Where the Sun Doesn't Shine

One friend is going to Shoshoni, WY but he won't stay for
the antique tractor show.

We know at least three different parties who are going to see the total solar eclipse on Monday. Our friends and relatives will be heading to small towns in Oregon and Wyoming (Nashville is the only major city in the eclipse path) and roughing it with possibly no GPS, cellphone service, or credit cards (terminals may be down).

Community officials are trying to get visitors prepared. Ms. Hammon, the Idaho Falls spokeswoman, said eclipse-watchers should prepare for traffic delays and bring food, water, medications—and even paper maps because of expected spotty cell service because the area’s reception will be taxed by the crowds.

Rental fees for cars, hotel rooms, and even portable toilets have skyrocketed.

Thousands of dollars will be spent per eclipse-watcher, and your humble blogger can think of only one other 2½-minute experience that could command those prices, but this is a family blog.

As for me, at the same time I'll be headed away from the noise and haste over the Pacific to visit family in the old hometown.