Man God and the Total Eclipse
My son and I camped in the Painted Hills area of Oregon this weekend, where it allowed us to look at the sun for two minutes with the naked eye. The event was spectacular...yet a tiny masterpiece relative to God. I took a video and photo of the total eclipse, but it couldn't compare to the real thing.
Several months ago, I asked my son to go on a back-packing trip for my birthday gift. He is a 5th grade teacher, has a wife and three kids - so time is precious. He asked if we could camp on the eclipse weekend. I agreed...not knowing the complications that were in-store for us.
The news media hyped up the prelude to the total eclipse, predicting the traffic to be a "eclipse apocalypse," and expecting traffic to backed up at least 20 hours. Therefore, at the advice of my wife, on August 19th we left our house about 5:00 am and drove east on 84 and down 206 to the desert. The traffic consisted of a few cars...I'm not here to discuss the accuracy of media predictions, so I won't go there.
As usual, Aaron constructed his video by recording our travels. Here is a link for the excellent video he made:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gzfDRKUdGE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gzfDRKUdGE
He brought his camera, small video camera, smart phone, and drone to document the event. It was smooth sailing over to eastern Oregon, through majestic hills and small towns, to the Painted Hills area - the central most point of eclipse totality - and searched for a campsite.
The first campsite was on the John Day river, but filled with dozens of campers...the first site had a 10 ft high telescope. We wanted to be more secluded and decided to move on.
The second campsite was several miles down a winding gravel road. Squirreling around rock cliffs, the road straightened out and a make-shift store appeared, with a sign that said Snow Cones and T-shirts. We passed by and continued to the second camp, where several cars were parked at the top of the entrance. Aaron and I continued down the steep (rough at times) gravel road. Two other parking spots were virtually filled. We opted to find another more secluded spot somewhere else.
The drive back up the gravel road (Did I mention full of moguls?), was a harrowing event. Aaron tried to slowly climb up the loose rock, but to no avail. He handed me the wheel and I took off in 1st and 2nd gear like a bat out of hell - engine revved to the max. The car bounced around, stones pinging off the bottom, tires spinning, engine screaming, until I reached a flatter safer area (thankfully no damage). Aaron took over, gingerly driving away, as if to say he was sorry to the low riding Kia.
We stopped at the makeshift market and Aaron bought a snow cone and a eclipse t-shirt. Gabe the owner, who was trying to make a killing on this event; stating "I'm going to see more people on this one day than I will for the rest of my life." While Gabe went inside the farmhouse to get ice, his 6 year old son held up the money box and said "We have over a hundred dollars." He proceeded to open the box and his 9 year old sister said "No no." I told the boy I was a stranger, and that he should not open it. The sister agreed, but did say, "Although you aren't really a stranger." It felt good to be trusted by the girl, but dubious about others driving by.
We eventually found a side road that lead to two small trees (the only shade in the area). We were alone and beheld a stupendous view of some desert hills across the valley. Later, Luke (rock climber from Reno) arrived. He and his friends, John, Mark, and Steve showed up. I called them The Gospell Guys, with Steve the other guy the apostles liked. They camped so far down from us, we still felt secluded.
We enjoyed out little spot immensely...until the morning, when the owner showed up. We were on his property. For a small fee, we were able to stay on his land across the road and next to the John Day river. Needless to say, we took him up on the deal, and our new campsite rested between three shade trees, two of which held Aaron's hammock.
It was noon and we needed to get some ice. We took a quick trip to Mitchell where dozens of the people from the Eastbay Astonomical Society set up their huge telescopes. After we picked up some ice and a growler of local micro brewed beer, we headed up to the painted hills.
Arriving at the Painted Hills turnoff, we laughed at a sign that said, "Snow Cones and t-shirts 7 miles ahead." Good old Gabe; trying to lure unsuspecting and thirsty customers up a rough gravel road. We parked, along with hundreds of others, in the heat of the noon day sun and hiked our way to the viewpoint.
After a quick view of the hills, and a short stop to harvest some soil samples for Aaron's rock and minerals unit, we drove back to our comfortable new campsite.
We relaxed in the shade for awhile and later went swimming a quarter mile away in the river. It was slow moving and perfect for Aaron's videography. He filmed us diving into the water and also used the drone for special effects.
Once the sweat and dirt were cleaned off, we drank our brew, ate, played games, and talked to the Germans about geopolitical events - past and present. We laid down in the late evening to view the Milky Way and other constellations...brilliant to the eyes - no city light pollution. Aaron stayed up to video the star movements while I nodded off to the sounds of crickets, hooting owls, and a pack of barking coyotes.
The next morning was the big day - The Eclipse!
Aaron set up two video cameras...one on us and one on the sun. He used the drone to rise up 200 feet and get a 360 degree panoramic shot of the horizon. Aaron's phone had a program that indicated the moon/sun stages. "60 seconds before 1st contact," it called out. Before 2nd contact the birds, frogs, and other animals made noise, and the temperature dropped from 80 to 70 degrees. "2nd contact in 10 seconds," it called out again. We looked up with our sunglasses (safe ISO 12312-2 rated) and the phone said "...3 - 2 - 1, remove glasses."
It felt odd to look at the sun with the naked eye...It was - incredible. The detail was amazing; the temperature was now around 60 degrees, and a jacket would have been nice. We had two minutes of view time, plenty enough to look around at the environment take quick videos and pictures, and still have time to take in the experience.
Just before the eclipse expired I saw some golden beads around the edge - then poof! Gone. We sat there and took in the experience for a moment, then realized we had to go.
On the way back Aaron commented on the event as really good, but an atheist mentioned how emotionally effected and spiritually elated he had become. We agreed that it was the closest thing they would get to knowing God.
Man does great things: builds great monuments, creates inspiring vehicles that can leave our planet, and even overcome the ravages of nature. The eclipse was moving and spectacular, with many stating it was an emotional and or spiritual event. And yet, the experience of a lifetime where you can actually see the sun straight on with its corona glory, brightly spilling around the edge of blackened moon...is only a spec in the eye of God and his glory.
Meeting the eclipse face on is a glorious event, but as wonderful as it is, it pales in comparison with my camping trip and relationship with my son, and doesn't even come close to an encounter with God.
