I didn’t know about the 2017 solar eclipse until my friend, Rob, told me about it in the fall of 2016.  It was almost a throw away comment he made during lunch with our spouses, but I pounced on it.

That night I found the path the eclipse will journey across America on August 21 and started my search for cheap hotels . I found none.  In desolate areas, the hotel equivalent of a “Motel Six” were already $3,000 per night.  Repeat that: “$3,000 per night.”  The eclipse was still ten months away and rates were already reflecting the # 1 American value: money. Ugh.

Camping was not an option for me because I have none of the equipment and really don’t know what I’m doing. So, throughout the fall, I’d hunt and peck on the internet now and then, trying to find some place to stay on the path.

Not unlike Rob’s casual mentioning of this event to me, I casually mentioned it to my adventurous friend, Vicki, who immediately said, “We have to do this somehow.”  It was December 2016, eight months to eclipse day, and rates were exceeding $6,000 per day.

So we decided we were going to drive from where she lived— about five hours to the center of one of the “best viewing sites” according to the NASA map. We will just drive there, see the eclipse, and drive back.

This was the plan back in December.

Wondering if this is going to be like Thelma and Louise, minus the bad stuff?

More to come…