Eclipse Day pt. 1

It's finally here. We've been watching forecasts all weekend long and it's been a rollercoaster. Right now it's mostly sunny here. The forecasts through the time of the eclipse say partly cloudy. I sure
Credit: NASA
hope they hold up. As long as heavy cloud cover doesn't roll in, we'll be golden. It doesn't seem like the town is crazy busy...yet. There's still 3 hours and some change to go before totality, so anything can happen before then. We'll probably end up finding a grassy spot with a shade tree or two to view the eclipse. We didn't do a very good job of looking for a viewing party, which may have been fun but I don't mind the experience being a little private to our family. I plan to setup my phone on a tripod to capture our reactions. I doubt I'll bother trying to capture the actual totality happening--I just want to experience it. There will be plenty of much better videos/photos taken of the event than I'll ever be able to manage with my smartphone anyway. I hope the skies are blue wherever you're reading from and that you can experience the eclipse too.

After it's done, then the hard part begins. We have to be back to the North by 3:15 tomorrow for an orthodontist appointment. Do we leave right after the totality finishes? Do we wait a few hours to let the roads hopefully clear or are they only going to clog more during that time? It's hard to say. If the cell coverage holds out (so far it has), I should be able to view the live traffic analysis on Google Maps and the Missouri and Illinois websites. I feel like once we get through central Illinois the traffic will start dispersing to other areas and probably won't be so bad. Heading up through St. Louis though could be a real treat. Only one way to find out!

Stay tuned.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018: Go Time

Image
Well 2018 is here already. Where did 2017 go? It was quite the memorable year for many different reasons, but I'm looking forward to the new year. That being said, it's go time. I've been slacking on the writing front ever since 2014. I think switching jobs, moving and welcoming a baby to the family probably had a lot to do with it, but some of it is just me not writing as much as I should be. In the past few weeks my spark has been reignited and I've been working on various projects. Here's a look at what I've been working on lately and will continue to work on. Dulcima in Paperback Dulcima is finally available in paperback, which is a goal I had ever since I released the ebook version in June 2014. For whatever reason it took me until November of 2017 to get it done but I think it has been well worth the wait. Instead of using Createspace I used Amazon's new KDP platform to create the paperback and I think the quality of the printing is awesome.
Read more

Arches, Cave Dives and Hangry Feasts

Image
The common Poor Man's Eclipse Well, Saturday was interesting! We started the day by heading to the Old Courthouse in STL to get some tickets to ride to the top of the Arch. Along the way we noticed a cool phenomenon. Something I dubbed a "Poor Man's Eclipse", where the sun was being blocked by the Arch. It looked pretty cool and with the weather forecast calling for clouds and possible thunderstorms...it may be the closest to an actual eclipse that we get to see (we hope not). The Arch was quite the specimen and if you're ever in the area, you should definitely check it out. We watched a video documenting the construction and design of the Arch and it was really something to see. Those men and women who worked on the Arch must have been made of steel themselves. Many were 600 feet above the ground walking around without any safety harnesses (it was the 60s after all, where either they didn't give a damn or they didn't have time to be scared). We rode t
Read more

Eclipse Day part 2

Image
The minutes ticked by slowly waiting in our hotel room for the eclipse to begin. I obsessively checked the weather forecasts while the kids watched TV and played on their iPads. I kept glancing outside, watching other hotel guests arrive or leave, while some sat on the benches outside the doors. We had planned to setup shop in the grassy area just across the street from the hotel, which would afford us a nice view of the sky. Added bonus:   a few shade trees could help keep us somewhat cool in the muggy heat. But something just didn’t feel right to me about sitting right outside the hotel. For one, there were street lights everywhere. I knew the lights would pop on as soon as it became dark and I didn’t want to compromise our view. I began to search for nearby parks and found one about 2 miles away. Tiff agreed with me that we should try heading there (it was 10:15 at this point) and see if there were any parking spots. There was a playground and soccer fields, so we figured there
Read more