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.