In Casper, Wyoming to See the Eclipse

My first choice to see the eclipse was in Alliance, Nebraska. The weather forecast wasn't looking ideal so the second choice of Douglas, Wyoming became the number one choice and that's where I was heading when I broke camp at two in the morning.

I was heading out on unknown roads in the dark and I couldn't see much beyond the road markings. Aside for the fuck ton of deer, I was alone on the road which was fine with me. I did make a stop and looked out at this dome of stars. Gibran didn't seem to care but I took it in.

We stoped in Lusk, Wyoming to fill up on gas. By now, we had been joined with other people traveling on the road. As we headed out, we could see people now camped out on the road turnouts. When we got to I-25, they were all packed. Although Douglass was where I was headed, I decided to push on to Casper because I knew there was one place that I knew we had a good chance of getting a place to park.

We arrived in Casper just before sunrise and joined a line of cars waiting for the fair grounds to open. When everyone was in the gate and parked, there was plenty of room left.

Next to us was a gay couple and their adopted south asian boys. I was amused when this socially awkward man (who was alone) decided to join them. It was a good sense of comaraderie though. One guy was passing out extra solar eclipse glasses to those who needed them for free.

As we waited, high altitude clouds were moving in and I was worried that this trip was going to get screwed over.

And if wasn't the clouds it was going to be a balloon.

If you look at the lense flare at the bottom, you can see how far into the eclipse the picture was taken.

I knew that I was going to get shitty pictures if I tried to photograph the eclipse. Professionals could see to that. But what I could do was take video of the skies as it was happening. I could at least experience my surroundings when it happened.



As soon as the last bit of sun disappeared from my solar glasses, I took them off to see a hole in the sky surrounded by white corona. To me, it seemed unreal. Even with that last bit of sun, I knew it was the sun. Now it was replaced by this sky sun flower. I noted that it appeared like an upside down Star Trek com-badge. Remembering that I brought binoculars I wasted precious moments trying to find them in the car. But I eventually got them and was mesmerized by what I was seeing: fine lines in the corona. Flares at 12, 1 and 3 (you can hear that in the video). and I could start seeing bubbling magenta lava-like light peering from the mountains and valleys at the 1 o'clock position. I knew that in a split second, it would be over. I ripped the binoculars away and saw the diamond ring with my own eyes. But in another split second, the light was too much and I turned away.

I had almost two and half minutes of totality and it seemed like 10 seconds. It simply wasn't enough time to appreciate it all. I understood why people had said that it doesn't compare to a partial eclipse. I understood why people chased these events. I don't want to die without seeing another one.

With a mix of emotions, we started our journey back home.

Eventually we joined everyone out on the interstate and came to a standstill. After a few hours, I crossed the median and went back the opposite direction to head back into South Dakota. I wasn't the only one that had this thought and although there was heavy traffic and a another detour, we kept moving.


 We had one last dinner in Custer, South Dakota. On our travels, the previous day, we were amused by a restaurant that touted an American, Mexican, Italian, and Chinese buffet. As odd as it was. It was actually pretty good. Finally, we put gas in the tank and headed home.

The trip was a success.