21 August 2017, Monday
Basin campground and Shoshoni WY
It is quite dark when the alarm goes off at 5 am. By 5:20 we are on the road. Following Helen’s advice, we take the more eastern route towards Shoshoni in order to avoid Cody traffic. We keep an eye out for a place to get coffee in the wide open Wyoming ranch land. Finally, around 6:20, we unexpectedly find a roadside coffee drive-thru stand in Greybull, WY. We stop. O eats his cherry turnover with his mocha, while I drive. Further on, in Worland, we stop to top off Vincent’s fuel tank and switch drivers. In Worland we pick up a steady, but free-flowing, line of traffic heading south.
There are license plates from all over the country. We drive through the Wind River Canyon. It is quite scenic. At the southern end of the canyon we begin to see clumps of cars, trucks and RV’s pulled off alongside the road. We join a group parked across the road from Boysen Reservoir and State Park.
Precisely on time, we can see the moon taking a tiny bite out of the sun’s disc at the 1:00 position. By 10:54 the day is getting slightly more dim. By 11:20 it is noticeably cooler and the sun is “fingernail” size. Just before 11:39: onset of totality. It is as if we are part of a time-lapse sunset. Suddenly – a cool breeze and darkness rushes over us. We can see a few bright stars above. The black circle of the eclipsed sun, surrounded by golden blaze, is incredible! I snap a few photos hoping for the best, and then, too quickly, it’s over.
Totality! 
Totality with red glow 
Another view
As the day brightens again birds fly over, chirping and greeting the sun. In the distance a man is calling out, “Eclipse glasses for sale!” We see a line of cars, headlights on, driving north along route 20, now going away from the centerline of totality. O and I sit and enjoy the gradual brightening, waiting for traffic to clear. We wait a bit too long. The line of traffic heading north has become slower and more dense. Looks like the Long Island Expressway at rush hour! We chat a bit with our eclipse watching neighbors as we pack up. One of them, Bill, suggests we drive out to Big Horn Canyon on our way back to Red Lodge. It’s only about 10 miles out of our way. He promises we’ll be impressed.
We drive, slowly at first, in the post eclipse traffic, northward. After we pass Thermopolis, with its 25 mph speed limit, the road opens up, and we make good time to Lovell, where we take our detour to the canyon.
Bill was right. It is well worth the extra time. The gorge is one of the deepest in the US. It is also (like Goosenecks in Utah) another example of entrenched meanders. There are wild mustangs at this National Recreation area, but we do not see them. We finally return to camp a bit after 7 pm. We have driven over 400 miles. What a day!