot in attendance, which is kind of amazing. A friend and I booked two adjacent group camp sites a year in advance on the assumption that we'd find enough folks who wanted to join an eclipse adventure. But you don't want to advertise such a thing too widely, since there's only space for so many cars. So it was word of mouth with selective invitations and a kind of mental tabulation on people count, with a lot of "I don't know what I'll be doing in eight months." A month and a half ago I was worried we might be squeezed for space. A week and a half ago we were worried that we were going to have a lot of extra space, and miss out on having enough friends to share the experience with. Now it looks like we'll have every driveway in camp occupied, though a lot of folks are coming in the night before the great gig in the sky so we won't get to have as jolly a time in the woods as we might otherwise.
Despite all the last-minute scrambling, I've had all the Parks on the Air sites sorted out for several weeks though. When traveling, it's important to prioritize places to stop and play radio. There's even a Solar Eclipse QSO Party so hams can help scientists understand propagation in the ionosphere.
Google's extended forecast predicts rain all day for the eclipse; another app predicts afternoon thunderstorms and evening rain. National Weather Service's forecast only goes out 7 days, but Sunday currently predicts about a 25% cloud cover for Arkansas on Sunday; let's hope that holds out to Monday. A cloudy day would be anticlimactic for an event I've been anticipating for two years. But at least I'll get a good camping trip out of it, and some road trip adventures in Oklahoma. And if the sun's not worth looking at during totality, I can get 100 extra points in the solar eclipse QSO party for being on the radio during totality.
I didn't really think about taking pictures of the occluded sun until a week and a half ago. Mike's Camera had solar lens filters, but no adapters to fit my lens; fortunately I had a week to get an Amazon delivery. I almost forgot to get an oil change before the road trip. Duffel bags sat empty in my bedroom for a week and a half, not summoning the energy to select clothes until 40 hours before departure.
The truck jenga situation is kind of amusing; the truck seems more full for a 5-day camping trip in Arkansas than it was for two people's Burning Man stuff (including bikes) last year. "This is kind of my favorite part," Kelly says. "We get to recreate a small version of home."
It looks like we might hit near the sweet spot in attendance, which is kind of amazing. A friend and I booked two adjacent group camp sites a year in advance on the assumption that we'd find enough folks who wanted to join an eclipse adventure. But you don't want to advertise such a thing too widely, since there's only space for so many cars. So it was word of mouth with selective invitations and a kind of mental tabulation on people count, with a lot of "I don't know what I'll be doing in eight months." A month and a half ago I was worried we might be squeezed for space. A week and a half ago we were worried that we were going to have a lot of extra space, and miss out on having enough friends to share the experience with. Now it looks like we'll have every driveway in camp occupied, though a lot of folks are coming in the night before the great gig in the sky so we won't get to have as jolly a time in the woods as we might otherwise.
Despite all the last-minute scrambling, I've had all the Parks on the Air sites sorted out for several weeks though. When traveling, it's important to prioritize places to stop and play radio. There's even a Solar Eclipse QSO Party so hams can help scientists understand propagation in the ionosphere.
Google's extended forecast predicts rain all day for the eclipse; another app predicts afternoon thunderstorms and evening rain. National Weather Service's forecast only goes out 7 days, but Sunday currently predicts about a 25% cloud cover for Arkansas on Sunday; let's hope that holds out to Monday. A cloudy day would be anticlimactic for an event I've been anticipating for two years. But at least I'll get a good camping trip out of it, and some road trip adventures in Oklahoma. And if the sun's not worth looking at during totality, I can get 100 extra points in the solar eclipse QSO party for being on the radio during totality.
