2017 Deer Hunt (Part 1?)

The days leading up to opening day of Indiana's deer gun season were not optimistic.  The night before the forecast was for strong winds, even potentially damaging, and significant rain.  The forecast the previous day at one point said, "Steady wind-driven rain," on Intellicast.
But there was hope.  The local forecast said most of the rain would be late in the day and even Intellicast showed a lower probably of rain in the AM.
So I went to bed a little pessimistic.  I decided I probably would miss the first opening day in many years.

I woke up around 2:00 and peaked outside the window.  No evidence of rain, and while I could hear the wind, it wasn't screaming.  Back to sleep - sort of.
Over the next couple hours I fitfully slept while peeking outside every time I woke up.
Finally a little after 4:00 I got up and let the dogs out.  The forecast was now for rain by late morning, and the radar showed lots of heavy rain to the north but very little in the immediate area.  I fed the dogs and sat down to think.  I have a 0% chance of seeing deer if I don't go out and the temperatures were extremely mild.  I'm going hunting.

I didn't have time to take a shower, but I don't worry about that too much at Mike's.  The deer are somewhat used to human scent and with high winds and other hunters in the woods, the effect would hopefully not be detrimental.  Within a short amount of time, I was out the door.  My LED headlamp and failed since the last time I used it - with the batteries leaking and corroding.  It wasn't an expensive unit, but I had grown fond of its utility.

With heavy wind and the potential for rain, I didn't want to sit in my A#1 usual spot - I'd rather be on the ground with high winds and wet.  But I hadn't planned for this when I was scouting.  My plan was to find a low spot somewhere that I could use as a ground blind.  With the expected weather, I was only going to be hunting for a few hours anyway.

Once at Mike's I headed down into the woods.  It has been an odd, warm and wet fall, resulting in most of the trees leafless, but much of the lower undergrowth (especially the honeysuckle) still leafy and greenish.  Looking around in the dark with my flashlight, I found a spot among some honeysuckle that would give me some cover and good outline breaking stuff behind me.  I set up my SwiveLimb as a seat - this is a great versatile treestand, it is too bad that they don't make them anymore...

I settled  in for a long wait.  It was about 45 minutes to shooting light.  At least temperatures were at a friendly ~60F.  The wind was howling, but sitting low in the ravine, it was actually kind of pleasant.

As it got light, not much was moving.  Even the squirrels seemed subdued with the noisy wind.  Still, as it got light, I decided the spot I had chosen in the dark was actually pretty good - the biggest negative being that I was only a few feet from a well-used deer run.  I had a lot of time to think and mentally decided that with the adverse weather, I probably had about a 10% chance of seeing deer - still better than if I was sitting in my living room at home.
Sitting in a ground blind (and I use that term loosely), it felt very much like my first few years of hunting did in college.  Hunting from a treestand is "better," and it makes it much easier to see.  But there is something really visceral about being eye level with deer when hunting.
And even as the morning wind picked up, the ravine remained nice enough.  A few hickory nuts did aim for me as the wind blew them down.

I tried not to look at my watch, but around 10:00 I decided I should probably look at the radar.  If heavy rain was imminent, I wanted to be out before it got to me.  I was wearing my rainsuit as a precaution, so I started fishing around in my many pockets looking for where my phone was.
As I was looking for my phone, I saw movement way ahead to the left in the form of antlers bobbing up and down.  A buck was moving from the left, away from me and to the right.  My .243 was on my shooting sticks, so I got it up.  He was a bit far, and there were many trees in between us, but as he crossed the creek, he turned a little more to the right and into a small clearing.
To get ready for my mule deer hunt, I've been doing most of my target shooting lately at 200 yards.  So with a solid rest on my Bog-Pod, I took the shot.

The buck dropped at the shot.  I reloaded by .243 and after a short wait started walking toward him.  He looked like he was still moving, so I put a second round into him to be sure and to put him down quickly. 
As I got to the creek, I was looking for a way to get down and across it when a branch I was leaning on gave way.  I nearly fell in and bonked my head on a rock, but managed to roll onto some debris, keeping my gun out of the muck as well.

The deer was a smaller 8-point, with a spread just to the width of his ears - pretty good for the area where I hunt, with lots of other hunters and nearby public land.  I was happy.  I'm mostly after meat when I hunt near home.

But now the real work...  I packed up my stuff and headed to the truck.  The radar showed torrential rain to the north, but it was only heading slowly to where I was.  Shedding a few layers of clothes, I went back to the deer and field dressed him.  Then it was time to drag him.  Through the first creek, across the ravine.  Through the second creek and up that blasted final hill.

Once at my truck, I checked in my deer on my phone.  Mike walked up as I was finishing this and startled me - he was wearing a Tyvek suit as he was doing some work in his attic.  We talked for a bit, before I loaded the deer and headed for home.  I thanked Mike as he was walking back to his house and he thanked me for shooting the deer before noon - with memories of the previous year.

Once back at home, I unpacked and cleaned up a few things - laundry can wait for now.  The antlers weren't big enough to do anything with, so I took them off an skinned him to get the meat cooling down as quickly as possible.  As I was skinning, I found a major bullet fragment.  The .243 isn't a real thumper, and I'd prefer the bullets stay in one piece.  But the fact that I recovered the bullet meant that I had the deer and it had done its job.

  I decided to drop the head off for testing by the Indiana DNR - and it would make disposing of it easier since I left the hide attached.  The DNR check station appeared to be mostly college students - probably getting credit for their work.

I've had some fantastic hunting over the last 12 months.  My big whitetail in 2016.  Another wild hog in early 2017.  Mule deer a few weeks previous.  Once I process the deer, the freezer will be full again.  But with a lot of vacation to burn yet, it is possible I'll get cabin fever and will have to head out again yet this year.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 8 Home

I really wanted the free hotel waffles, but I wanted to be home more.  So I left about an hour before the free hotel breakfast started, grabbing an apple on the way out.  I don't think hotel guests must eat much fruit since the apple was questionable at best.  I'm probably glad it was dark in the truck when I ate it.

The hotel was right off the freeway, so I was up to speed quickly.  Traffic in the early morning was predictably light.  Temperatures were near freezing, with high winds.  The winds on this entire trip east have really killed my gas mileage with one fuel fillup showing less than 20MPG (I routinely have been getting closer to 25 at home).  A strong cold front has been doing wacky things with the weather all over.  Temperatures at home were more like early fall and there were tornadoes in Northern Ohio.

