North Central ROMEO Weely Ride for 8/21/17

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Roadpounder
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Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2008 7:56 pm
Location: Salina KS

North Central ROMEO Weely Ride for 8/21/17

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IT'S COMING!! THE SUN WILL GO DARK!! Starting at 11:40 the eclipse will begin. It will become total at 1:00 and last for 2 Minutes and 30 seconds, in Fairmont Nebraska. The trip to Fairmount will take about 3 hours, and were planning a stop in Concordia to grab a bite to ward off starvation til we stop in Chester on the way back. I couldn't get in touch with them to give them a heads up so I hope they will be able to handle us. So the Salina group will be leaving from the Quality Inn at 7:30.

If at all possible could you please let me know if you plan to join us, where ever you're coming from so we can get a good estimate of attendance. We may encounter large crowds and traffic.

Text or voice 816-517-9769
E-Mail roadpounder@excite.com OR
message through the ROMEO web site

Here's a link for more info on the eclipse in Fairmount.

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/communi ... t_1064.htm
eclipse.jpg
eclipse.jpg (13.48 KiB) Viewed 338 times
The long awaited day is here. My only chance in this life to see a total solar eclipse. The weather looked a little dicey with the forecast of 75% sky coverage, but even if it was overcast I was still going to at least see it go dark at mid day. Since I wasn't able to line up a lunch venue I opted to pack a couple of sandwiches to stave off the hunger. I stumbled through my morning routine and decided to leave Leo home to keep Fritz company. I got the bike out, loaded my lunch and welding mask, and gassed up and launched for the Quality Inn for the launch meeting. When all was said and done there were only 5 of us gathered for the ride to Fairmont. We hit US 81 heading north and the sky was still looking a little questionable. We pulled into Concordia and no sooner did we pull into McDonalds the traffic ground to a halt. It was a mass exodus headed for Nebraska. Several folks at McDonalds were headed to Fairmont. Not really being too fond of Micky D's I decided to pop up the street to top off the bike, not being sure of the gas situation up there would be and being sure I'd be very close to reserve if not there when we arrived. I picked up a couple of cans of one of my favorite beverages, Arizona Iced Tea. It's getting harder and harder to find at these C stores since the “energy drinks” hit the scene. Shelves upon shelves of energy drinks and down hidden in the corner is my tea.
Back to McDonalds to wait for the others to finish eating and watch the traffic not pass by. Concordia's police seem to have gotten caught napping since it was about 20 minutes before they got any one out to start directing traffic. On of our group was familiar with the back streets of Concordia was able to lead us around the traffic and get us on the road. Once we were out of town the traffic thinned out and all was normal. Not too far down the road Terry pulled over the don his rain gear. That proved to be a wise move as we hit about 10 miles of rain that was much harder than the sky suggested. Once we here clear of that it stayed dry for the rest of the ride. As we approached Fairmont we saw a rather large group pulled off the road and we slowed pondering whether or not to pull in there. Just as we got to the south end of Fairmont we came to a Casey's with another group. We pulled in and settled in. I think it was a great place to view the eclipse from with facilities and gas. We were about 45 minutes early so it gave us time to unwind from the ride and really enjoy the show. There were about 100 people there and more kept coming in even well into the start of the eclipse. The vehicles ranged from motorcycles to 30 foot land yachts. By the time of the eclipse parking was getting scarce and they were lined up for the better part of a mile along the side road. If anyone didn't have eclipse glasses there were several people who brought some along to sell. I stuck with my welding mask. I found it to be quite adequate even though the glasses were darker. The mask did let in enough light to overwhelm my camera though, so I didn't get any usable pictures. So if anyone has any good shots feel free to upload them. The cloud cover was a little dicey when the show started and it was a little hard to tell cloud cover from moon cover. But not longer than 1/8 of the way into the show the clouds parted and it was clear for the rest of the eclipse. About half way through the show the atmosphere started to get a little darker and take on that eerie golden tinge so characteristic of an eclipse. I've seen partial and annular eclipses but this was my first total eclipse. As the sun progressively disappeared it got darker much faster. Soon there was just a sliver of the sun showing and I was surprised to see how light it still was on the ground. Watching through my welding mask the sliver of sun started shortening very quickly until all you could see was a bright dot of the sun momentarily. Then it was lights out! The moon completely covered the sun. It was met with gasps and cheers from the crowd. It was a spectacularly AWESOME sight. Nothing was visible through the mask so I looked up at it without protection. It was a big black disk surrounded by a sunburst like halo. The sun's corona. Looking around me it was about as dark as late dusk, but looking off into the distance I could see the area lit up like broad daylight. Just before totality the light fell off quite rapidly and it stayed dark for an all too short 2 minutes 30 seconds. As soon as the sun started coming back into view the light level rose as fast as it fell. It wasn't long before people started to pull out and this Casey's saw their biggest traffic jam ever. I'm not one to fight the traffic so Chuck and I decided to wait it out til most of the others left. Another tea and a tank of gas and we were on the way home. Sometimes even the best efforts fall short. Along 81 southbound there were two spots where traffic ground to a halt at some busier crossroads. But at least the delay wasn't too long. I needed to stop in Belleville where my truck is to pick up my garage door opener. My south door won't respond to any remote anymore. It did that once before and I had to replace the circuit board to the tune of $100. I also had to replace the worn out gears in that unit too. I don't think I want to throw any more money at this thing. So until I can afford a new one for the south door I'll have to park my bike on the north side where the remote still works. OMG we've gotten lazy! We can't live without a machine to open the door for us. We even have machines to watch TV for us. But I digress. By the time we got back to Concordia the police had it all figured out and set all the traffic lights on 81 to flashing yellow and had officers out directing traffic. All the returning traffic could pull through town non stop. After Concordia I pumped it up to the speed limit because I was swiftly running out of steam. Somewhere I lost Chuck. He had mentioned taking the back roads from Minneapolis. Arriving at home I pulled into the garage and went inside to be accosted by two wiener dogs ever so grateful not to be abandoned. That was a 260 mile ride to view a two and a half minute event. It was worth every bit of it.
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