“There’s not going to be any cell phone service!” “We are going to run out of food!” “We’ll run out of gas!” “The price of gasoline will be $6.00 per gallon!” “Zombies are going to rise from the grave and attack us all!” These were predictions I had heard were going to happen due to the Solar Eclipse. Except for the last one. That’s going to happen on Halloween.
I wasn’t even aware there was going to be a solar eclipse, until my nephew from Arizona told me about it when I was staying with them in November. He told me most of Southern Idaho was in the path of totality, and there was going to be people from all over the country traveling to Idaho to watch it. I remember thinking to myself “Who in their right mind would travel to Idaho to watch an eclipse?” Then my nephew told me he was going to travel to Stanley with his brothers so they could backpack into the mountains and watch it. That actually sounded kind of fun, so I’m glad I didn’t say anything about it being a foolish idea!
The closer the date of the eclipse got, the more worried everyone became. I was attending a volunteer meeting at the hospital and they were talking about all the preparations they were making. The population of Idaho Falls is around 60,000 and they were expecting 500,000 to 600,000 people to arrive in Idaho Falls to watch the eclipse. That was the first time I had heard about no cell phone service, and running out of food and gas.
I found out all the hotel rooms had been reserved already, and they were charging as much as $1,000 for some of them. I also heard some people were renting out a single bedroom in their home for $500. If someone can get $500 for a single bedroom, I wondered how much I could get for a house with three bedrooms, 2 fold-out couches, and a 9 hole Mini-Golf course in the backyard. I was just about to check into it when I had a serious flashback of managing the Tremonton Village Apartments. The decision not to rent my house was an easy one to make at that point.
The weekend of the eclipse arrived, and the predictions of no cell phones, no food, and no gas ever transpired. Now, I had a lot of fun posting a photo of an empty 17th street on Facebook saying how crazy the traffic was. I also posted how I survived no cell phone service, and said “Oh wait, I’m posting this from my cell phone!” Seriously though, it was better to be over prepared than not.
The greatest part was having Ryan and Heather come over, and all of us watching it from Justin’s house. It was an amazing experience to watch, and great for all of us to be together. I know Shannon enjoyed us being together, and had a big smile on her face. We will always LOVE AND MISS YOU sweetheart.
Next week: The last Chukars game 2017
P.S. We played basketball that morning, and I went one complete game without fouling. Evidently that only happens every solar eclipse.