I listed to Short Stories edited by Stuart Dybek.  It was ... not good.  One story was about a Wyoming rancher which was pretty good.  The rest were not really worth the time to listen to them.  Once it was finally over I relistened to the first part of The Billionaire's Vinegar.  The rest of the books on my USB drive will be saved for my  next trip in my truck.

Travel went fast and I had lots of time to think about my mule deer hunting adventure.  It had all the ups and downs I would expect and hope for on a hunting trip.  I got to hang out with a good group of guys.  I got to see more deer than I probably saw in my entire life combined, including a lot of phenomenal bucks.  More than that, I got to be around deer that see little hunting pressure.  And as the end of the hunt was in sight, I got to stalk a mule deer in true Wyoming fashion with snow on the ground and a Western wind blowing.

Travel went fast and soon enough I was off the interstate getting close to home.
The dogs seemed happy to see me.  I unpacked the truck, but didn't unpack everything inside as it isn't immediately imperative; it will drive me nuts for a day or so, but I'll just have to deal with that.
I did take care of the mule deer meat.  The dry ice had kept it cold and some of it was frozen rock solid.  This made it hard to debone it, but I kept at it and got about 40-50 pounds of meat.  It will probably be a few days until I  actually try it.

Before heading west a week previous, I sort of thought that mule deer would be a one and done thing.  I really didn't think I'd do it again - I was wrong.  As soon as I can, I'll be sending Wyoming my money to start buying more deer preference points.  Sadly, it will be a few years until I get enough to hunt Jim's other areas to the South that will be a different kind of experience.
And that is what it is all about; it gives me something to look forward to.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 7 Leave Day

I had thought about leaving the previous evening, but it was getting late, especially with the time change, and dark early.  Besides, I was enjoying the group of guides and others I was hunting with, so I stayed the final night.

Once awake, I packed up much of what I had.  The mule deer meat wasn't frozen, but the very cold overnight temperatures had cooled it well.  Importantly, the cats had not gotten into it - they had lots of leave-ins in the bed of Jim's truck anyway.

Breakfast was eggs and muffins - and eating chocolate chip muffins for breakfast is awesome - almost like eating cake for breakfast.  I wanted to wait until daylight to leave since the area is so thick with deer.  Besides it would give me a chance to see the deer in the fields one last time.

Once it got light, I said goodbyes and thanked everyone again.  Then I was on the road.  The cold temperatures kept the road frozen, which was an improvement over the mud that had been everywhere for the previous days.
As I left the area, the fields were again filled with deer.  I saw a few of the bucks that would be shooters just about anywhere else in the country, but just nice here.  Shortly before turning off of the dirt road onto the paved, I saw a big group of mule deer does and smiled as I made the turn.

I headed south toward the interstate, getting on it only briefly before stopping in Spearfish to get dry ice at Safeway.  With the cold temperatures, I was hoping about 15 pounds would suffice. 
From there, it was really time to head home.

The day started with a mix of clouds, making a pretty dramatic sunrise.  Sadly, the picture couldn't adequately capture what it actually looked like.

Once again, I was on I-90 for a long time.  There were a few periods of snow with a couple areas where the roads were quite slippery.  Right near the South Dakota Minnesota border there was a roll-over accident that I strongly suspect was from ice on a bridge.  This slowed most of the traffic, but the roads were only troublesome for a short distance.  I sort of felt like I was in the Movie Fargo though.

I was listening to David Rakoff's book Half Empty which was not nearly as good as Don't Get Too Comfortable.  But the end of the book was somewhat dramatic as he talks about his cancer which I believe kills him a few years after the book was published.

Once I had a good idea where I could get to, I had SO look up hotels.  I wanted to stop in Waterloo, Iowa, but there were really cheap hotels and really expensive ones without much in between.  I think that is the same problem we had when we stayed there in 2012 and as I recall, I wasn't thrilled with the hotel we stayed in then.

So I motored on to Iowa City.  The last hour was pretty tough with fatigue and darkness, but I was careful and made it safely to the hotel.  After eating little since breakfast that wasn't junk food, I was hungry for something more substantial.  Sadly, I think the gas station hot dogs I chose were not much better.  The Sabra Hummus was actually quite good though.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 6 Hunt Day

I woke up to a couple more inches of snow and frigid temperatures in the mid teens.  At least I wouldn't be sitting in a treestand all day and the was forecast to be much sunnier than any previous day on the hunt.

After a breakfast of flapjacks, Jim and I hit the road.  Bill came along, but with the only tag left to fill being mine, it was mulie or bust!

We went back out to the west ranch, this time getting there without any extraneous turns or missteps.  As we got in the area, we could see two important things.  First, the yard mule deer had moved on somewhere.  Second, with the cold night over and temperatures rising in the sunny morning, mule deer were on the move and were scattered all over.

We started at the small ranch where I was unable to shoot at the big mule deer.  We drove most of this "small" ranch and saw several groups of mule deer.  There were a couple of decent bucks, but nothing that Jim said was worth spending time on.  I was starting to wonder if his standards were higher than mine.  And they are...  With no Mr. Big on the property, we went back to the larger ranch. 

Once on the larger property, we started seeing mule deer all over.  We quickly saw the crab claw deer nosing after a doe.  I still thought it was a pretty deer, but with lots of time left, we kept going. 
A short time later and after seeing several more small groups of deer, we saw a larger group to the right as we crested a blown-out levy.  In that group, we saw a really wide mulie.  Jim put the spotting scope on him, and he said he was a 3x4.  Jim looked a few more minutes and said he had good mass; then he finished with, "I would shoot that one."  He wasn't as excited as the big mulie the previous day, but it did look like a good mule deer and definitely one of the better ones we've seen on the hunt - certainly wider.

Jim slowly backed off and we got behind a large bluff.  Jim and I got out of the truck and got ready for a stalk.  I chambered a round and put on some additional layers of clothes as it was still very cold.
We slowly climbed the hill, with me staying a few steps behind Jim.  I could catch a few glimpses of the deer, while we maneuvered to where Jim was happy with the view and amount of cover.
Jim said we were going to crawl ahead the final 30 yards.  He warned me to watch out for cacti.  I tried, but they seem to be the Wyoming gift that keeps on giving; I pulled several stickers out of myself throughout the rest of the day.  Jim took his day pack off and set it in front of me as a rest.  "They are at 150 yards," he said.  "High shoulder when you have a clear shot and are rock steady and comfortable."

