Saw the total eclipse.  We flew to Denver (three hours) rented a car (one hour) drove to Cheyenne (2 hours).  Then we had time to visit Sierra Trading Post and buy a bunch of stuff we REALLY needed.  Everyone warned us about traffic, so we got a really early start.  At 5 AM the drive was horrible until Glendo, where almost everyone got off.  I guess that was THE place to be  They had a festival and all.

Stopped in Douglas to use the bathroom, and a lady in the store on the phone said, "I dunno whey they all when there: we've got nobody here!".  Continued to Casper: four hours in the car.

We met with new friends and watched the eclipse.  I've seen a annular with a ring of fire, and a couple of 70 and 80 percents, but this was amazing.  I started to cry (admittedly, it doesn't take much to make me cry).

Driving back we met everyone who had come north of Glendo all at the same time.  Eight hours to drive 180 miles.  If we had been thinking clearly, we would have taken turns walking whenever there was a 15 minute car jam.

First thing in the morning, I had put four gallons of water in the car, brought sandwiches, and topped off the gas (it only needed three gallons, but still...)  We were laughing at this on the way up, but not on the way back.  We ate our sandwiches, drank the water, and almost ran out of gas.  When we got to Cheyenne, the station there was out of regular!  So we loaded on a few gallons of premium to get us as far as a cheap station.  Got an early start for the airport next morning because of potential traffic snarls, but no traffic into Denver thank goodness.

Three hour flight back, delayed a half hour because Trump was landing in Phoenix and all flights were grounded.  Then an hour back to Flag, and drive home.  13 hour travel days three days in a row! Next time we should sign up on an eclipse cruise.

NASA photo.  I was not going to waste any of my 2 and a half minutes fiddling with a camera