The Great Eclipse - Dispatches From Cental Oregon wanted! (Portland: camping, live)

[sayulita]

Hi all,

I'm in Portland and will watch the (partial) eclipse from here, but I have family in Central Oregon and am fascinated with how things will evolve down there. My brother in Prineville reports that their small town is already (as of Wednesday AM) bumper to bumper traffic on the main road through town.

Of course he is all stocked with groceries, gassed up and ready to ride it all out until a couple days past the event.

I'd love to hear reports from those of you in the path of totality and how it is impacting your neck of the woods. I opted NOT to go down and stay with family as I can't bear the idea of all the traffic etc. (and spending more time than I'd like to with family, but that's another story!)

Please share with all of us your observations, preparations, expectations, etc. Including before, during, and after the eclipse. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is incredibly interested (not to mention envious) of you who live there and can report on what the impact on your community is. I'm just thankful that the heat wave is over and that isn't a threat anymore.

Any and all stories are welcome!

Thanks!

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Bend, traffic is normal, which is to say, there is a lot of traffic, but not more than usual.

I could not get into my regular gas station, finally found gas at a station that was really crowded and the customers were being rude about trying to get to the gas pumps and not being orderly about it, which is unusual.

A friend in Terrebonne told me that their gas station is out of gasoline and the next station she went to was also out of gasoline.

One of the stations I passed was charging about 50 cents more than everyone else. All the other stations seem to be charging regular prices, or if they raised them, it is not by a noticeable amount.

The restaurant supply store was slammed. People were pushing around carts with 4-6 fifty pound bags of potatoes, so someone is thinking they will sell a lot of potatoes over the eclipse period. The store had stocked up so much meat that they couldn't fit it all into the meat cooler and had it stacked in the vegetable cooler. They are obviously thinking that the restaurants are going to be doing a lot of business.

Reports from South of Bend (La Pine) is that there are a lot of cars with California license plates being driven by "dirty hippy types". I guess the people with money are flying in?

[sayulita]

Great report! Can't wait to hear if those potatoes got sold. What are folks going to with them? Roast over campfire, deep fry somehow, nuke them in the RV microwave? Same with the meat. Did they not come stocked up?

Thank you so much! Keep it coming, everyone!

[sayulita]

I'm guessing that folks from California and Washington aren't too happy about having to wait to have their gas pumped rather than doing it themselves.

[Thom52]

It has taken a terrible turn for the worse.
I heard that Costco ran out of frozen pizzas already, yesterday.
This could get ugly.

They really did.

In Bend, yesterday my wife got stuck in the checkout line for 35 minutes. I shopped Trader Joes earlier in the day and breezed through.

Gas stations have long lines or are out of gas in Bend.

[BendLocal]

Long gas lines in C.O., some outages as eclipse approaches - KTVZ

Some gas stations around Central Oregon ran out of fuel as the day went on.

...

Drivers there said they waited in line for about 10 to 30 minutes.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Long gas lines in C.O., some outages as eclipse approaches - KTVZ

When I filled up In Salem yesterday there weren't any lines, but I did have to wait about five minutes for service. I thought the attendant looked a little incompetent, but maybe she was just overworked. She told me it would take a minute for my receipt to print out. Then she walked away, so I got out and tore off my own receipt.

[Thom52]

I find it interesting that all the traffic disaster shots on the news are taken from the same location in Prineville.

So far (and it could change at any time) Tripcheck.com is showing pretty much normal heavy summer traffic in most areas.....except Prineville.

Definitely arrive with a full tank of gas, plenty of water if camping, and plenty of food where ever you are, although we bought a nice lunch in downtown Bend today with no line.

Smoke obscuring the sky and fire closures are definitely an issue. Smoke is dependent on the whims of the wind direction at any moment. Downtown Bend was a smoky mess today, with the Milli fire filling the western sky southeast of the Milli fire.

From my front porch in Bend this afternoon....
smoke-081717_2131 by Thom I, on Flickr

[BendLocal]

Prineville is in totality, Bend isn't. My guess is Bend gets slammed this weekend.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Thom52

I find it interesting that all the traffic disaster shots on the news are taken from the same location in Prineville.

So far (and it could change at any time) Tripcheck.com is showing pretty much normal heavy summer traffic in most areas.....except Prineville.

Definitely arrive with a full tank of gas, plenty of water if camping, and plenty of food where ever you are, although we bought a nice lunch in downtown Bend today with no line.

Smoke obscuring the sky and fire closures are definitely an issue. Smoke is dependent on the whims of the wind direction at any moment. Downtown Bend was a smoky mess today, with the Milli fire filling the western sky southeast of the Milli fire.

From my front porch in Bend this afternoon....
smoke-081717_2131 by Thom I, on Flickr

The traffic issues in Prineville are due to Oregon Eclipse Gathering Event August 17 to 23. But that is just the beginning. By Sunday it will be like that everywhere along the eclipse path. The people are coming.