The deer were milling around happily, I settled the crosshairs high, but a little closer to center of body.  I felt excited, but also surprisingly calm as I snapped the safety off.
I love the way rifles sound in the huge Wyoming sky. It is nothing like how they sound at home in the heavy woodlots or at the range.  The rifle report is more of a low boom than a sharp crack, and it echoes off the surrounding hills, both close and distant.  Magical.
My first shot hit him hard, but it was a bit low.  One went over his back, but two more in quick succession put him on the ground for good.
We stood and observed him and walked back to the truck.  Jim congratulated me.  I was excited and elated.  The walk back to the truck seemed much shorter than the stalk up.  But it was long at the same time.
I won't claim it was my finest shooting ever, as I did need one finisher after we drove up on him to end things quickly.  I was thrilled.  I still am.  Mule deer has been on my bucket list for a long time, not just the animal, but the whole experience.  He was a very wide 3x4 with good mass.  Perhaps more importantly, I got the Wyoming experience I was hoping for.  Seeing many mule deer to look over, a stalk with snow on the ground and a cold Western wind.  And taking the deer at a relatively long range.

150 yards - long range?  Well ... about that.  Jim later told me it was actually 250 yards and that is why he stressed a high shoulder shot.  His tactic worked - I would have had less confidence in the shot if I had known it was longer than I had thought.  Quite the guide, that Jim.

We spent some time taking pictures before heading back to town with my mule deer buck in the truck.  One the way out of the property, we again saw the land owner.  We stopped so he could see my deer and we talked a bit.  Even though Jim leases hunting rights, I thanked him for the opportunity to hunt on his beautiful land and for the great experience that it was.  He seemed pretty happy to see the deer as well.
We went to the taxidermist in Hulett, who was the same guy who did my pronghorn several years previous.  That work was excellent, so I knew my mulie would be too.  Looking at several mule deer in progress at the shop, mine showed actually quite well.  Northeast Wyoming mulies are a little lighter in mass than what would be expected in agricultural areas or in parts of New Mexico, but it was a great deer and a greater experience.  He was still all mulie with the white face with grey on top, and he was definitely a mature deer which is what Jim strives to take.

Back at the lodge we ate lunch.  Then Jim helped me quarter my deer.  Temperatures were right around freezing with a cooling wind, so the meat should be good until evening where overnight temperatures were again expected to be well below freezing.  The plan would be to pick up dry ice somewhere early to keep things cold for the trip home.

As it got dark, Jim and I sat on the road to look for good deer and "patrol" for road poachers.  We happen to sit in a spot with decent cell phone coverage so I could at least update SO as to the plans to leave on Monday.

Dinner that night was succulent ribs with corn and potatoes.  With the time change the previous night, it was dark, and I was tired early.  But I forced myself to stay awake for a while before turning in for my last night in Wyoming.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 5 Hunt Day

I had a lot of time to think through things with my no-shot mulie as I fell asleep and woke up.  The exact numbers don't matter, but if I had taken the shot, I probably had equal probability of making a clean hit, making a recoverable but ugly hit, making a clean miss, and making a wounding miss where the deer was never recovered - the worst possible situation.  While I am a bit disappointed, I made the right decision and I still have a few days to hunt.  'nuff said on this topic.

After a great breakfast of eggs and some turn over things, we hit the road early to look for deer.  The first couple hours of the day went pretty well.  There were a couple good whitetails sneaking through the woods that Bill was interested in, but he wasn't able to get into position quick enough with his limited mobility.

Then things slowed down.  Things slowed wwwwaaaayyyy down.  The hundreds of deer we were routinely seeing seemed to just vaporize.  Still, the country we were hunting in is absolutely gorgeous.

I almost got bored during the latter half of the morning, and spent some time thinking about how incredible it was to hunt here.  I was now starting to see deer that I would never in a million years pass up on and thinking, "Nice, but kind of small."

I know I'll reenter reality as I get back home, but that is still several days away.  For now, "Nice, but kind of small."

These pictures are by no means the largest that were passed up - they just happen to be situations where I was able to easily snap a few pictures.

We went back to the lodge for lunch.  Bill had made a joke about not going back out since the end of the morning was slow, but there was no way I wouldn't go out.  Even if it is slow, deer don't hang out in the lodge (although they almost do).  Also, if everything had gone into hiding, they might be anxious to get back out.

And the deer were back out.  We saw several more herds of deer and many more decent bucks.  As we turned onto one of the ranch roads, We saw several deer ahead.  Jim stops the truck and looks through the binoculars, "He's a shooter Bill!"  The deer was heading right for a fence to jump in front of us.
Once across the fence, he ran into the woods.  Jim pulled up a bit more.  I said, "There he is, there he is!"  Jim got into position as the deer turned around, confused by the truck in his domain. 
Jim's gun barked.  Friggin muzzle brake - it was LOUD.

All three of us got out after a couple minutes to look for the deer.  It was slow going at first with Bill's very limited mobility.  Jim and I went ahead.  Jim found a good blood trail as I paralelled him a little lower on the hill.  We found the deer about 75 yards away. 
Bill made his way to the deer.  He was happy.  To be honest, it felt kind of good helping someone like him remain in the field hunting.  The deer was a gorgeous 10-point buck.  Good mass.  Good Height.  Symetrical with a few extra mini points near the brow tines to give it character.

We took some pictures before field dressing the deer and heading back to the lodge.  Even after all our noise making of pictures, gutting, etc., there was still a couple deer less than 100 yards from the truck as we left.  Jim caped it since Bill was going to take it home for the taxidermy.

The guys from Conecticut had gone antelope hunting and had come back with two good pronghorns, one male, one female.  The other group spent most of the day looking for the previous day's deer.  Sadly, it was not recovered.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 4 Hunt Day

After a fairly good night of sleep, I was up early and shortly having french toast for breakfast.

Jim, Bill and I were headed west to the ranch the Connecticut guys were on the previous day where they had seen a few decent mule deer.  Jim admitted he hadn't been there in a few years.  He took a few indecisive turns and a few turn arounds.  This led to a couple hours of time spent locating the right ranch, including exhaustively referencing the GPS and stopping for help from a few ranch houses.  Jim was quite embarrassed by the situation.  I wasn't too thrilled that so much early daylight was being burned, but we just had to make the best of the situation.

