VagabondJeep.Com
O|||||O Bernie and Dave
Jeep, Jeep. Beep, beep.
Dave and I went for a ride. A ride across Tennessee, into Kentucky, around a bit of Missouri, then on to Arkansas. All to find a place to view the total eclipse of 2024.
We headed west Friday evening, ten days before the eclipse, and drove to Hillmans Ferry, Kentucky, where we slept in Vardo in the parking lot at the ranger station. Come morning, we bought a dispersed camping pass for one night at Land Between the Lakes. We’ve been there so many times, we're on a first name basis. We call it George.
N36.98003, W88.19642 George
Saturday night, we camped at Land Between the Lakes. Remember George? See Eclipsed in New Mexico 2023. Someone, or someones, at this campsite had herded more garbage since we had been here in October. All that garbage was piled beside a tree. Dave had a big trash bag that we filled, tied, and secured to the roof. We’ll find dumpsters at the Ranger Station
The next morning, we said goodbye to George, and headed out. Back at the Ranger Station, Dave filled the water jugs, dumped the garbage, and attended to necessities. We walked to the grassy area. I attended to necessities, also. Ready to roll.
N36.90492, W90.43370
We headed toward the first site we had picked out in the Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri. As it turned out, the location was perfect, but we were uninvited guests. There we found the world’s largest collection of lone star ticks. Ticks by the score. Really. That wasn’t in our plans, so we moved on toward our eclipse destination on the Weyerhaeuser property in Arkansas, taking as few ticks with us as possible.
N33.68150, W93.61346
Sunday night, home was at the Hope, Arkansas Wal~Mart. Hope Arkansas is the birthplace of former President William Jefferson Clinton, somewhere nearby, not aisle six at Wal~Mart like Dave says. Don't believe that.
N34.3251, W94.12452
Morning came and we moved to “Camp David.” Guess who came up with that name. The area was a wide open, clear-cut about a mile east and west, and hundreds of yards wide, north and south. The whole ridgetop is owned by Weyerhaeuser and managed by the BLM, Bureau of Land Management. This is a spot Dave and I picked out months ago on OnXmaps. Gaia GPS had a layer specifically showing the eclipse lines. That would have made things easier, but OnXmaps didn’t have that. What we’ve got is what we’ve got. We made it work. Am I beginning to sound like Dave, huh? He's had too much coffee, I'd guess. I’ve mentioned before how much of a fan we are of OnXmaps. We still are, but there are limitations.
Being such a great spot on the line of totality, we anticipated dozens of other eclipse-chasing folks to have picked the same area. That’s why we arrived a week early. They hadn’t. It was a week of solitude, me and my human. We’re best friends, you know. One day is like seven dog days for me. And Dave talks too much, mostly to himself, but he looks at me when he does.
I should mention the forest fires. That wasn’t in our plans either, but Thursday, there was fire just a few miles south of us. It was my decision to leave, but Dave was already in the Jeep and revving the engine. We went back to Wal~Mart in Hope, Arkansas for the evening.
N34.19185, W94.09384 (Blue Ridge Park and Campground)
Friday, on the way back, to Camp David, we found Blue Ridge Park and Campground. Worth a visit, we thought, and that is what we did. It was a quiet campground, nice facilities, but the ground, all around, was charred from fire, and still smoldering. No more wondering where the fire had been.
Dave and I watched the weather forecast all week from Camp David in Arkansas. It kept getting better, though not optimal. Dave asked me what I thought. I thought we’d have good chances staying here. You can’t trust weather forecasts. He must have liked what I said. We made the decision the stay at Camp David for the eclipse.
Monday morning, eclipse day, Dave sipped his coffee. He looked at me and said, “Mmm, don’t you wish dogs drank coffee?” I hadn’t given it much thought until then, but he sure seemed to enjoy it. “I’ll have a latte, skinny, with a double shot in the dark.” That’s how I roll.
So, about the eclipse. The Sun was devoured by great Satan, then regurgitated. Other than that, not much was going on. There was no nudity or blue body paint, but until the end of totality, the skies were clear. We had waited our entire lifetimes for that moment, and this is what we saw. It was worth it.
I didn’t get extra feedings, and Dave didn’t attain Enlightenment. So, unenlightened and hungry we loaded Vardo to start our way back home with a short drive to Blue Ridge Park and Campground. Back to the Land of Hot Running Water.
VagabondJeep.Com
O|||||O Bernie and Dave
Jeep, Jeep. Beep, beep.