Total Solar Eclipse 2024

 

On April 8, 2024 we witnessed the total solar eclipse. Since that time I have watched video accounts of other people's total solar eclipse experiences. 

Each time I watch one of these videos I am brought back, in my mind, to that place of awe and wonder induced by standing in the Moon's shadow. 

The awe and wonder of gazing into the black hole where the Sun should be and seeing the ethereal glowing halo of the Sun's corona. 

The awe and wonder of feeling so small in God's giant universe.

The awe and wonder that I felt standing in the eerie darkness, yet beautiful light.

And I feel loved, so loved, by God as he displays his greatness in the heavens.

And I think, "The Almighty God cares for tiny, tiny me. He pays attention to me. He takes care of me. He wants fellowship with me. He loves me!" 

And the tears roll down my cheeks. It was so beautiful! The eclipse was so beautiful. The fact the God wants to show us this stunning display and has orchestrated it for our viewing is also a thing of beauty. 

We had a wonderful eclipse day. We were at a very large park complex in West Frankfort, IL. There were nice playgrounds, mature shade trees, a fishing pond, several baseball diamonds, and some big open fields and a marshy wild life area bordered by woods.

We set up our grill, picnic table, and chairs in a secluded section in the back of the park. We put our tent up, too, just to have a place to relax for some of the children.

The weather was perfect: sunny and 76°F. We played on the playground equipment before the eclipse started. We rushed back over to our camp to witness first contact. It as so exciting. The eclipse was happening! We watched the shadows change. Mr. In the Midwest grilled our pork steaks. We lay on our picnic blanket and observed the Sun shrinking away through our solar filter glasses. 

 Slowly, slowly the Moon over took the Sun. The Sun looked like a golden cookie that someone had taken a bite out of. Then the Sun looked like a packman. Then the Sun looked like a crescent, then a banana, and then a tiny sliver. When the Sun was down to only about 5% showing the anticipation really became intense. The light was dim and bright at the same time. The air was cooler. The evening birds started to make their calls. A planet appeared.

And then everything went dark. Off came our glasses! We had 4 minutes and 7-8 glorious seconds to witness the beautiful corona and look around at the 360° sunset at the horizon. There were shouts and whistles and laughter. The diamond ring was my favorite part. My two year old didn't care for the Sun going out. He said, "Go home." He meant that he wanted to go home. I held him, pointing to the shimmering ring in the sky and said, "Isn't it pretty?" 

And just like that, it was over. The first hair of Sun slipped out and we had to put our solar filter glasses back on.

We ate our lunch and had a happy time watching the Moon edge it's way off of the Sun. It seemed to go a lot faster getting off of the Sun than it had gone covering the Sun.

I am left with overwhelming gratitude. God is so good to me!

Psalms 97:6 

The heavens declare his righteousness, 

and all the people see his glory.

You can read about my 2017 total solar eclipse experience HERE. I wrote a lengthy journal style post for that eclipse.

My Total Eclipse Experience!

I spent a lot of time looking forward to and planning to see the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.

I first learned about the upcoming eclipse over two years ago. I made up my mind that nothing short of a disaster would keep me from being in the shadow. At that time the employer that Mr. In The Mid-west had was not likely to give him a day off for something like an eclipse. I was also pregnant. My initial thought was that I would be traveling to see the eclipse with a two year old by myself, without Mr. In The Mid-west. Thankfully, Mr. In The Mid-west's employment has changed and he was able to have the day off.

I looked at the eclipse maps to figure out where I would like to be located along the path of totality. I saw that there was a pretty easy route along interstates to somewhere south of St. Louis, Missouri. The general area was pretty rural and didn't have any very large cities. I just used my fingers to zoom in on the map in the center of the path of totality and came to the town of Sullivan. Close by to Sullivan is a small state park, Maramec State Park. I thought, "Perfect, we can camp at the park Sunday night and watch the eclipse on Monday." I went to the park website to look into reservation and prices. The price was very reasonable, but I couldn't make a reservation more than 6 months in advance.

