The Total Solar Eclipse We Nearly Missed

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

Many people had made plans to view the solar eclipse a year in advance. We hadn't put much effort into the planning until April and by then most of the campgrounds were completely booked. We had found a place to stay that was in the path of totality on a site called Boondockers Welcome. The site lists people that have room on their property to fit a visiting RVer. There are not a huge number of locations across the country, probably a few hundred. But we had found one just south of Madras Oregon that we had contacted in mid April to see if he had room for us during the eclipse. And he did!

On Boondockers Welcome, you are only expected to stay a night or two so that was what we had planned for. We were going to come in the day before the eclipse and leave the day after. We had even booked two days at different campgrounds on either side of those days so we could be sure we had a place to stay during the crowded time. But a week or two ago our host, Bob, called and told us the expected crowd in the central Oregon area was going to be massive and he suggested we come in a couple days earlier than we had planned. Fortunately our plans were rather flexible so we were able to shift the stops by two days and hopefully get there before the roads were too bad.

The drive out of Mount Hood Village to central Oregon takes you up and over the Cascade Mountain range. The drive is nice since there is a good view of nearby Mt Hood at many points along the uphill climb. Things were going well with a fair amount of traffic but it was moving right along. We were probably only 15 minutes into the drive going up a reasonably steep grade when we heard a loud thud from the rear of the coach and all of a sudden I had no power. Fortunately we were just coming up to a good sized paved pullout so I slowly worked my way of the side of the road. 

We had no warning lights on the dash, the engine seemed to be running fine, but we had no power. I shut it off and went out to see if I could find anything obvious like smoke, leaking fluid, steam, broken belt, etc. But I didn't see anything wrong. We called the 800 number for our chassis maker - Freightliner. After a bit of a wait, I gave the guy all the info I could. He concluded the transmission was stuck in the wrong gear. After trying one thing and pulling forward in the pullout a bit, I could tell it was no better. So he talked me through reprogramming the transmission. To see if this helped, I needed to pull out onto the road since my pullout was all used up. I waited for a break in the traffic and pulled out. I managed to get all the way up to 7 or 8 miles per hour. With flashers on, traffic used the passing lane to work its way around me in and there was another pullout we stopped at. 

We knew there was a rest stop at the top of the pass and it was only about 2 miles away. We tried one more thing suggested by the service guy on the phone and pulled out again. Still we had no power. We crawled until there was another pullout and figured we might need to call for roadside service. It was then I noticed an Oregon DOT truck behind us. I talked with him and he confirmed there was both a rest area and a ski lodge parking lot just a mile or two up the road. He had a big sign on the back of his truck that could display a flashing arrow and he agreed to follow us up until we could get to a larger parking area to regroup. It seemed to take forever but we made it and the ski lot was mostly empty with only a few dozen cars parked. We sat for a bit and it was starting to sink in that we would likely need to have the motorhome towed back to Portland for repairs and we would miss the eclipse or at least miss totality.

We unhitched the Jeep and I opened up the rear engine compartment to see if there was anything I might have missed. It was then I noticed that the 4.5" pipe that feeds the turbocharger had snapped a hose clamp and was disconnected from the charge air cooler. It looked promising that if I got a clamp, I could be in business. But where would I find a clamp? Not here in the town of Government Camp Oregon. But I could probably drive back towards where we were and find an auto parts store and get something that would work. It was just then that a guy who was working on a tour bus just on the other side of the parking lot walked over to see what our problem was. He and his buddy were sent out from a garage in Portland to work on a hydraulic leak on the bus. He wasn't sure if he had a clamp that would work but we went back to his truck and found that he had plenty of clamps too small and one too big. We decided we could daisy chain two smaller clamps and make it work. He put us back together and said it might hold until we get to where we were heading but it might not. There is a special clamp that is to be used in this situation so our solution was far from ideal. Chris had offered to make them sandwiches for his help since he wouldn't take any money. We snuck some cash in the bag with the food and I assume he eventually discovered it.

We drove the rig a couple miles through the town of Government Camp and it seemed to be running like normal. We came back and hitched up the car and continued on our way. The next 50 miles or so are mostly downhill and we seem to be doing okay. Just outside of Madras is another climb of about 800 feet. Halfway up the climb, we experience the same loss of power. We managed to crest the hill and start down into Madras. Even with all the people coming here for many big eclipse gatherings, we manage to get into a parking lot out of the way of traffic. We find there is a Freightliner service center about 25 miles away in Redmond. I call and find they have the right type of clamp, so I drive the Jeep there, get the clamp, come back and install it and drive the 10 remaining miles to our boondocking spot. 

Our guests are Bob and Peggy. They previously were fulltimers for quite a few years but had now settled down on their five acres near Terrebonne Oregon. Being on the dry side of the Cascades, most of the property is not irrigated so Bob shows us the general area he wants us to park and we pull in and setup. They were having about 4 other rigs staying and had actually expected a couple more but those people had cancelled when they heard how bad the traffic was expected to be. Other than a couple from the Netherlands with a rental RV, all the others were friends and family of the hosts. We got together the first evening and sat around the patio meeting everybody. 

Sunset in Terrebonne with Smoke from Sisters Fire

 

Cloud Looked Like Donut

Looking Over Boondocking Spot for Eclipse

Another View

With a couple days to kill before the big event, we went out and explored some of the area. Smith Rock State Park is not too far away so we headed there. Apparently we weren't the only visitors that decided this was a good place to be - the place was packed. Since we will be in Oregon for awhile and the state park pass is only $30, we opt for it. The park has many trail options. Some that go up and over the rock formations and others that follow along the Crooked River that runs through the park. Smith Rock is a big destination for rock climbers. There are dozens of people in small groups all along the river climbing various sections of the rock walls. We see many other places where there are anchors in the rock for climbing. We stop and are amazed at the strength and agility and either fearlessness or stupidity of the people climbing. Most seem to be attached to a safety rope but there were a few that were free climbing. At one point along the trail was a safety shack with a few tools, crutches and a metal stretcher for the inevitable accidents that may occur.