Eventually Jim got directions from the right person and we found the ranch.  This was more classic Wyoming high country with rolling hills, flat areas and lots of sage without much in the way of trees.
We spent some time looking for mulies and saw a few of them.  Eventually we came across a buck that was bedded by itself.  It was a mature deer with reasonable width and height, but he was basically a 2x2 with a crab claw on the end of each tine.  We let him lay.

Hunting around some more, we noticed a whole heard of mule deer in a pasture across the road in an area we could not hunt.  In with the herd were a few fairly decent bucks.

The two bucks were not without company.

We watched them for quite some time hoping they would begin to move, but they seemed very content in that pasture.  We left to do some more searching and found several more groups of deer on the ranch we were hunting.  One group had a very mature deer with a nice 4 point on one side and a single beam on the other with a split brow tine.  Jim thought he was unique enough to take, but it wasn't what I wanted for a first mule deer.  It did hurt a little passing on him.
We searched some more and eventually made it back to the pasture deer who had not moved.  We ran another time through the property and I had to think very hard about the crab claw deer.  Ultimately I passed which was probably the right thing to do. 

We headed out of the ranch back to where we started on the previous day.  On the road, Jim recognized the rancher whose property we were on and stopped to talk.  The rancher had just acquired a new property so we trailed him to take a look at it.  It was only about 500 acres and had some ancient out buildings along with a flea bitten tiny house.  We drove with the rancher to the end of the property, noticing a big herd of mule deer a ways off.  We gave the rancher a ride back to the entrance to the property to a bulldozer which he was going to use to dig out a drainage ditch.
Returning back to the property, we took a closer look at the mule deer.  There were several bucks in the group, but nothing to get too excited about.  Jim kept going to see if any more were around.  As we approached a dug out bentonite hill, Jim yelled something like, "Shooter buck right there, get out and get your gun on the grill of the truck."  I saw two white patches and wasn't sure which was the deer.  I grabbed Jim's binoculars and located the deer.  I put on my orange hat and stepped out.  I was lining up on the deer when he stood.  As I was trying to get a sight picture, he spun around and started to go over the hill.  The shot wasn't too far, at about 150 yards.  But the combination of distance, scope turned down, moving animal and extreme cornering away (nearly an ass shot), just didn't feel right.  He ran over the hill without me touching the trigger. 
We drove around the hill to see him saunter off of the property.  I was a bit disappointed.  Jim was a bit pissed off.  But not rushing the trigger was the right thing to do even if it was one of the better mulie bucks Jim had seen in a long time.

We headed back out of the property.  The pasture deer had moved farther away from the ranch we were on so we headed to the ranch from the previous day to look for whitetails for Bill.  En route, Bill's legs started to become extremely painful.  Jim had to pull over for a while so Bill could exercise his legs.  It looked very painful.

Once at the ranch, the fog followed us in, making seeing anything at more than around 100 yards nearly impossible.  We sat for around two hours before heading out.  On the way out, a decent buck was chasing a doe, but it was on the wrong side of the fence.

Jim stopped for gas on the way back to the lodge and the guys for Connecticut stopped shortly after.  One of them had shot a real nice, heavy 10-point whitetail.  The other had used his doe tag.

On the road to the lodge, Jim saw some shenanigans that looked like road poachers.  He dropped Bill and I off and went back to investigate.
One of the other guys in camp had hit a decent whitetail and they had spent most of the day looking for it.  As it got dark, they were forced to call off the search.

So it was a day of ups and downs for all. 
I was not too happy at missing a rare opportunity on good mulie, but I won't second guess my decision.  If I had rushed the shot, a bad hit was not unlikely and that would have been far worse.  Hunting is always an adventure, from starting the day lost to everything else that happened, it was a pretty memorable day.  At one point in my life, rushing the shot would have been a given - I'll take it as previous lessons learned that I did not.

Dinner that night was a wonderful beef stew while everyone related the excitement of the day.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 3 Hunt Day

I was up at 3:00 which is way too early even by hunting standards.  I survived some fitful restlessness until I finally got up and got a shower.
It had snowed several inches overnight and temperatures were well below freezing.  This was uncharacteristically early winter, but that can be Wyoming.

Jim took Bill and I out to a ranch about 20 miles from the lodge.  We got there right about daylight.  It is about 5000 acres and has a good population of mule deer.  The hunting technique is to use the truck as a "mobile blind" to glass for deer and then adjust to any deer that look interesting.  This might mean stepping outside of the truck and shooting, a stalk to get closer, or waiting them out to see where they go.
Very soon after it got light, we saw a mule deer buck bedded with a dow on a hillside.  As it got light Jim used his spotting scope and saw it was a 4x4, but that was including brow tines.  It wasn't a shooter, and definitely not a first-day shooter.  I fully realize the "first-day" syndrome can sometimes result in a last day without venison.

Over the course of the morning, we moved to several more spots.  I saw more deer than I have in years.  Gobs and gobs of whitetails plus a few mulies.  But the sheer number of deer was staggering
Jim saw one real nice mule deer making tracks into some timber, but we were not able to locate him after that.  Still, that did give me hope for a mule deer.

We headed back to the lodge for lunch and a rest.  This allowed me to take a few pictures of the lodge.

And deer were browsing right next to the lodge through the afternoon.  A doe tag would not even be fair here.

The lodge itself is a former riding camp and dude ranch that also served as a lodge for hunting.  The owners, Gary and Carolyn now use to to house missionary families in the US on leave, but still maintain its use as a hunting camp for Jim et al.  In addition to the main building, there is Gary and Carolyn's house along with a smaller cabin where the hunting guides camp.  With the cold, wet, clammy conditions, a warm fireplace with solid walls and a roof was a luxury.

After lunch we headed out again, this time closer to the lodge.  The first place we went had us on a rise with an expansive view.  From where we were sitting, we could see several groups of deer, including at least two groups of mule deer, but no bucks in the group. 
From where we were sitting, we could actually see Devil's Tower in the distance.  This was sort of sprinkles on the icing on the cake.

At one point I was able to watch two young bucks spar with each other.  It wasn't a full on buck fight, but it was still really cool to see.  Being able to see that alone almost made my afternoon.

We moved around a few times throughout the afternoon and saw hoards more deer.  There were several almost-shooters, but mule deer were scarce through the afternoon.

