In about five minutes I'm heading out with two mates to ride down to Oregon to view the total solar eclipse from a peak deep in the forest of the eastern part of the state. It's a 330 mile (530km) ride to our intended spot. We'll camp tonight. The crowds are expected to surge in places like Bend, Salem, John Day & etc., but we reckon we'll be far enough up in the woods that most of the crowds and traffic will be missed. I'll be buggered if I'm gunna sit and crawl with the masses on the main highways. We have knowledge of many fine backroads in the area and with just three bikes to keep in sight it should be a good ride. My mate Dean forgot his special eclipse glasses, on sale everywhere round here lately. I've got a mini, hand-held welder's mask stowed in my Ortlieb duffel. That should do the trick. The event happens around about 10:30 am tomorrow (Monday). Piccies and a full report at the other end.

The '07 K1200R is my weapon of choice.

You might want to carry some extra gas.  Lincoln City and Coos Bay ran out on Friday.

Best of luck with it. It's a great event.

I took the kids and myself camping to the total eclipse in Cornwall in south west tip of England in 1999.

We made a holiday out of it and it was a fantastic experience.

Birds roosting, animals thinking it was night. Happens quickly though.

The mass exodus after was something else though. Madness descended on the masses. We took one look and decided on a wonderful coastal back route so you are thinking the right way.

I was working in the Harland & Wolff shipyard for that one. I bet the place had never been so quiet for those ten minutes or so.

Two Wheels Better wrote:I've got a mini, hand-held welder's mask stowed in my Ortlieb duffel. 

TWB,
would like to comment as a amateur astronomer. welder mask is probably not good enough for sun watching.
I heard some astronomy group might be handing out eclipse glasses, pick up one of those if you can.
my friends in LA Astro Society went to Wyoming and are handing them out, much to the chagrin of those selling them for 20 a pop.

CK

bmwpyro wrote:

Two Wheels Better wrote:I've got a mini, hand-held welder's mask stowed in my Ortlieb duffel. 

TWB,
would like to comment as a amateur astronomer. welder mask is probably not good enough for sun watching.

#14 is considered the only grade that will filter enough harmful rays. I've got an ANSI 14 from heavy plate welding but I live outside the area of the maximum eclipse.

I've decide to strike a gong then strike an arc with the Hobart at the appropriate time, if I'm awake. I'm not telling anybody about this because I don't want people camping in my yard.

Laitch wrote:

bmwpyro wrote:

Two Wheels Better wrote:I've got a mini, hand-held welder's mask stowed in my Ortlieb duffel. 

TWB,
would like to comment as a amateur astronomer. welder mask is probably not good enough for sun watching.

#14 is considered the only grade that will filter enough harmful rays. I've got an ANSI 14 from heavy plate welding but I live outside the area of the maximum eclipse.

I've decide to strike a gong then strike an arc with the Hobart at the appropriatedtime, if I'm awake. I'm not telling anybody about this because I don't want people camping in my yard.

Thanks Laitch for the update. yea 14 should work.
Ck

The bikes at first break.

It was all a bit anti-climatic, really, but the view turned a bit sepia-tone, the air grew noticeably cooler, and the birds stopped singing, the cows went to ground, and I wanted to take a nap!

The riding to and from was fantastic, well, except for the even rougher road from Carson hot springs to near the Ape Cave, then past the Windy Ridge road to Mt St Helens. I'm done with that route for a while yet, plus I was babysitting a mate on a Dyna Wide Glide (nice paint and chrome), but two inches of suspension travel do not a sporting machine make. I had to stop at each junction for a little wait while he caught up.

The coyotes howling just before dawn, whilst we camped in Cutsforth National Forest between Heppner and Ukiah, Oregon, was both eerie and amazing. I spotted a full grown and two pups (kittens?) just after sun-up. There was evidence of elk and of deer resting places in the long grass.


The volume of interested humans was mainly just to the south (Prairie City/John Day) and west (Madras/Bend/Prineville) of where we were. Traffic was only 'bad' nearer the main roads and junctions. We stayed mainly to county roads, of which there are many in rural Oregon, and the best for low flying/strafing in spaced-out, three bike formation.

Next one round these here parts, 2040, when I will be a sprightly eighty years of age and if not drooling on meself and muttering BMW part numbers, hopefully still astride two wheels, or at least in a sidecar or three wheeler.

Welder's mask worked a charm, and I suffer no eye spots. In fact, it worked better than my mate's "special eclipse glasses", giving me a clearly defined, though greenish tint to the sun.