I didn't check back, about the reservation, until only 2 months before the eclipse. By that time all the camp sites were taken at the Maramec State Park. I looked up all of the state parks in Missouri that were located in the belt of totality. I only found 2 campsites that were available and they weren't even in the best locations. They were kind of on the edge of the shadow band. When I called to make a reservation I was informed that due to the eclipse event they were only allowing reservations that were 3 days in length, and not any 3 days, it had to be that Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I was not to happy about that, and decided not to make a reservation. We only wanted to stay one night. We would just sleep in our car. We have done it many times. The back seats fold down and we spread our blankets out in the trunk and onto the folded down seats. All of us fit comfortably, and I sleep soundly. Mr. In The Mid-west has trouble getting comfortable sometimes, but he'd rather sleep in the car than rent a hotel room.

In April I bought the solar veiwing glasses. I used some of the money I had made from selling my hair (there is a post about that here) to buy the glasses. I considered it an investment and was hoping to make money on them. Back in June I didn't think my business proposition was going to work out. No one that I talked to was really interested in the eclipse. But, the general population's enthusiasm finally did catch up to mine, and I was able to sell all of my eclipse glasses. Of course, I kept three for our family.

When we were a week out from the Eclipse date I could finally check the weather forecast. We were planning to leave home after church on Sunday night and drive to our veiwing location. In that amount of driving time it would be possible for us to get to Central/Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois, or Western Kentucky. During the day on Sunday I kept checking the weather forecasts and cloud coverage maps for these areas, trying to make a final decision about which direction we should head that night. The forecasts were similar. They changed slightly throughout the day. It was predicted to be, "Party sunny with a 20-30% chance of thunder storms after 1pm." And, later they switched it to 3 pm. After studying the maps I settled on Sullivan, Missouri. I had asked God many times to allow us to see the total eclipse. All I could do was use what information I had to try and make a good choice and trust God to answer prayer.

We packed the car with our blankets, pillows, stroller, cooler, snacks and water. We double checked a couple times that we did indeed have our solar veiwing glasses. That would have been gut wrenching to arrive and discover that we had left our glasses at home! We had a pretty smooth drive. We got to the Walmart in Sullivan around 12:30am. There were a few other travellers using the Walmart parking lot as a stopping place for the night. We parked and set up our blankets in the car. We left the car running to keep the air conditioning on, and slept soundly until about 6:30am.

The sun was just coming over the horizon, bright and clear. It looked like the beginning of a beautiful day!

We strolled through Walmart for a while. Funny story: I was trying to occupy Boy In The Mid-west while we were in the store. I took him to the sporting goods section and found the fishing bait refrigerator. I opened a few different containers of nightcrawlers to show BMW. He loved it. He touched the clump of worms and then was thrilled to watch them wriggle. As he observed them he said, "Beeauutifull!" And that is BMW for you. He loves critters. He stops to wave and say, "Hi!" to all the caterpillars, birdies, and rabbits he comes across. :)

We drove around and explored Sullivan. We found the fairgrounds, where they were hosting public eclipse veiwing. Some people were already set up with their lawn chairs. The fairgrounds were plenty big and we didn't see any need to find a spot yet. We spent time at the city playground until about 10:30am. Then we went to the fairgrounds to "stake our claim." There was still plenty of room. We parked under a couple of large, sprawling oak trees.

It was a beautiful day! The eclipse began at 11:48am. At that moment Mr. In The Mid-west and I had our glasses on and our eyes on the sun. We could see the ever-so-slight dent at the one o'clock potion on the sun. I could hardly believe that I was actually there getting to see this in real person. I was so excited! I was so grateful for the clear skies.

At first we couldn't take our eyes off of the spectacle. When we did look away we noticed some discomfort in our eyes. I re-read the safety warnings on the glasses and found that we were not supposed to be looking directly at the sun for more than 3 consecutive minutes. After that we only took short glimpses, and our eyes felt fine again.

The eclipse grew, the temperature dropped, and the lighting became strange. All of the things I knew to expect happen, happened. I knew the logistics of what was happening, but no amount of reading or head knowledge could fully prepare me to see the total eclipse. I couldn't experience it through a description. And to be honest I don't have words to describe what it felt like to be in the moon's shadow, to see the sun's Corona, to look at stars in the middle of the day. It was amazing! It was beautiful! It was unbelievable!

As the last vestiges of sunlight were being blocked from veiw our family was up on a grassy knoll, away from the crowd. (I am really surprised none of our fellow watchers came up to that place.) It was eerily dim. The lighting felt heavy.

