Eclipse

Unlike many who planned for weeks, months, or even years, we had always planned to leave our eclipse plans to the last few days.  From our rural home we would have 98.2 % totality.  But then I read an article where an astronomer said even if you have that degree of the moon's coverage, and you don't travel to see full totality, it would be like driving within 15 minutes of the ocean and never driving the rest of the way to see it; nuff said.

Thus ensued the countless hours scouring totality maps of Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.  St Joseph, MO, being in the direct center of totality's path, would have been a logical choice for us.  But news reports said the city was expecting crowds that would rival the Royal's World Series parade two years ago.  We were caught in that traffic jam and were forced to turn back without ever making it to the parade and rally.  I was worried.

We wanted a spot away from light pollution so we made the decision to travel to Indian Cave State Park, NE, a two and half hour drive.  We began checking the weather daily, comparing the park against our weather at home.  And much discussion was given to our route as well.  Our choices being the interstate, which took us right through St. Joe with possible traffic jams, and two other state highways.  Also, who in the family would be able to join our family trek? The night before, our route still wasn't decided. 

We left our home at 7:30 a.m., met up with other family, and decided to drive the interstate.  To our surprise, traffic was normal.  But we were driving through a lot of cloud cover and sporadic rain showers.  When we pulled off the interstate we still had another hour's drive to the park.  But the clouds were starting to thin.  We were seeing patches of blue sky and our hearts were hopeful.

Driving those winding roads through NE we saw so many people who had claimed their spots on pull-offs along the roadside.  How could I not think of all those science fiction movies I've watched with Paul and the kids through the years!  All these people hoping to see the same thing we were hoping to see.

Once in the park and settled, the clouds were thin enough for us to watch the  beginning of the moon's journey.  As we ate our picnic and the grandchildren played, thicker clouds started moving in.  Seeing intermittent glimpses we were still hopeful to see the moment of totality.  

Well those clouds hung tight.  The seconds before totality we knew we would not be able to see the sun's corona.  And yet still, there was no doubt totality was happening.  Complete darkness fell.  Dad scooped up the running children into his arms and we sat there and watched, listened.  In that moment I felt what I read others had reported feeling, awe, small, and a connection to all the other human beings sharing the experience.  Then moment's afterwards secretly happy that none of those science fiction movie plots had panned out.  No zombies that I could see.  As soon as totality passed and the moon began to move away, so did the clouds.  We were able to watch the rest of the event without any cloud cover.

We drove back in bumper to bumper traffic, finally arriving home at 7:00 p.m.  We knew whatever plans we made for the day it was always going to be a gamble.  We did our best to make the most of our once in a life time experience.  I view it as a success.