Melissa & Matt's Eclipse Trips

Title pretty much says it all.

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All set! Tickets purchased on Icelandair for just under a year from now. Might seem crazy, but total solar eclipses sell out well in advance. So, even if it’s cloudy that day, Iceland is an amazing place to visit.

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Gearing up for Iceland next year! We have accommodations booked in Reykjavik, but we’ll plan to head out to the end of the Snæfellsjökuls peninsula for eclipse day. Have a capable 4x4 rented as well:

Only thing left is airline and there’s no turning back - next month to reserve that.

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Had to dig out my big coat - welcome back to New England.

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Last leg - heading home from West Seneca, NY to New Hampshire.

Don’t expect a lot of activity until:

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Geodized clam shell

Some sort of gastropod, I think - I don’t know fossils.

Coral

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We’re staying at our friends Vince & Sandra’s place in Ohio for a few days. Camping in the driveway.

Went fossil hunting in nearby Indiana today. 450 million year old Coral:

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Now that I’ve had a full day to think about it, I can confidently say that Oklahoma has the least automated and most backward toll system in the nation.

1) They have a transponder system, “PikePass”, but it’s unique to them. My EZPass does nothing.

2) When you hit a toll plaza, there’s transponder lanes and cash lanes. And I mean cash - no Apple Pay, no credit cards, cash only.

3) After paying at a toll plaza, we took an exit where there was another toll plaza. Did we have to pay again? Worse, they gave us a cash refund for the portion of the toll we didn’t use. Don’t charge as you go by exit, no, charge the full amount then give back depending on what exit you take.

Never seen anything so convoluted.

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All settled in at Tuscan Hills Winery in Effingham Illinois.

It’s generally hit or miss when it comes to wines that aren’t from wine producing regions. Here, the Cabernet and Pinot were a little off, but they had an excellent Riesling and a pretty good Rose.

Sirloin shish-kebabs on the grill tonight.

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Came across this in a shop in Tulsa. Not nearly as cool as some of the crazy Japanese flavors (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Kats_in_Japan), but it’s a start.

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Stayed at a drive-thru restaurant on historic Rt 66 last night. Part of Harvest Hosts:

Unique RV Camping at Farms, Wineries, Breweries, & More with Harvest Hosts

Discover unlimited overnight stays at unique locations with no camping fees. Join Harvest Hosts and explore farms, wineries, breweries, and

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The Manzano Mountains are one of the easternmost north-south running ranges in this part of New Mexico. So, once you move east from there, it’s pretty much Great Plains from here across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, etc. In other words, the next mountain range east of the Manzanos’s is the Appalachians. Put another way, our property, in the Manzano foothills, is right on the dividing line between the Mountain West and the Great Plains.

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Dinner with some friends this evening. Melissa feeling a bit under the weather. We break camp tomorrow and head towards home. First stop will be in Oklahoma.

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Bushwhacked on the property today, scouting out for a driveway route. I think we found some good options. Also had a machete with me on this trip. Huge difference getting past all those dead juniper bushes.

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The second item is the kitchen side slide out. Working fine in Texas, failed to open in New Mexico. Took it all apart and found a broken plastic “shoe” that engages the track. Had to go to three different RV dealers in Albuquerque but LaMesa RV not only had the part, they just gave me two of them for free. I don’t know too many people living in Albuquerque and shopping for an RV, but go there.

Should be able to get that back together in the next few days.

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We’re camped in Cedar Crest, NM, just north of our property and just over Sandia mountain from Albuquerque. Had a few maintenance items to attend to… First, we got a flat tire on the trailer at the last campsite in Uvalde. It was fine on the road, but fully flat after we’d been parked for a while. I’m guessing nail or barbed wire. We dropped it off at a local Walmart for repairs while we were doing the eclipse, but they didn’t fix it and also didn’t call to say they didn’t fix it. Thank you Walmart. Goodyear dealer in Albuquerque replaced it.

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Just crossed into New Mexico. Obviously we didn’t have to deal with abortions or immigration, but still, there is a certain pleasure to putting Texas in the rear view mirror.

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Staying the night at a vineyard in Brownfield, Texas. Over to New Mexico tomorrow.