Never ask a pilot about his landings. You know - there are three rules that govern good landings. Unfortunately, no one knows them. Yes, Skypark. Leet me know about your wife. ________________________________ From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 7:19 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Sieg's eclipse site scouting trip You sound like Joan, LOL! Seriously Brent, if I can get in for a 1/3 share, I'm interested. I need to be at work at 6 AM Monday morning and your strategy may be my only way to see full annularity. I only plan on taking a HiDef hard-drive camcorder and tripod, maybe 8 or 10 pounds. If my wife wants to go too, then we'd pay her share as well. How are you at night landings? Skypark? Let me know. Thanks! C. On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 7:07 PM, Brent Watson <brentjwatson@yahoo.com>wrote:
Holy Mackerel! I leave town for a couple of days and my mailbox runeth over!
Modena is NOT a friendly place. The locals prefer their seclusion for religious purposes. You can interpret the rest. I have been to Modena several times. There are some very nice, photogenic old buildings there. However, each time I have visited, I have been closely "watched". Sometimes in a more than obvious manner. There is a building there with a watch tower. I am not saying for which purpose it is used, but it is there. The western horizon is also getting pretty tall at that point.
I originally thought I would drive to the vicinity of Beryl Junction and observe the eclipse from there, and then driving back that night. I even took a trip to scout out the horizons several months ago. Photos of the horizons are on Patrick's pages somewhere. Patrick, maybe you could post a link again.
I am having second thoughts about my original plan with all of the folks talking about that site. I have an alternative. I am thinking about flying to an airport along the path of annularity and returning that evening. I will probably leave early afternoon and return after dark. I could take one other person - well, maybe two others to help defray costs. There would be room for an celestron (no caps intentional) 8" or smaller scope also.
There is actually a private airstrip in Newcastle that is a possibility. Other destinations include Bryce Canyon, Page, Kanab, Cedar City, Panguitch, and Panaca. There may be a couple of other dirt strips that are not on the charts. (Modena has an old air strip but it has not been used for a long time.) I'll have to look and see. The final destination is determined by me and my passengers. Total time round trip is between 3.5 and 4 hours. That means about 2 hours after the eclipse I'd be back in Salt Lake (actually Bountiful).
The FAA will not allow me to charge any more than a pro rated share of the costs. Fuel for 4 hours in my bird is around $335.00. If one other person goes along, they would pay 1/2 of my actual costs. If two others go they would each pay 1/3 of my costs. If anyone is interested, let me know.
The major advantages in going this way are: 1. Only gone for a few hours. 2. No hotel cost. 3. Stay at an airport - not a lot of other folks around. 4. No traffic jams getting there and returning. 5. Its on my schedule. _______________________________________________
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