After hauling Irish Rover and
storing her in a mine in Pennsylvania, I drove to southern Illinois to meet a college buddy, Kim Koch, who travelled to
Europe with me in 1980. Our plan was to meet long enough to see the Solar Eclipse, in TOTALITY!
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| Map is courtesy of NASA, Crab Orchard location added by CaptMurph |
Kim was driving from St. Louis, returning from a trip of his own, so we met in Mt. Vernon, IL, a few miles north of the area expecting to experience the Total Eclipse. As we drove south, the traffic increased to a virtual parking lot on Interstate 57, north of Marion, IL. Since we only needed a clear view of the sky, we left the highway and fled southeast along the minor tracks and byways of rural Illinois. We found our spot just north of Crab Orchard, IL at a small turnoff into a corn field. A hand full of other people were also there to experience the Solar Eclipse.
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| Kim Koch |
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| CaptMurph in "Eclipse Mode" |
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| Our setup for watching the Eclipse |
While I tried to take photos with my mobile phone, the phone's camera only showed a white spot of the sun, never showing what we saw through our eclipse glasses or (only very briefly during totality) with our naked eyes. It was an amazing experience as the light dimmed slightly similar to dusk in summertime, yet rather eerie as the light came from overhead, not the horizon. Then just as the moon slipped entirely between us and the sun, the landscape went dark. Not so dark that the stars came out, but we could clearly see Venus and Jupiter. We also saw in the seconds immediately before and after totality the "snakes" (
shadow bands) wiggling across the ground.
For some NASA images of the eclipse, click the image below.
There's a great eclipse photo shot by a photographer from his airplane seat. Check this
website for the story.
Once the eclipse was over, I took Kim back to his car and I hightailed it across the country in time to join my brother, Russell, as he celebrated his 60th birthday. Russ rented a place at the beach in Rockaway, so I set up camp in Wildwood State Park. The trip across Long Island proved to be rather long, so I stayed overnight at Russ's beach place to enjoy two birthday dinners with him and family, then I returned to camp while he was joined by friends and family for another two days on the beach.
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| Russell's Birthday dessert |
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| CaptMurph, Russell, Fusheng, Tony, Margaret - Family Dinner |
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| Russell in his natural habitat - The Beach! |
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| It was easy to find Russ's beach party! |
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| Margaret and Katy set up early for the big party |
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| Russell and cousin Katy from Nevada |
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| Wildwood State Park campsite |
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