I had the job of opening and closing gates which got pretty muddy as the day wore on.  It was just above freezing, melting enough of the snow to make things a total mess.  The Wyoming mud is both crazy sticky and horrendously slippery.  At one point, I asked Jim if I could take my gun with me when I had to open the gate as the cows the gate was keeping in were arrogantly looking for snacks or something.
Jim has a strict muzzle-down policy for guns in the truck - which would not be my preference and I believe comes with its own risk.  But it is his camp.  With all the mud I had tracked into the truck, I was starting to get a bit muzzle paranoid.  I usually bring a soft-sided gun case on these types of trips just to keep the gun from banging all over the place in the truck, but I forgot on this trip.  When in Rome ... and the risk is probably acceptably low.

We ended the afternoon looking for deer off of the county road.  As with every place we had been, there were tons of deer with several almost shooters.  There was one ~4.5 year old deer that had a really nice set of antlers, but it was also a bit thin.  It was very close to shooter, but it walked to be looked at another day.

I thought we ended a little bit early as there was still ample light, but it was getting dark fast with the continued heavy cloud cover.  Back at the lodge, my boots were impossibly muddy from my gate duty and a lace had nearly broken.  Thankfully I had the foresight to bring some spares.

Most of the other hunter's day was similar to ours.  Hundreds of deer seen, but none quite good enough yet.  One group had gone after one whitetail, but had failed when the gun fired on bolt closing.  Or was it operator error.  Either way, not good.

Dinner that night was spaghetti and salad followed by home made cream puffs.  Without a doubt, it was a very good first day of hunting.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 2 Arrive Day

I woke up too early to get the gratis hotel breakfast, so I putzed around a while and watched TV.  Hoping it would be ready early, I walked down to the hotel lobby.  The person working was not nearly as friendly as the man who checked me in.  In fact, she was downright surly.  I thought that may have been only because I was at the breakfast area early, but she was even more annoyed when I had the nerve to check out a short time later.

After packing most of my stuff up, breakfast was available and they had Waffles so all was good.  After a couple waffles saturated in syrup, I was on the road.
It was still dark dark, so I was a bit worried about the 80MPH speed limit coupled with deer on the road, but the eastern part of South Dakota isn't nearly as bad as the western part.  Once headed west on I-90, the GPS said go straight for around 340 miles.  There aren't very many places with less turns than that.

A short ways down the road, my Honda Ridgeline rolled over to 10,000 miles.  I guess it is used now.  And yes, I do use the awful econ button when on long interstate routes (but no, I can't stand it when driving just about any other time).

About a million years ago, I worked at a bakery in high school.  I was sort of related to the family that owned it, and their daughter who I worked with now lives in Rapid City with her husband and kids.  Since I had the time, my plan was to meet them for lunch.  This had all the potential to be awkward, but I hadn't seen her in well over 20 years and it would be fun to catch up.
I got gas in Wall, South Dakota but wisely decided to avoid the awful tourist trap of WallDrug.  Since I was a bit earlier than I thought I would be, I arranged to meet my friend at Cabela's where her husband works.  While perusing around, they had quiet camo hunting snow suits on clearance for half off.  It was too good a deal at $60.  I don't think I'll need it on this trip, but it sure will be nice while deer hunting in a treestand.

After meeting my friend, we talked for a bit before heading over to a nearby burger joint for lunch.  It was great reminiscing about stuff from two decades ago and catching up on life since.  There are many twists and turns in life along with goals and signposts that lead absolutely nowhere.  As Alton Brown said in an article I read about him a while back, "Funny business, this living."  The time flew by and all too soon it was time for me to leave to rendezvous with the hunting guide.

Leaving Rapid City, I left the interstate and got on 2-lane roads headed to Hulett, Wyoming.  Temperatures hovered near freezing and a very cold rain started falling.  The drive to Hulett took about 2 hours and it would have been a nice drive if it hadn't been for the weather.

I ended up getting to Hulett too early, so I stopped in a hotel parking lot and read the two magazines I had brought with me.  I got gas at the only station in town; they are very proud of their fuel - charging about $0.50/gallon more than any other station I saw.  This allowed time for the rain to stop, so I parked near where we were supposed to meet and walked the town.  I was quite tired of sitting in the truck at this point.

Eventually Jim showed up and we all caravanned to the lodge.  The lodge was about 10 miles down a very muddy dirt road.  This is what a Ridgeline on a hunting trip is supposed to look like.

Even with the snotty conditions, the drive to the lodge was phenomenal.  I saw more deer on the drive than I have in several years combined.  There were so many deer, I initially (and very briefly) thought it was some kind of venison farm, but they were on both sides of the road and inside and outside the fence.  The fences were enough to contain cattle, but not deer anyway.  The pictures do not do this justice as I was trying to take it while driving down the dirt road.

Once at the lodge, there was some talking and lollygagging before dinner.  Pork chops, beans, potatoes.  I must be careful on this adventure.
There were a total of 6 hunters in camp along with three guides and the couple who own the lodge.  It was two brothers form Connecticut, father and son from Tennessee and North Carolina (I think) and I would be hunting with Bill from Pennsylvania.  Bill was a nerve condition which gives him very limited mobility.  He had first option on whitetails, I did for any mulies.
I was still on home time, so I turned in early while most of the other guys watched the world series.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 1 Drive Day

Monday was a pleasantly monotonous day at work.  Pleasant since it was a bit slow.  Monotonous since it was a bit slow.  But I would rather have that immediately before heading out on a much needed vacation than have firecrackers in the pea soup.
So after putting in the requisite eight plus hours, I left work just as the rain started.  Once home, I nationalized the garage so I could pack without getting wet.

I started waking up well before my normal time for work and finally got out of bed a little early.  It didn't take too long to get ready, check and recheck that I had everything, and hit the road.  I pulled out of the driveway right about 4:00 AM.

I crossed into Indiana quickly and took 2-lane roads for about an hour to get to the interstate.  This required one reroute due to construction, but it looked like the construction was nearly complete.  Once on I-74, I headed north and west.  Traffic was just starting to pick up through Indianapolis, but getting through was relatively easy.
Continuing north and west, traffic on I-74 remained relatively light.  I crossed into Illinois just as light was starting to build to the East, and traffic became oddly heavy for a while.  West of Peoria, almost all traffic seemed to vaporize.

