Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

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For the term "eclipse".

Eclipse Day

What we anticipated to be a dismal forecast for the weather on Eclipse Day, turned out to be not so bad, especially during the totality phase. Clouds passed between us and the sun often, but then opened up for partial phase glimpses and during totality, most of the four minutes of darkness, we were able to see the corona and in the image below, a couple of prominences at two-thirty and five-thirty on the disc. The 5:30 prominence was huge.

I wasn’t very well-prepared to take photos given the woeful forecast, which affected my motivation, but I was able to attach the big 100-400mm telephoto lens and shoot bunches of photos hand-held (no tripod) and had a few fair results including the one above. Damsel had similar results and captured the “Diamond Ring” at the end of the totality show:

As I’m blogging this, we are getting some moderate to heavy thundershowers with lightning and thunder, but, Praise the Lord, no tornadoes. The precipitation knocked out the satellite TV a few times, but it is up and running now.

We’re here until Wednesday and then off to other parts of Texas south of us towards the Gulf of Mexico and thence via westerly routes heading back to Arizona over the next several days.

08 Apr 2024 by Astronomy Environment Notions Science Wanderlust

2024 Total Solar Eclipse

The (clickable) panel below shows the details of the eclipse as expected here in our RV campground located near Waco, TX. I cropped the image from a screenshot taken from the Time and Date website.

The right side of the panel shows our approximate location in the RV park (green area), The left side of the panel shows times for events associated with this eclipse. It also shows the expected weather of overcast with scattered thundershowers. That’s sub-optimal for eclipse viewing, of course, but we’re optimistic that we will see some of the spectacle, regardless.

At a minimum, the daylight will diminish to darkness if overcast, and I may be able to take a video the lunar shadow as it approaches our site at 1500 miles per hour. Likewise, four minutes later, I may be able to take a video of the shadow’s departure.

We just learned that there is a tornado watch for this area after the eclipse. We probably could use some prayerful help with that. Stay tuned.

07 Apr 2024 by Astronomy Environment Notions Science Technobabble

Motorhome Maintenance:
  Eclipse Trip Looming

Tuesdays, usually, are the days that I routinely run the RV Engine up and the first Tuesday of the Month, I run the 6 KVA generator for a couple of tenths of an hour; all the above for ensuring that things are performing properly. I also ran the AC inverter for a while to check it out in case we have to be boondocking somewhere (i.e. no shore power or sewer/city water hookups available). I’m happy to say that everything seemed to function correctly.

Our plans for the excursion to the eclipse are still coming together; the only iron-clad plan is for the day of the eclipse when we will be in our already reserved camping spot. Damsel is still researching places to see and things to do in the American Southwest in order to plan a route to the eclipse site and beyond.

The next stages of prep (beyond route planning) include purging and sanitizing the RV holding tanks, making sure that all fluids and pressures are within spec and giving the big RV the bath it really needs. We will be doing those things over the next couple of weeks before launch day (exact date still TBD).

05 Mar 2024 by Retirement Travel Wanderlust

Annular Solar Eclipse Day

Above, first order of camping business is to show the RV parked at the American RV Park taken after the day’s festivities. This is the third time we’ve camped at this particular park – once in 2017 and again in 2019.

Now, in 2023, we’re back again to witness one of God’s spectacles, to wit, the great annular solar eclipse of 2023. Without going into a lot of detail, this is an image of the annularity taken by Damsel this morning at 10:37 local time.

Click on either image to enlarge.

Tomorrow, we will be headed to the Texas Panhandle.

14 Oct 2023 by Astronomy Retirement Technobabble Wanderlust

Eclipse Countdown Update

In anticipation of a second solar eclipse that we may travel to observe, I updated the Eclipse Countdown item in the Featured Pages in the right sidebar (or below on your smartphone) to include a countdown to the next American total solar eclipse. The previous counter for the Albuquerque Annular Eclipse next October is still there.

Newly added to the Eclipse Countdown page:

The next North American total solar eclipse event will take place on April 08, 2024. We’re planning to be in Kerrville, TX to view this event.

Damsel took the (clickable) image on the right during a previous eclipse seen from Casper, WY on August 21, 2017. At that time, we witnessed our first total solar eclipse and are eagerly anticipating seeing another in April 2024.

Time left until the Total eclipse begins in Kerrville:

28 Nov 2022 by Astronomy Technobabble Wanderlust

Eclipse Excursion Planning

There will be an annular eclipse of the sun on October 14, 2023. We have begun the planning for a trip in order to be where we can see the ring of fire. The path forecast favors places like Monument Valley, UT and Albuquerque, NM, both of which are just a few hours from home. We will be taking the Class A Motorhome to see this eclipse, just as we did the last time on August 21, 2017.

Damsel and I are both familiar with camping in both Goulding’s RV Campground in Monument Valley and American RV Resort in Albuquerque, so we were quickly able to choose the latter, given it’s convenient location to I-40 and the amenities there with which we’re familiar. So American RV it is — on condition we can get reservations there on the dates of the event.

In the image above, we were getting set up in Casper, WY for the August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse. Damsel is by the open side door with Tom and Amber (our friends) in the foreground. Cabela and Beethoven, our Min Pins look on as we go through our antics. Looking at these old pictures gives us the wanderlust to get this next event planned as well as getting our shakedown cruise going.

I refurbished the old countdown timer that we used to count the time left until the August 2017 eclipse to now count the time until the eclipse starts in Albuquerque in 2023. See the sidebar for Eclipse Countdown.

08 Sep 2022 by Astronomy Notions Retirement Wanderlust

Five Years Ago – Total Solar Eclipse

The Great American Eclipse of 2017 took place on this date five years ago. Damsel and I (and some friends) watched the spectacle from Casper, Wyoming. We were in an RV park, along with several hundreds of other campers and spectators. Casper, a town of less than 60,000 people had grown to an estimated population of over a quarter million, not counting those outside of town limits watching the eclipse from campsites on the Platte River and elsewhere. Our campground definitely had a party atmosphere before, during and after totality.

Image above: Damsel’s capture of mid-totality – click to enlarge.

At our location, totality lasted about 2 minutes and 26 seconds. The crowd noise in the campground dropped to murmurs during totality with a collective “oooooh” sounding as the “diamond ring” appeared at the end of totality. The whole effect was phenomenal – a memory that should last until we’re gone.

There will be another total solar event during the Great American Eclipse of 2024. We sort of have a plan to be in Kerrville Texas vicinity at that time, The Good Lord willing. There will also be an annular eclipse in October next year; we have not made plans for that one yet, but we may do so after our “shakedown” cruise in the motorhome coming up soon. We’re thinking of going to the “Four Corners” area for that eclipse if we go. If we do go, maybe we’ll organize a meetup with family and friends for that event.

21 Aug 2022 by Astronomy Retirement Wanderlust

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