Portland, OR on August 21, 1027
After a tremendous buildup that went on for weeks and weeks the highly anticipated in the path of totality, from coast to coast, D-day has finally arrived in Portland, OR on August 21, 2017.
At 8.30 a.m. a couple of friends and I packed up few portable chairs, table, picnic (Swedish pancakes with applesauce and coffee), tripods, cameras, drone, protective glasses, Gizmo the dog and off we went in the glorious sun to nearby Gabriel Park only 3 min drive away with no traffic at all to witness the most spectacular event of the century – the total eclipse 2017.
Other than a group of day summer camp kids there weren’t that many people in the park. All the crowds set off to Salem, a small Oregon town only about 50 min drive away, to get the best possible view of the eclipse. The total 100%. People who stayed behind, like us in Gabriel Park or elsewhere in Portland were left with still very impressive 99.3%. Surely is 99.3% as good as 100. Well, quite enough. In fact pretty plenty, or so we thought. Why sit in the bumper-to-bumper traffic jam for hours and hours risking fuel shortage or other discomforts for merely 0,7% gain? What a difference can 0.7% make? Surely not that much if anything at all.
Well, what a difference does 0.7% make? Day and night. Literally. Day as in light and night as in dark. 100% day and 100% night for 99.7% dark is not a night at all but a day, a little detail our mathematician brains miscalculated. Oh well, it was still pretty exciting and very spiritual for the spiritual souls to watch but not as exciting and spiritual as in Salem or other places on the path of totality. In short, 0.7% short. Dealbreaker. However, the picnic was great.
But as they say ‘there is always the next time’. And there actually is. “The next time” I can watch the total solar eclipse will be in 2019 and 2020 in Chile or Argentina. And I’ll make sure to find a location in the path of totality. 100%. No less, and no more.