I was listening to the book A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron.  I was a bit more than surprised when the first incarnation of the dog is euthanized very early in the book.  The second incarnation of the dog made me miss my dogs a lot.  It especially made me miss Mandy and Jackson as the descriptions of Bailey sounded a lot like those two dogs.  Listening to the end of Bailey's life was difficult.  The incarnation as a police dog was only mildly interesting.  The final incarnation into a life with a trash family followed by bliss was a bit predictable.  But I enjoyed the book.  The only frustration was that since the book was transferred from a CD, the ordering of the tracks put tracks 1-10 at the end of the directory list, which required adjustments twice every CD.  Once I figured this out though, it was easy to deal with.

I crossed the Mississippi River on I-280.  SO always takes pictures of the Mississippi when we cross it, so I did too.  But the pictures out of the frame of the truck window don't really have the same significance as when SO and I are on the motorcycle.

Once into Iowa, truck traffic picked up a lot on I-80.  I know things thin out to the west, but east of Des Moines always seems lousy with tractor trailers.  I took I-380 then US 218 to I-35 up to I-90 in Minnesota.  Interstate 90 was gloriously open.  Although I did see the remnants of snow on the shoulder in a few places along I-90.

After A Dog's Purpose I switched the USB to The Billionaire's Vinegar which is a book about ultrararefied wine collecting.  It felt odd to be listening to such a book while headed on a western hunting adventure, and I'm not even sure where I heard about the book.  I only got a few chapters into it, but it was very interesting and it goes into detail about the realities and idiosyncrasies of wine collecting.  Much like anything where there is lots of money to be made, fraud, ego and snobbery plays a big role.  The history interspersed through the first few chapters added a lot to the book.

Eventually I made it to Sioux Falls South Dakota.  The 13-hour, ~850 mile drive was tiring, but not painful.  Weather had been clear and dry all day with temperatures hovering just above freezing.  This is great travel weather (for the Ridgeline, maybe not for the motorcycle).

I ate from my box-o-buffet but hadn't drank much through the day as beverages force more stops.  Once at the hotel, I attempted to rehydrate while also eating more junk food.  I survived a long day on the road, but pork rinds and Quiznos may prematurely end my life.  Maybe the ice cream sandwich will save me, even if it doesn't help me sleep.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt T-3 Days

I didn't start hunting until relatively late in life.  While I had shot guns a few times as a kid, I didn't even own a gun until I was 21.  Starting hunting late, and continuing to do it is relatively unusual.  I guess I always had an interest in hunting, but never the opportunity until I bought my first house next to an avid bow hunter.  Continuing hunting when starting late in life and without many friends who hunt is even more unusual.
A strong interest in hunting without involving other people is just fine with me.  I've tried to get people to go with me on my hunting adventures and they can seem pretty excited about it until it comes time to actually start thinking about money - then they scatter.  I have nearly given up on getting others to go with me at this point.  My 2013 Wyoming hunt for for pronghorn was the worst - where the person I was supposed to go with bailed at the last minute.  There were extenuating circumstances, but they could have been worked around as we are all adults here...

What I want to hunt has changed a lot over the years.  At first it was all moose, which I've never done and is still interesting, but not exceedingly so anymore.  Bears, yes ... wild boar, definitely.  Caribou has never been a big interest, but I've had the opportunity to go after several other animals, some of them more than once.  My motivation for hunting has changed, but it also hasn't over the years; my enjoyment of it has similarly changed and not.  I do hunt for meat - as I really enjoy being more involved in what goes on the dinner table.  And I enjoy seeing and being close to impressive animals, but animals I've taken and taxidermy I have would not impress a real trophy hunter.  What I've come to realize is that I'm after the overall experience of hunting.  It is a great way to travel and see out-of-the-way locations.  It is a great way to meet interesting people - although I've met a few people who don't seem to posses many redeeming qualities as well.  I'm mostly an experience hunter - the whole experience, from then to zed.  And while taking an animal is not required, it is an integral part of the overall experience.

Mule deer has been on my list for a long time.  In my travels out west, I've seen them several times, most notably in 2006 when I nearly hit two impressive mule deer bucks while leaving the Black Hills on an early morning motorcycle jaunt to Devils Tower.  And after accruing some preference points in Wyoming, I'm finally heading there to hopefully go after mule deer.  From research I've done, the area I'm headed to has both whitetails and mulies.  So this could be interesting.

Western hunting is different than the eastern woodlot hunting I'm most familiar with.  I've been shooting at least every few weeks through the summer and mostly off a bipod to get ready.  Frighteningly, I've had a couple misfires which I attribute to bad primers.  This is slightly concerning but only slightly.
The last few weeks has been a whirlwind.  As important as maintaining muscle memory with my rifle, I've spent time making sure my physical fitness is maintained; given ongoing rifle practice, this may be even more important.
With heading out in early November to drive to Wyoming, I've had to get much of the fall chores that are normally done through the end of October and early November done earlier than usual, especially since I'll have minimal time after I get home before the local deer season starts.

Regardless of how well I am or am not prepared and how much I've gotten done at home, I'll be heading out on the long drive to Wyoming.  A lot of my coworkers look at me like I'm nuts when I tell them I'm not flying, but flying with a ton of hunting crap, plus a large rifle case is crazy expensive.  Getting home with meat on a plane is nearly impossible.  And quite frankly, traveling on commercial airlines is about as unpleasant as things can get.  Besides, I like the drive as a part of the experience and a chance to mentally prepare.

When I first started hunting in the early 1990's, I never dreamed I'd have even a fraction of the adventures that I have had while hunting.
I'm sure that regardless of what I return with, it will be with memories that can be created in no other way.

2017 Eclipse Day 7

Cambridge, Wisconsin to Home:  474.3 Miles

I was up before anybody else and found a way to make coffee.  It is funny how little things like where the coffee filters are stored can sometimes seem so personal.  I'd never heard of Vanilla Life Cereal before, but it was pretty good too.

We were on the road around the same time as my sister left for work, heading south.  Traffic was heavy but tolerable, especially near the interchanges that led to Chicago.  But with a mix of Wisconsin and Illinois drivers, it wasn't too bad.  The Illinois drivers weren't even trying too hard to kill each other.

SO paid our toll at the most hateful toll booth on I-39 just across the border into Illinois.  Traffic lightened up considerably around this point.  The weather was cool but comfortable, mostly sunny with periods of clouds.
Making our way to I-74 felt like we were getting close to home.  As usual, traffic on I-74 was very light, even through some construction zones.  We passed a few more wind turbines and a couple trundling military convoys throughout the day.

