For the last two years, many of us in this county have been planning for this Monday's event, the total eclipse of the sun. There have been meetings and more meetings to the point of ad nauseum. Rooms filled with overstuffed people and inflated egos, passing out paper and chewing on chocolate covered donuts.
Unlike most events, no one can predict what will happen. Take a car crash. You expect highway blockage, the need for one or two medic units, bleeding and stressed out patients, the possible need for extrication. But this event. This event is unpredictable.
Rumors abound. 300 people climbing Sleeping Indian Mountain to watch the shadow race across the valley floor. Masses of people driving into the valley from the three ways in Monday morning. Cell phones are anticipated to fail. Radio repeaters are already down with frenzied repair technicians repairing lightning damage from last week; just discovered. I have packed 4 walkie talkies and three packages of AAA batteries to feed them, just in case.
It has been personally verified that the grocery stores and their associated parking lots are a war zone. Produce is wiped clean from display cabinets. Customers are surly in their angst to make sure they get their goods. A sense of anxiety it thick through the barren aisles.
Also verified, the increase of traffic on all streets. Grid lock is expected. There are air resources ready for responder and patient transportation. Civil Air Patrol will fly the darkening sky the day of the eclipse to provide updates for highway congestion.
I am sad Mike and I will be separated in distance during this remarkable event. He will be in Hoback ready to respond for calls out of his station and I will be in Moran, acting as a North Division Deputy Chief. I wish we could share this together. Our commitment to this community pulls us apart. We swore the oath years ago.
Baring the lack of internet, I will make a daily entry into this blog, noting my observations on The Great American Eclipse event about to happen here in Teton County, Wyoming, the Path of Totality going right through the airport.
It won't be something we forget. It will challenge us and push us to work together. And it just might be so amazingly awesome that we sit back and say, wow, that was really something!
Here are two great articles - if you have time for reading - that are worth the reading. Join The Crowd! and a bit longer, but exceptional piece Annie Dillard's Writing Enjoy.
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