Lunar Eclipse March 2nd, 2026

[JimFox]

I drove a 1000 miles to get to the Edge of Totality.

I was in Colorado, and I did need to get to California, but I made sure to time it so I could the Lunar Eclipse. Watching the weather, looking at the Eclipse lines on the map, Joshua Tree and that area gave me the best chance to catch it.

Now, there was one small hitch. I didn't have my main Astro Rig. I had left it at home in Anaheim since I was making a short trip to Colorado 10 days prior and didn't think I would need it as I had forgotten about the lunar eclipse when packing. But now on the way back, I really wanted my telescope as I would going to mount my Z6III and the Tamron 50-400mm on top of it, piggybacking my telescope to track the moon.

So, on a day where I had to drive 8 hours to get to Joshua Tree from where I had stopped the night before, I had to drive an extra 2 hours to get to Anaheim to grab my telescope gear, toss it in the truck, and then drive back out another 2 hours to get back to Joshua Tree. But it was worth it.

I ended up having 2 telescopes and 4 cameras running on this night. So I have lot's of options on how to process the Lunar Eclipse and what looks I want.

This one is from the Nikon Z6III and the Tamron 50-400mm @ 400mm and a little crop. I had mounted an Arca Plate on top of my telescope to mount this, it worked pretty well.

This is a quick edit as I am busy working on the timelapse as well as doing a bunch of Livestreaming on YouTube.

All comments are welcome,

Jim

 

[Jameel Hyder]

What's another 2 hours either way the amount you drive. The result was worth it as the image with all the stars around the moon stands out. Nice work.

 

[AlanLichty]

Wait - you actually unpack your 4Runner? I thought it was your permanent storage place for anything resembling photo gear unless it was in use!

Very nice blood moon BTW.

 

[JimFox]

What's another 2 hours either way the amount you drive. The result was worth it as the image with all the stars around the moon stands out. Nice work.

Ha ha, and that's what I decided too. What's a few more hours?

Thanks Jameel!

 

[JimFox]

Wait - you actually unpack your 4Runner? I thought it was your permanent storage place for anything resembling photo gear unless it was in use!

Very nice blood moon BTW.

See.... you will think I am even crazier then you already think I am. When I am at home in California or Colorado, I empty my truck of the camera gear, just in case my truck get's broken into. So that's typically 3 plastic bins of camera gear, plus 5 loose cameras in camera cases, Smart Telescope, regular telescope, regular astro mount, heavy duty astro tripod, 6 portable batterys, 2 laptops, etc... it usually takes me about an hour to load or unload my truck.

Now, I do have a deck with drawers that my son built for me that fits in the back of the 4 Runner. So I leave it's 2 drawers filled with 6 tripods and the other one has 5 or 6 smaller portable batteries, along with cables, emergency gear for the truck, etc..

On a daily basis then when I leave the house, I do bring 2 to 3 cameras with me, because you just never know what might need to be photographed while out, or if I get a spur of the moment to go chase a sunset. I want to have some gear with me.

I am sure more, then you wanted to know....

 

[AlanLichty]

See.... you will think I am even crazier then you already think I am. When I am at home in California or Colorado, I empty my truck of the camera gear, just in case my truck get's broken into. So that's typically 3 plastic bins of camera gear, plus 5 loose cameras in camera cases, Smart Telescope, regular telescope, regular astro mount, heavy duty astro tripod, 6 portable batterys, 2 laptops, etc... it usually takes me about an hour to load or unload my truck.

Now, I do have a deck with drawers that my son built for me that fits in the back of the 4 Runner. So I leave it's 2 drawers filled with 6 tripods and the other one has 5 or 6 smaller portable batteries, along with cables, emergency gear for the truck, etc..

On a daily basis then when I leave the house, I do bring 2 to 3 cameras with me, because you just never know what might need to be photographed while out, or if I get a spur of the moment to go chase a sunset. I want to have some gear with me.

I am sure more, then you wanted to know....

I will be honest here - that's worse than I thought.

 

[JimFox]

I will be honest here - that's worse than I thought.

lol Yep.

 

[AlanLichty]

You have no idea how helpful you detailed list of photo gear is for those of us who are always trying to justify our Gadget Acquisition Syndrome needs against the Wife Acceptance Factor. All I had to do is show my wife your post and she now understands that I am a slacker in comparison

 

[JimFox]

You have no idea how helpful you detailed list of photo gear is for those of us who are always trying to justify our Gadget Acquisition Syndrome needs against the Wife Acceptance Factor. All I had to do is show my wife your post and she now understands that I am a slacker in comparison

Ha ha, and little does she know I just glossed over my gear.

So that's great, she will now allow you to keep up with Jones, I mean Foxes and get more gear!

 

[AlanLichty]

Ha ha, and little does she know I just glossed over my gear.

So that's great, she will now allow you to keep up with Jones, I mean Foxes and get more gear!

Doesn't matter that you glossed over more details - her eyes glazed over before she even finished the list What I really need is the ability to get out more to use what I do have..... 'nuther story for a different conversation.

 

[Mike Lewis]

That's a sweet result Jim! Yeah, we should have a raffle to guess the amount of miles you put on your vehicle in a year. Gotta be mid 5 figures at least it seems like...

ML

 

[JimFox]

Doesn't matter that you glossed over more details - her eyes glazed over before she even finished the list What I really need is the ability to get out more to use what I do have..... 'nuther story for a different conversation.

Ha ha. Well, I think things will pick up for you this year!

 

[JimFox]

That's a sweet result Jim! Yeah, we should have a raffle to guess the amount of miles you put on your vehicle in a year. Gotta be mid 5 figures at least it seems like...

ML

Thanks so much Mike! I was pretty happy with the result. When events like this hit, I feel like I am part juggler trying to keep an eye on all of the gear.

And that would be funny to do a raffle like that. You don't even want to know how many trips I have driven back and forth to Colorado in just the last 30 days. And in 9 days I will be back on the road heading back to Colorado.