And if that is all you ever see of an eclipse, it is definitely worth seeing. But, even that minute percentage of sunlight was bright compared to the instant that totality began. It doesn't compare. It was as if the lights were turned out. It wasn't as dark as the mid-night sky, but it was darker than sunset. It was too dark for my cell phone camera to take a decent picture.

As the shadow passed over the grounds you could hear a cheer rise from the crowd, begining off in the distance and coming closer. The people weren't wild or crazy they just sounded happy. And then it was quite. I heard it coming and when the sun became completely blocked I couldn't help but make a noise. A surge of joy and amazement and pure wonder overwhelmed me. I was filled with emotion and I am not sure what feeling to call it. It was a mixture of feelings, I suppose. It was to great of a feeling to hold inside, though, and it came out as laughter. I was tickled, but not in a giddy gleefully way. I was touched. I couldn't believe that I was getting to see something so amazing and beautiful. I felt a huge sense of gratitude. I was grateful to be there, to have a clear view, to have eye sight, to share this experience with my loved ones. I was excited. This all probably sounds sappy, but you would have to be there to experience it with all of your senses to know what you would feel like.

There were 2 minutes and 31 seconds to enjoy this phenomenal event. We took a picture of us all together under the moon's shadow. We looked around. I saw the night lights come on down by a hospital building.  I saw two stars, that were probably planets. I saw a moth fluttering about. We stared at the "sun". It was a black hole in the sky with a shimmering Halo. It was unlike anything else you see in the natural world. BMW was amazed. I hope he can remember some of the event. I remember somethings from when I was two years old, so I know it is possible.

And, just like that, it was over. As the first beams of sunlight touched Earth again (at least that particular spot on Earth) we had to put on our glasses again. I heard someone holler to the man who had driven 13 hours from Texas with his young son to be there, "Was that worth the trip from Texas?" Which was answered with a hardy, "Absolutely!"

And, I agree, it was definitely worth the drive. I am glad we didn't have to travel that far, but if I had to drive 13 hours to see it again I would. It was so worth the trip!

I guess another thing that makes an eclipse so special is that they are so rare and exclusive. You have to be in a limited location at a particular time to see it. It only lasts for a few minutes. You only have those few minutes to soak up enough eclipse experience to last a lifetime. Very rarely will an average person get to see more than one total eclipse in their life. And if you are privileged with the ability to travel the world you are only likely to see a handful of eclipses in your entire life. You can't rewind the experience. You can't fully relive the event through video. I can think of few things in life that are so rare and un-repeatable.

I have looked at the maps for future eclipses and I hope to see at least two more total eclipse of the sun before I die. The one in 2024 and 2045.

And I want to encourage you, my reader, if it is at all possible for you to see a total solar eclipse, please, please, make the trip. You won't regret it. I promise!

Psalms 40:5

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

First Time Flying In A Commercial Airplane!! And Some Details About Our Trip.

This week I had the opportunity to fly on an airplane! I had never been on a commercial aircraft before, and I was really excited to fly!

As we took off from Detroit.

Looking out over lake Erie.

Snowy fields in New York State.

Sunset from above the clouds.

On our descent into Boston.

Flying was a fun experience! We flew from Chicago to Detroit and from Detroit to Boston. We drove from Boston to northern Maine on a business trip.
We only had half a day to sight see in Boston. We picked one thing to visit.

U.S.S. Constitution in her berth.

Someone had recommended that we see the U.S.S. Constitution, and that is what we did. There was an interactive museum about the U.S.S. Constitution that was well worth the time. They had family friendly exhibits that where very interesting and educational. The museum is run on donations so there is no admission fee only a suggested donation which makes the museum very affordable. The U.S.S. Constitution is one of six battle ships commissioned to be built in 1794. She was finally launched on October 21, 1797. During the war of 1812 she became famous and was nicknamed, "Old Ironsides," after British cannon balls bounced off of her hull!

The Navy is currently doing some restoration work on the U.S.S. Constitution.

While in Boston we went shopping at a really interesting Walmart. There was a parking deck below the store!

You had to ride an elevator or escalator up to the store! And, there was a really neat type of escalator for carts full of groceries to ride down on! Sorry, I don't have any pictures of that contraption.

Other than that, the store was just a regular Walmart on the main floor.