Sunday, August 20, 2017

Ready for the Eclipse!


This past week or so, we have been putting in a lot of miles, working our way from Northwest Territories to southern Montana.  To avoid most of the smoke from all the fires, we took the eastern route through Alberta via Edmonton and Calgary, and re-entered the U.S. at the Roosville crossing just north of Eureka, MT. 

The crossing was the simplest we have every experienced.  The border guard was actually pleasant, and this is the first time we have entered the lower 48 where they did not search us for fruit or vegetables.

We spent a very nice three days on Flathead Lake, near Big Fork, MT where the temperatures were perfect, and there were no flies or mosquitoes. This was a nice break, as we have experience a lot of heat and bugs on this trip.

This morning we left Big Fork - heading for southern Montana. Most of the day was spent in smoke from the many forest fires burning in the state. The area around Swan Lake and Seeley Lake was especially bad.

Right now we are currently in an RV park near Dillon, MT - just north of the region of totality for the eclipse tomorrow. We plan to leave early in the morning to claim a spot in a Dubois, Idaho rest area. We don't know what to expect in terms of crowds, but we do know that the RV parks in Dillon are full tonight, so we may not be alone!  We have scoped out about a dozen spots in the zone of totality via Google satellite images, so hopefully we can find a spot.


More beautiful canola fields in Alberta

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A lucky Alberta farmer with canola and oil

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Lundbreck Falls in southern Alberta.  Not as big as those in NWT but still nice.

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Logging a Geo Cache near Lundbreck Falls

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Always good to see this sign.  Time to put away the Loonies and the Toonies until next time.  Will miss the metric system though!

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The forest fires made for some outstanding sunsets on Flathead Lake

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A really neat two person sail boat on Flathead Lake.  A few minutes after this photo was taken, a gust of wind knocked it down and they had to be towed back to shore.

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Testing out our eclipse glasses before the big day!

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Montana is on fire!  This was in the Seeley Lake area today.

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Track Logs:

Day 20 - Aug. 14, 2017, 401 miles driven

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Day 21 - Aug. 15, 2017, 314 miles driven

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Day 22 - Aug. 16, 2017, 304 miles driven

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Day 23 - Aug. 17, 2017, 199 miles driven

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Days 24-25 Flathead Lake, Big Fork MT (no miles driven)


Day 26 - Aug. 20, 2017, 293 miles driven

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