I woke up at 2 o’clock in the morning filled with excitement and hope to see the eclipse. Still, it seemed like a struggle to make my way to the coffee pot! While the coffee was brewing, I started the shower and did a quick check on the computer to see about the cloud forecast. No appreciable change. It looked that Greencastle, Indiana would be my target.
I chose Greencastle because it was toward the top of the path of totality which had an acceptable cloud coverage forecast. It had sites that I thought would be available. It was also near some country roads that I could use if the main roads such as US-31 or I-65 got hopelessly clogged.
Showered, dressed, and packed, I started with my journey with the first stop being the ATM. It was down. On my way out of town, a deer ran in front of me. The day was starting off just perfectly! Was there a message being sent?
Driving down was easy US-31. The traffic became noticeable around Carmel. When I got on the belt, traffic was busy. It died again when I left Indy to go towards Greencastle. Knowing what happened to me in Wyoming for the last eclipse, I brought a 5 gallon gas can just incase.
I found a city park and there was one car was there besides myself. I may have overestimated the demand. After doing some more internet digging, I found out that there was en eclipse event down the road so I headed over there. I ended up being early as there, too, was plenty of empty space. At least there were a few others, though.
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| Empty lot! |
The crowd really started to come in around an hour before the eclipse. Yet, even then, there was plenty of room. I could have just slept in some more and I would have been fine!
My camera phone wasn’t going to take spectacular shots of the eclipse. If I wanted a picture of that, I’m sure that there were plenty of professional shots that I could steal for my album. I could at least get some video of the event as a wide shot. Professionals could get the close shot. I could get the context of the event. Of course, I could sneak in a shot or two!
I was able to see two planets – Jupiter and Venus. I did a quick check to see if I could see the comet but no more than a few seconds. I didn’t find it. The corona wasn’t as striking as the one I saw in 2017 but I’m not sure if that is because of the high clouds. I did see some more prominences with one at the bottom of the disk being most noticeable. That prominence could even be seen with the naked eye with a red dot.
Seeing a total eclipse is an almost indescribable experience. You can have all the photos and videos you want but it really is a shadow of the actual event. “You had to be there,” is a true statement.
This eclipse was longer than the one I saw in 2017 in Wyoming and felt just as short. It really isn’t enough and I have the gnawing need for more. So… Luxor, Egypt 2027, anyone?
As soon as totality was over there were some who immediately left. Some of us stayed behind. I know I stayed to let some of the initial traffic die down. While I was watching some videos, I was also watching the traffic map start to light up. After a couple hours, I did leave. I made my way back using country roads. There were a lot of cars still on the roads and there were a few bad cases of backups. Nearly 20 hours after leaving home, I finally made it back.
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