Event Coverage The Corvair Adventure

I hope you remembered to bring along a lense from a welding helmet to view the corona. Wish I was there to watch it..
Bob

 

I'll bet you wont get any closer than 92.96 million miles away.
Just sayin....

 

Too cool!!!! My first car was a '63 Corvair Monza. I loved it!!!

 

My speedo did the screeching death wail with the dancing, needle too. I was bummed at the time because it was the only gauge in the cluster that worked! And....I had to extend the tailpipe a bit as it would gas me out as well!!

 

Eclipse is one hour and three minutes away. I have my welding helmet handy, in case I want to watch.
I'm concerned about my brown chocolate Lab, Annie. She's always looking up, as we have wild geese that fly over, just clearing the roof of the house...
Anything 'unusual' in the air, Annie spots it.
Some 'ultralites' fly over, Annie barks. She also barks at the Medivac helicopter, which lands at the CHP office 100 yds away.
What's Annie gonna think when they 'turn the sun out'?

 

Hmm, glad you mentioned that Mike. I better do something too.

 

Good point.
Jim, did the countless godless hoards descend upon poor little Arco as predicted? And did you find accommodations, with cell service? Those are pretty rare out there too.

 

Ready...

 

Squirrel, quick, you only have a few minutes left! You must immediately tear through some small town in that Corvair. Then, when the cops pull you over, puff yourself up and declare you will use the power of your mind to blot out the sun unless they tear up the ticket.

I hear it's worked before...

 

they say shade 14 min. for the lens.

 

Friend just told me to use my binoculars to stream the image onto the ground. Had to line them up about a foot above the driveway, and the projected image showed up perfect on the drive. DO NOT Look through the binoculars with your eyes!!!

 

We had #14 welding glass at work and made some quick and dirty viewers which worked well.

 

I met up with my son and his friend in Arco. We drove up past Mackay, off a side road to where they figured the exact center of totality would be. Just a few others were camping there. The boys had a tent so I got to sleep in their car. Slightly more comfy than the Corvair but still kind of chilly. Waited in the morning for the sun to get dark. It did. Night fell a half hour before noon. Wild. I left while it was dark. A minute later, it got light again. Probably the only Corvair to ever drive during a total eclipse.

 

We were in the 90 percent zone and it was a big yawn compared to the eclipse in 1979. I am happy that so many people got to see this because it is magical.

 

Did you have to reboot the solar panel

 

Fast Corvair, go from daylight to dark back to daylight in just a few minutes!

 

Stacked a pair of #10 lenses in my big window helmet and it worked great. We had about 96% here in west central GA.

 

Back when I was a wee lad my nick name was Squirrel ( because I could run Fast), but I never had any adventures like you! Please be Safe out there!!

 

That made me spit coffee, excelent...lol

 

The little car is still running OK. Not much hill climbing power in 6000 foot air in Utah. Might be home tonight, or I might not.

 

Like the dash clutter in this shot. Maybe needs a rubber chicken in there somewhere. Can't believe somebody didn't make eclipse glasses with a fake nose and mustache though...

 

Keepin' the Halon handy. Ralph would be proud.
Safe travels Squirrel.

 

Think "the little air cooled that could"!
An 11:30 departure from north of Mackey should have put you south of SLC last night, barring unforeseen catastrophe. Home would seem possible today, and "oh so worth it". Dorothy was right! Click your heels.

 

I hope you have good rubber on the car. I hate to say this because we will have more than our share of wet stuff in a few months, but we could sure use some of that wet weather. How is your solar charger working right now?

 

71% in NY and it never made much of a difference if any. But it was a clear day. This picture was from one of the cardboard tube viewers we made up.

 

Stopped at Glen Canyon Dam. Back in Arizona again, been a while.





Pretty country up here.

 

Beautiful pictures. I didn't know that Glen Canyon Dam was that big a structure. I was hoping for a second that it was a shot of the Hoover Dam from the new highway, but I would assume you can't stop on the bridge.

 

I've been over the new bridge over the hoover Dam several times. It's very fast and very boring. I like the time saving. I miss the drive over the Dam.

 

They did,I thought all the QT gas stations in the country had them. HRP

 

Yeah, you can't see nothing from the bridge, the sides are high, all you can see is straight ahead or back. I assume they didn't want the rubber necking, but damn, that would be a great view from up on that bridge.