Leonid Meteors

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
-- Oscar Wilde

Sunday, November 18, 2001
One year ago: Orycon
Two years ago: Catching Up
Three years ago: Fatigue
Four years ago: Publicity

I've been to see the Perseid meteor showers several times over the years, but not the Leonids. The Perseids happen in August, which is ideal weather for camping around here. Leonids = November, cold, overcast. But Jack wanted to do this, since this year was supposed to be a really big shoe, I mean show. No moon, and our planet would be passing through a "thick" part of the meteor band. If we crossed the mountains and went to the east side of Washington state, the chances for clear skies would be greatly increased.

Jack put out a call on the vanguard discussion list, and the list for the Bellingham science fiction club. We invited a few other folks, too. Through web research, Jack picked the site, over the mountains and west of Ellensburg.

On the day, we packed the trailer and caravaned out of town. There was a designated meeting spot at Gilman Village in Issaquah, where we waited in a parking lot from two o'clock til three. Jack's daughter H--- and I went and looked through some of the cute shoppes while we waited; Jack stayed with the truck and read Tolkein, in preparation for the release of the Lord of the Rings movie next month. The only folks that turned up in the allotted time were my weblog friends, Dan and Lisa, and their friend Bryan. We decided not to try to actually caravan -- they had directions that Jack had gathered from the web page for the state fish and wildlife service.

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The drive took a lot longer than we'd thought. The afternoon was ending, and the sky was gettting dark. And the milepost that marked the exit was actually in Ellensburg! We drove into town, and looked for the cross street we were supposed to turn on. No joy! We drove to the edge of town, and it just wasn't there. We pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store; we met the other folks and were very happy to see them! Dan had bought a map in the store; the street we were looking for had been renamed! Blast those out-of-date web pages!

We drove to the intersection and headed down the road. (Again, we didn't caravan. Why not?) Soon it was evident that we'd gone too far. Jack had trouble finding a place to turn the Blazer and trailer, but we got headed back to town. Again, we stopped at a convenience store and asked for help. "Oh, yeah, we get a lot of people asking about that spot!" the worker chirped. We'd gone too far; the turn was right beside a white house, on the left.

This time we made it, but the site was so much closer to town than we'd thought! On the other side of the lake was the main commercial strip of Ellensburg! We'd arrived so late that it was difficult to get the lay of the land. Were there any actual campsites? It didn't look like it; just a big gravel turnaround and a small dock. Judy was there already, and Dan, Lisa, and Bryan had beaten us there. We decided to unpack the trailer, then Jack drove the Blazer back to the turnoff so any late arrivals would have a better chance of finding us. We really did have to stay, since some folks had talked about showing up late. Otherwise we might have decided to move to a different spot.

We set up our folding chairs in a circle. We decided not to start a fire, since we were so close to town that we feared interference if a fire broke the rules. We proceeded to get very, very cold.

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Dan, Lisa and Bryan drove into town and brought back pizza, which was very good and helped warm us up. We got out our sleeping bags and wriggled into them, not easy while staying seated! Judy invited anyone who was cold to come inside her camper, but only Jack's daughter took her up on it.

We had some good conversations, but ooh it was cold. At least the sky was clear, and the light from town didn't seem to be drowning out the stars. Jack set up his large telescope and we took turns looking through it, at the moon and various planets. Did I mention that it was cold?

In retrospect, we should have come with tents and cots, and just gone to sleep until after midnight. That's when the meteors finally got going in earnest. And they. were. spectacular. The later it got, the more there were. Shooting streaks, glowing tracks, and some that exploded. Much ooing and ah-ing!

But Dan and crew spent the hour between two AM and three AM in their car, warming up and peering through fogged-up windows. They then threw in the towel and headed for a hotel across the lake, bless them!

Jack's daughter H---- was sleeping in the pickup camper, so Jack, Judy and I gathered around the fire we'd started in the wee hours and watched the peak time of the show. The meteors were more than we could count! Until...the clouds started rolling in after four o'clock. Not bad -- the number of meteors was trailing off by then.

We packed up all the gear and loaded the trailer, then we woke up H---- and left. Jack decided to try to drive back to Seattle, instead of getting a hotel room for just a few hours.

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We drove to Snoqualmie pass before stopping for an early breakfast, then headed down the hill. I was very sleepy, but felt that I should try to stay awake and talk to Jack!

When we were almost home, near the interchange of 405 and I-90, Jack was barrelling along in the carpool lane, over the speed limit. Oh, no! He saw state troopers in the median up ahead, and tried to slow down. Too late! The lights came on and we were pulled over.

The officer asked Jack if he knew how fast he was going (response - something about his oversize tires making his spedometer unreliable), what about the broken windshield (response - just happened), and did he know he had a headlight burned out? Now that really was a surprise. He took Jack's registration, license, and insurance papers (but we couldn't find the actual little card that the insurer was supposed to provide). We told the tale of driving out to look at the meteors. The officer walked off while Jack swore heartily and we looked for the insurance card.

But we lucked out! He cut us a break and just gave a warning on all the infractions, and let us go. Hurrah!

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We drove home, unpacked the trailer, then collapsed into bed.