Hey ‘middle of Oregon’, I am proud of you! (John Day: campsites, move)

[MondoTime]

So after contemplating for (years?), I opted to view the big Eclipse from the location of my first impulse, which was the Painted Hills.

I was prepared to improvise at 3:00 am on August 21, but nothing natural or man-made gave cause to deviate from my loose vision...

The forest rangers were great hosts and there was plenty of empty land available for all who arrived and for anyone who wished to be ‘alone’ for the important 2 minutes.

(and good move in putting the place right ON the center line!!)

I am especially proud this week of how August came together in Oregon for my having viewed Time Magazine’s Year in Review for 2017 and finding that the entire back cover and 2 pages inside were FILLED ENTIRELY by an awesome photo of ‘totality’ at the Painted Hills.

It was truly awesome to witness and central Oregon was there for me...


Why I even got a one-to-one tour of the Painted Hills WITH a geologist beginning soon after totality ended.


Oregon should be proud of such scenery!!

[Transmition]

I went down for the eclipse and had a great time.

The predicted road back-ups were nowhere, got to Fossil at about 8am and only saw a handful of cars at the time. It got heavier later. Excellent view of the eclipse. Everyone left just minutes later, I waited a few hours, dug for fossils, ate icecream, but 95% of the traffic was heading north to leave while I was heading south/east to camp (passed a very long line of cars). Only thing ruined was the cloud overnight that robbed me of a great night sky unpolluted by city lights. Spent the next few days seeing the fantastic scenery at Clarno, John Day, and Painted Hills, everywhere that sold stuff was overstocked with eclipse t-shirts. Had a dip in the river.

By the third day, traffic was really light everywhere, campsites were mostly empty. I expect that a lot of the usual summer tourists stayed away due to the eclipse-ageddon that the media were predicting, so it was probably even emptier than normal (having never been there before, I couldn't say).