We were making good time, so we decided not to stop for a real lunch, grabbing some food at a gas stop.  The bacon cheddar dogs sounded good to me, but the first slippery one I grabbed bounced off of the counter and onto the floor.  There is absolutely NO 5 SECOND RULE AT A TRUCK STOP - that hot dog went into the trash and I grabbed one of the dogs from the "Still Cooking" line on the automated meat roller.

Soon enough we were on two-lane roads familiarly close to home.

We got home in time to get the dogs and they seemed happy enough even if the older dog did seem to be in wandering mode.  Things will settle down to normal soon enough.

All my motorcycle adventures have been amazing.  Some of them are about the journey, some of them are about the destination.  This adventure was about an event.  The event.  Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds of darkness.
At one point on the way home I starting thinking about how fortunate I was to be able to do these things:  motorcycling across the country, seeing fantastic scenery, meeting interesting people, staying with family,  seeing a bit more American history and kitsch, and having everything work out to witness a rare celestial event - the 2017 Eclipse.

Oh dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,

Irrecoverably dark, total Eclipse

Without all hope of day!

— John Milton

2017 Eclipse Day 6 - Alvin Straight Day

Pocahontas, Iowa to Cambridge, Wisconsin:  381.6 Miles

In July, 1994 Alvin Straight set off from his home in Laurens, Iowa to see his brother, Henry, after Henry had a stroke.  Unable to drive due to poor vision and mobility, and far too independent to get a ride, Alvin set off on his lawn mower for the 250 mile trip to Blue River, Wisconsin.  The lawn mower broke down, so Alvin returned to Laurens and set out on a John Deer mower that was in slightly better shape and made the trip successfully.
In 1999 David Lynch immortalized Alvin Straight and the motorcycle journey in the movie The Straight Story.  I really liked the movie and thought it had several good lines:
"What is the worst part about getting old?"
"Remembering what it was like to be young."

David Lynch took some liberties with the actual events which is fine for a "based on real life" film.  The movie itself seems very non-Lynch-like in that it bears little resemblance to things like Twin Peaks or Mulholland Drive.
I thought it would be fun to recreate, as best I could, Alvin Straight's journey on my motorcycle and I was headed in a direction on this trip which would make it a good opportunity.

We left under a cool 50F on another early morning.  Backtracking a few miles, we went to Laurens, Iowa where Alvin Straight lived.  The sunrise on the way there was nothing short of stunning over the Iowa agricultural fields.

Laurens seemed like a nice enough town.  I had thought about staying there, but the options were limited and the Pocahontas Inn and Suites was an absolute A+ so I'm really glad that was the hotel of choice.

From Laurens, we followed Alvin Straight's route as best I could - I tried gleaning information, and took what I could find online.  I'm sure there are misses and maybe a lot of them.  But I did what I could and it did get us on to some new roads.
One of the few stops we made on the route was at the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa.  This is shown briefly in the movie, but it deserved a closer look.  It is absolutely stunning.  More info on it can be found here, but seeing this in the middle of rural Iowa was shocking.

The view from above is even more amazing.

The detail is exquisite; I really liked the serpent.

We didn't get a chance to go into the museum or gift shop (unlikely to buy anything anyway with such limited room) as we arrived and left before they were open.  So we continued on Alvin Straight's route.

Iowa is mostly agricultural in the Eastern part of the state, but there are some very pretty parts with good riding, especially near the Mississippi River.

We crossed the river at Marquette.  I don't think I've ever crossed it this far north before.  It was much broader than I anticipated, possibly because it is right near where the Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi.

Once across the river, we followed the Wisconsin River for quite some time.  Following the twists and turns of the river.  It was a beautiful early afternoon.

Soon enough, we came to Blue River, Wisconsin, where Henry Straight lived - ending our Alvin Straight journey.

Along the journey I had time to think about Alvin's trip.  Laurens to Blue River is about 240 miles.  At five miles per hour, that means the travel time was 48 hours (we did it in about 4 on the Gold Wing).  If Alvin only drove 6 hours a day, that means the actual travel time was only 8 days.  I know he did stop for repairs and to visit family en route, but those stops were the bulk of the "six weeks" it took on the lawn mower.
Perhaps it is best not to overthink these things - it is still a good story.

Continuing on, we stopped for lunch at a deli in Muscoda.  It was the perfect road food joint - the kind of restaurant that is only open for breakfast and lunch.  The burgers were fantastic.

Back on the road we made our way towards Madison.  For a capital city, Madison really sneaks up.  It isn't too bad a city to get around and we made our way to Cambridge to see my sister.

Once at my sister's, we talked for a while before heading out to Azatlan Park.  The park was neat, but it always feels a little disingenuous that the Indian Mounds were excavated and then rebuilt.  Still, they were neat to see - much bigger than the mounds at home.

After a great dinner at a restaurant on the Crawfish River, we headed back to the house for a few episodes of the TV show Fargo before calling it a night.

2017 Eclipse Day 5

Alliance, Nebraska to Pocahontas, Iowa:  521.9 Miles

Morning was cold.  It was one of those oddly cool August mornings that tells us summer will eventually come to an end.  It didn't help that we left before sunrise, but the mid-40's was cold.

We worked our way out of Alliance and headed north past Carhenge.  There were still a few campers left there, but only a few.  The mayhem of the eclipse-day had almost completely subsided.

We continued north through the gorgeous Nebraska countryside.  Not too far out of the city, the sunrise peaked up over agricultural land.  It was nothing short of stunning.

A short time later, we crossed a low spot in the terrain.  A mule deer doe jumped out from some brushy trees and across the road directly in front of the Gold Wing at speed.  It was a situation of grab-all-the-brake-the-bike-had and hope that the deer doesn't do anything stupid.  Thankfully, the situation turned out well.  I do suppose that both Mrs. Mule Deer and myself were a bit on edge after the close encounter.

Once we hit US-20, we headed east.  I really see US-20 in Nebraska, especially the western part, as one of the hidden gems in the United States.  It sees little traffic, the road is largely in good shape and the scenery is beautiful.  It is agricultural in places, and in others it looks like either the Sand Hills or the Badlands, or a combination of the two.  Anybody who says Nebraska is boring to drive through should get punched in the mouth - then they should get off of I-80 and really see a bit of the country.
But golly that sun is bright.

Continuing east, I was enjoying the ride, but felt like we were not getting anywhere.  And with the bright sun early in the day, I really think another eclipse was needed.  All those warnings about not looking at the sun during and eclipse don't work so good when driving right into it.

