Eclipse

[F6Dave]

This board is so quiet that I might as well post something. Is anyone travelling to watch the eclipse? Or does anyone live in the path? I drove to Nebraska to watch it in 2017 and it was more impressive than I expected.

[SpencerPJ]

I live in Indy, direct hit. Weather forecast looks decent, partly sunny and 60, might even go for a ride that day and take my paper glasses.

[F6Dave]

After watching the last total eclipse 2017, I didn't want to miss this one as the next is many years away. Weather forecasts were cloudy in many locations so I drove to El Dorado, Kansas Sunday night to have a choice of Missouri or Arkansas on E-Day. Weather looked good in both states Monday morning, but AR had much more traffic so I chose MO. Willow Springs was my target town, on the edge of totality, but only for 16 seconds! Driving just 15 miles to West Plains added over 3 minutes so that's where I parked.

It was even better than 2017 since it lasted significantly longer. And returning through Mark Twain National Forest and some of Route 66 made the trip even better.

Moments before.
https://dchealy.com/valk/eclipse2024-before.jpg

Totality.
https://dchealy.com/valk/eclipse2024-truck.jpg

Wind in Western Kansas closed part of I-70 on Sunday, which is why I didn't ride.
https://dchealy.com/valk/eclipse2024-wind.jpg

Boots Court is a restored Route 66 motel in Carthage, MO.
https://dchealy.com/valk/eclipse2024-bootscourt.jpg

[SpencerPJ]

We had great weather and total eclipse here in Indy. I must say, pretty cool.

[F6Dave]

Over the years I saw a few partial eclipses and thought they were interesting, but not spectacular. Then in 2017 the path of totality was only a four hour drive away in Nebraska, so I decided to make it a day trip. At first it was about what I expected as the sun became a tiny sliver and daylight faded. But totality was far beyond what I expected. The wind calmed, the temperature dropped, and there was a sunset in every direction. There was a grade school class standing a few feet away and they sounded like it was the first day of summer vacation.

After that, I knew I had to make it to this one.

[FarsideF6B]

Glad you folks got to see, pretty cloudy here in the pan-handle. We were only at a 60-80% to see with the path / direction. There were some occasional glimpses though. Really cool:cool:

[RickW]

We were within a few miles of the direct center of totality in NE Ohio by Lake Erie. It was spectacular.
We had an Eclipse open house here and this is the link for the Video that we took.
https://youtu.be/PErr1NQf6wQ?si=FuCQwiiJ08DO4oWj

[SpencerPJ]

Good video Rick, I thought it was cool how it looked like sun was setting, in every direction.

[F6Dave]

That's a great video of the eclipse! Venus (I think) is really clear on the lower right.

That 360 degree sunset is what surprised me the most when I travelled to my first eclipse in 2017. Unfortunately most cameras tend to brighten up sunsets, so the photos don't convey how dark it really is.

The problem with an eclipse is you only have a few minutes to check out all the amazing phenomena happening in every direction.