Last Random Thoughts and Thanks

Starbucks mug

Once again thanks to Stuart Jones for the $10 Starbucks gift card at Valentine's Day. Starbucks wanted $12.99 for it. Stuart's gift card gets me started. We really appreciate it Stuart!

Quality Inn's 5 small square pillows

As for thoughts. I am sure this is not the last time that I rant about Choice Hotels chain and their 5 half-size square pillows. We get a king-size bed for 2 adults and it comes with 5 small square pillows. Again, I have to ask.... what genius had the idea of an odd number of square pillows on a large rectangular bed split by 2 people. I was sure that after our many years absence that this problem would have solved itself. Alas, not. Sigh...

Kanawha River behind the Quality Inn/Charleston

The weather was much better for our return stay at the Quality Inn on McCorkle Avenue in Charleston, WV. We did not realize during the outbound journey's stay there that at least 2 of the buildings backed up to the Kanawha River. Side notes:  NC's New River which is one of the world's oldest rivers and it runs into the Kanawha and is one of only a few rivers to flow north. 

Kanawha River behind the Quality Inn/Charleston

Most of our trip, we traveled on US Route 35. We got on it in West Virginia as we left Charleston and ended somewhere near Xenia, OH. It was little used and a well-paved 4 lane divided highway. I cannot say that everything of interest was on that road but it was a great road!

Points of interest: Stephen Austin birthplace

Wilbur Wright birthplace (guess what, it is not in Ohio! It is in Indiana!)

We did not stop at either of the 2 above, but on the way back home we did stop at Bob Evans Farms. It was rather a let down as everything but the restaurant was closed up tight. If you've ever been in one of the Bob Evans restaurants then you've seen it all in better photos than ours below.

Useful Information from Quality Inn Castleton

 

April 8, 2024 Total Solar Ecllipse

Totality begins 3:06pm

Just starting 2:53pm

Today we are in Indianapolis, IN. It was cold and windy yesterday and rained overnight, so we were worried. But as forecast today was about 70F and mostly clear skies with a slight chill and light breeze. Tomorrow and Wednesday it is forecast to be cold and drizzly. We'll see if the forecasters did as well. We are at the Quality Inn Castleton in the NE corner of Indianapolis. Our totality lasted 3 minutes and 53 seconds here and it flew by! We just stayed in the motel's parking lot and given the mess of traffic, I think we did right. I will credit our lessons learned from our trip to a freeway motel in South Carolina in 2017. Pick a place you can drive to within the band of totality, reserve 2 nights motel for before and after. Don't leave the parking lot until after breakfast the day after! There were maybe 2 dozen people in the parking lot so it was great here. It sounds like that this was our last total solar eclipse since the next one on this continent is evidently in 20 years! With totality in the Dakotas and Canada only. So, I think we're done and glad we came today!

Clay photographing totality

Just ending 3:11pm

2024 Total Eclipse

Here we go again, chasing the shadow of the moon. We last did this in 2017 in Sumter, South Carolina.  This time we are headed to Indianapolis, IN for the total eclipse of 2024. We are driving again and again planning to just stay at Interstate motels. That worked well for us last time. Fingers crossed that this will be just as successful and painless. This will be a four day trip instead of 2 since it is further away. We have booked one night outbound and one night back home in Charleston, WV as it looks like it is very close to halfway. So, countdown is at 43 days 20 hours and 56 minutes! I really like this website for planning on the maps.  It gives a good look at where the narrow band of totality crosses the US. Of course, it is never that easy. Today our first choice was along the PA shore of Lake Erie. No rooms. Then we tried Poplar Bluff, MO and there were rooms available but by the time we'd scouted the neighborhood with Google Maps, those rooms went away. Finally, we tried Indiana and found a room for 2 nights. Anyway, according to the maps of totality on The Great American Eclipse website it will be closer to 4 minutes of totality in Indianapolis and it was closer to 3 1/2 in Erie. 

We have not traveled for the pure fun of it, excepting family visits, since prior to my DBS surgery. Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates again in 2024!