View at Smith Rock State Park

Stretcher and Crutches - Just In Case

A Couple of Climbers

There is a Guy Up There!

Slightly Closer View - He is Nearly Centered in Picture

Beautiful Late Afternoon View from River Trail

Also in town is an alpaca ranch - Crescent Moon Ranch. They are right along the main road in town and hard to miss since there are almost two hundred of the animals living in the many acres of fields next to the house and the store. They have lots of very young ones that look to be all legs. They even have a geriatric one that is 21 years old. They have bags of feed you can buy in the store and go out and wander along the fences feeding them as you go. The very young ones were uninterested in the handouts while the adults were very conditioned to come over for a bite. The problem with the adults was if more than one was trying to eat, they tended to get a bit aggressive. The most well behaved ones were surprisingly the juveniles. They would come over and eat quite nicely out of your hand. 

Inquisitive Alpaca

Chris Feeds a Juvenile

Mom and Baby

Chris Feeds Adult

Lots of Alpaca

Everyone Likes the Alpaca

Another tourist destination wasn't too far from our camping spot at Peter Skene Ogden State Park. It is located right where US 97 goes over the Crooked River. There are three bridges near one another. The current one carrying the highway, an active railroad bridge and then the former highway bridge that is now a pedestrian walkway with one exception. There is a big truck parked here with a platform that extends up and over the railing of the bridge so that people can bungee jump. With all the people visiting for the eclipse, this place was busy both times we were there. The platform is 300 feet above the river and by selecting the right bungee based on a person's weight, the person will fall 250 feet before being yanked back up to bounce around a few times before a hoist will pull them back up to the platform.

Looking Down the Crooked River

Leap of Faith

Train Heading North

 We stood and watched quite a few people jumping. Most would scream during the jump, but some would remain eerily quiet making us question if they had passed out on the way down. Most of the people would get up on the platform, let go of the railing, put their arms above their head and take the plunge in a matter of 15 or 20 seconds. One person obviously had second thoughts once she was staring at the river below. It was nearly 10 minutes before she got the nerve to jump - I'm pretty sure they didn't just push her but all the onlookers were cheering her to jump! Chris wanted nothing to do with it but I was contemplating it figuring you only live once. It's only $129 for the first jump and if you want to jump again, subsequent jumps only cost $49. I was informed I would NOT be doing it!

This Guy Wore a Rabbit Suit to Jump

Heading Down

Bouncing Back Up

On the morning of the eclipse, the ten of us got out our chairs, donned our eclipse glasses and sat on the driveway to watch the show. Bob had an app that accounted for our exact location and it would count down the various phases of the eclipse. I hadn't bothered to buy any special solar filters for any of my cameras. Since we had a couple extra pair of eclipse glasses, I was able to create a filter for my GoPro and found I could simply point my small Sony camera through the other half of the glasses. I had my Nikon DSLR on a tripod so I could shoot during totality. 

Watching the Eclipse

In hindsight, I should have put more thought into photographing this spectacle but I found myself more interested in just experiencing it. It turned out the video from the GoPro was far from impressive. Surprisingly the shots with the Sony were reasonable but small in size based on the focal length of the lens. I hadn't carefully focused the DSLR so they are a bit soft. Oh well, maybe we will get to experience the next one in 2024?

Composite of Eclipse

The afternoon after the eclipse, we went back over to the nearby park to watch bungee jumping again. It was then we saw the huge traffic jam heading south on US 97. Many of their people were probably heading home to California somewhere. The northbound traffic was light at this point, but was likely as bad or worse once you got the handful of miles up to the Madras area. I'm glad we opted to stay the extra night to let some of the craziness subside. 

Slow Moving Traffic After Eclipse

Bull in the Shade

From Bob's place, you could often see the smoke from the nearby Mille fire in Sisters Oregon. This one had turned bad and forced quite a few evacuations over that way. Our dilemma was that we had booked a spot in the town campground in Sisters. We called to ask what the fire and smoke status was before we headed out. At that point there was no real fire danger, and the smoke level would very quite a bit as the wind direction changed.  Even though the place was identified as "full", it was pretty empty. They have a no refund, no cancellation policy so I suspect many people just don't show up because of the fire and the sites go paid for but unoccupied. 

Before heading to Sisters, we swing by the Freightliner service center in Redmond. I want to understand if there is some underlying problem that caused the hose clamp to snap off the first time. I had noticed about an inch and a half lateral misalignment issue and suspected that something may have loosened to cause that. After a couple hours of investigation, it was determined there wasn't any real new problem. The original design of the bent pipe ahead of the turbocharger was not real good and there is a replacement one that can be installed. Of course it can only be installed if it is in inventory somewhere. Right now there are none available and it is unclear when they will be running another batch. They reassembled things as good as it probably was from day one and for the time being we will live with the status quo. 

Replacement Clamp

The drive from Redmond to Sisters is a short one so we didn't bother towing the Jeep. It seemed a bit odd to be driving into the smoke, but we took the word of the campground that there was no fire danger. Sisters Creekside Campground is a nice place under normal conditions. We opted to avoid any real strenuous hikes based on the air quality warnings we were experiencing. The town itself is a cute little place. We walked around and found the library, a good burger joint and a bakery with some good looking bread and coffee cake. For the most part we took it easy and stay inside as much as possible.