Eclipse

Mike had been to see the eclipse in 2017 with some friends and made his mind up then that we should all go to see the 2024 eclipse. Contrary to our standard traveling mode, this trip would only work with precise planning and very little room for error. Agh!

So on Saturday April 6 we started heading northwest. Mike and I picked up Katie, who left Alec and 4-month old baby at home at 7:30 a.m., with Katie choking back tears. Todd and Priscila left a bit later in the “back-up” car.

We met in Thomasville, Georgia for a fantastic lunch! Somehow little Thomasville has beaten the odds and remained a vibrant, darling, medium size town of 18,000. The antebellum storefronts are well kept and every store was open with apartments above. Each building has a plaque indicating what the store used to be: Tailor, Funeral Parlor, Butcher. A toy store was so unique it had us talking about returning for Christmas shopping!

Grassroots Coffee has been there for years. It still had delicious coffee and sandwiches!. Usually we stop at The Scoop for sandwiches so if ever you go, definitely stop there!

Other small towns looked bedraggled with many shops closed-down. Even Eufala, Alabama, a formerly lovely town with Civil War era homes, was looking rough. Coincidentally the homes were open for their annual viewing festival, so we saw beautiful women dressed in period costumes.

We spent an enjoyable evening in Montgomery with family. It was Todd’s 30th birthday! Everyone wanted pizza except the birthday boy, so I went with Todd to pick up a steak dinner from a nearby restaurant while Mike got pizza for the rest of us.

Once through Birmingham in the morning we meandered on backroads to Jackson, Tennessee. Katie had read about a nice town called Florence, Alabama where we could get lunch on the way. Our first choice spot had a sign in the window: Closed, Went to See Eclipse. YOLO

We found a good second choice restaurant then went to a beautiful park on the Tennessee River. We met Todd and Priscila there and enjoyed lovely weather and a good stretch!

We had booked 2 rooms in Jackson and it was good we did! The hotel was clamoring with people and we waited an hour for our rooms to be ready. Truthfully I was worried about the eclipse crowds and traffic but we were forging onward.

Jackson was a 2-3 hour drive to the eclipse site Mike had carefully selected in tiny Goreville, Illinois, population 1,000. Again the drive was pretty through farmland and rolling hills. Bad news though: the skies were fully socked-in. You could not see any sun whatsoever even as we were only 100 miles south of the eclipse area. We tried to remain optimistic but we were pretty discouraged.

As we began getting closer, the skies began to gradually break apart! Here and there were tiny patches of blue sky. Our friends who traveled to Texas and Ohio were experiencing the same uncertainties.

We got to the State Park near Goreville and turned around as quickly as we entered–it was PACKED with thousands of people! Our plan included leaving soon after the eclipse which would never happen at the State Park.

We drove into little Goreville and debated where to wait. We had 2 hours until the eclipse. We found the city park hosting a festival including a Miss Solar Eclipse contest, with pretty girls of all ages in their gowns.

But when the time came, we crept down a country road where no one else could bother us. Gradually the light faded and the clouds stayed away. Half hour later, the temperature began to drop noticeably. As the 4 minutes of the full eclipse began, it was as though a switch had been flipped. It was so dark we removed our glasses and stared at the black sun. It was shocking. It was like 8:30 pm dark, with the only light in the sky around the edges of the horizon.

And then with switch flipped and it was light again! Dull light became brighter with each minute, but we could still use our glasses to look at the eclipse. Oh my GOSH!

We had no time to reflect, however–Katie and I had to get to the airport!

Todd and Priscila left to go south and Mike drove Katie and I towards the Nashville Airport. Within 30 minutes we were all at a standstill, however. Todd and Priscila called us so we could recount how amazing our event had been. They were in full gridlock on the highway. We got off the highway but we barely moving. I was feeling nervous. We had 4 1/2 hours to get the airport, but it was getting worse and worse.

After 3 hours Mike finally dropped us off with an hour to spare. We left all our stuff in the car so it was pretty easy to fly with no bags. Our 10:45 p.m. flight got us in Orlando around 1 a.m. Florida time. We got an Uber to Katie’s then I drove home and was snuggled with Rocky by 2:30 a.m. Todd & Priscila, and Mike each got a hotel room south of Atlanta and were free to sleep now we were home. We had no flexibility in order that Alec could leave for work at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday morning with the baby sleeping soundly in his crib.

It truly was amazing and worth all the planning and effort. We were so excited we started scouting out future eclipses and making loose plans to go to Greenland, Spain, Egypt……but maybe one eclipse was enough 🙂