A little after noon, we started looking for a place for lunch.  The towns we went through didn't have much, and Subway didn't sound too appealing.  Now in Eastern Nebraska, the roads roughened up a bit which was making me mad.  What I realized was that I was getting crabby due to a lack of food.  I decided the next town would have to be a food stop, even if it was peanuts at a gas station.
The gas station in Jackson had a small food service inside.  I have to say that the food was much better than it had a right to be; the lady helping us was extremely friendly as well; I love the Midwest...

Filled up with food, we continued east, crossing the Missouri River into Iowa.  We have previously stayed in Pocahontas, Arkansas in 2009; Pocahontas, Illinois in 2014.  We decided to stay in Pocahontas, Iowa.
I was a bit leery after the Norfolk Hotel, but the Pocahontas Inn and Suites was a 5-star lodging establishment in comparison.  Friendly staff, really nice rooms, motorcycle-friendly concrete parking area, etc.

Dinner was at a small restaurant attached to a bar just a short walk away.  It was a little weird that everyone looked at us when we walked in until I noticed I was doing the same thing after sitting down - I think it was just the difference in light between the very bright outside and dark inside.
Dinner was decidedly between good and mediocre.  SO's tenderloin sandwich was good.  My steak was supposed to be a rib eye, but it had all the hallmarks of a strip steak.  It doesn't even compare to the steaks from the previous night.

The night ended with some new Caramel M&M's, readying me for another day of adventure.

2017 Eclipse Day 4 - ECLIPSE DAY!!!!

I was able to sleep reasonably well which is surprising since I was so obsessed with the weather and the eclipse.  Awake at 3AM local time, I forced myself back to sleep before looking at the weather on my phone.  By 4AM, I couldn't stand it anymore and grabbed it.

The forecast for Alliance had improved slightly, but only slightly.  Looking at the model data on spotwx.com, I thought the forecasts were slightly pessimistic.  Still, I didn't want to risk it.
I got up and showered and obsessed a bit more about the weather on my computer instead of my phone - because that could make a difference.  I decided I should make the effort to go another hour to the west as the forecasts there looked much better and the current satellite data supported that.

I went back to my very first idea for a spot to look at the eclipse, but ultimately decided to go a bit farther to the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.  Given that it didn't look like Alliance was overrun, I was hoping Agate wouldn't be too crowded.

But the drive to get there would either be really long and take me out of totality, or require a fairly significant gravel road.  Holding my breath, I asked SO to ask her sister if we could take my niece's car to view the eclipse.
My sister-in-law - being the generous soul that she is - said that wasn't a problem.  So we packed up the car and headed out along with a supply of cameras, eclipse glasses, food and drinks.

The drive there was not too bad, traffic was surprisingly light and most drivers were being well-behaved.  Most...
As we went along, I was surprised by two things - many of the impromptu campgrounds and parking areas were basically empty.  And many of the farm pull-outs had a car or three on them - some even had tents set up.  I felt a little bad for the businesses.  But it is hard to cash in on day trippers I guess.

We got to the gravel road which was also where I originally thought would be a good location to view the eclipse.  It was a large parking and staging area that looked like it is used by the local road crews.  A mini eclipse village had sprung up there with many cars, motorcycles and RV's.  People were milling around everywhere.
Given that this was how nuts it was there, I assumed Agate Fossil Beds would be even worse.  We decided to join the suburbs of the eclipse village.  We drove down the road to where there were very few people and parked behind a Prius.

I spent a few minutes getting my camera set up.  The wind had really picked up, so I weighted down my tripod with rocks in a bag.

It took a few minutes to get my camera set up.  As the sunlight changed, it was a bit of a challenge to keep it in focus and metered well.  Even with the tripod and rocks, the wind was also affecting some of the picture.

With well over an hour to kill before first contact, I wanted some pictures of the event.  I headed down to the eclipse village, but stopped to talk to many people who were also parked on the gravel road.  The woman in the Prius next to us was an older woman that decided that this was something she had to do.  Janice was very nice.  She dutifully brought her meat thermometer to record the temperature as the sun was eclipsed.
The vast majority of people were from Colorado - I wasn't sure that half of Colorado wasn't on that gravel road, but apparently Casper, with better weather forecast, had even more.

A few more people came down the road.  Some were probably headed to Agate Fossil Beds, other stopped there as well.

With a quiet spot with no lights of any kind, it was an absolutely ideal place to view the total eclipse.  We were within a few hundred yards of the centerline of totality.  Bright, clear skies were perfect.

We could see first contact somewhere around 10:25

I spent some time watching the partial eclipse and taking pictures through partiality.  We had lots of time for excitement to build watching the sun slip away.

As it got close to totality, the weather started to noticeably cool.  The wind died down a little bit.  It got dark, not like at night, but more like right before a thunderstorm.  Near the end of the partial phase, it was downright cold with the stiff Nebraska wind.

And just like that, totality hit.  It was amazing.  The sun slunk behind the moon and I took off my eclipse glasses.  I initially forgot to take the solar filter off of the camera, but as soon as I did I alternated between getting a few pictures and just experiencing the eclipse.

All too soon, it was over.  I know totality was over two minutes and thirty seconds, but it felt like it lasted a fraction of that.

Still in awe, we spent some time watching partiality again.  People began to filter down the gravel road almost immediately.  We weren't the last to leave, but most were gone by the time we packed up and left.  I guess we closed the bar for the first time in a long time.

Back on the road we drove back towards Alliance.  There were more cars on the road than usual, but it really wasn't that bad.  We stayed near the speed limit most of the way.  En route, we filled the car with fuel - it was the least we could do.  While eclipse-ageddon may have occurred elsewhere, we avoided it.

As we got to Alliance, traffic was backing up, but a quick jaunt down a side street and we were back at the house.
I spent some time going through the pictures.  I was glad I had some, wished I had more.  But more than anything, I was glad to have lived the total eclipse.

As it turned out, Alliance had fair weather, with some clouds but enough breaks to allow good viewing of the eclipse.  The staging areas in the city had people, but they were far from packed.  Still, part of the reason I wanted to see the eclipse in the west was for the big sky.  And I definitely had big sky for the eclipse in the wide open Nebraska Sand Hills.

Dinner was some of the biggest thickest rib eye steaks I've ever seen.  They were fantastic - followed by a Flurry from Dairy Queen.

The eclipse was awe inspiring and awesome.  What an amazing day!