Normally, I would be all over a total eclipse--random chance to celebrate. Yes please. Throw in a trip to the library for some good books, a Bill Nye episode, a few crafts and a themed treat. I'll Pinterest all over that (not exactly what to Pinterest means as a verb, but it sounds pretty funny so I'll leave it there). But I was not there. We had just gotten back from our trip; I was still neck deep in laundry and self-pity so Greg took over.
All the radio and road signs talked about was the horrific traffic. The path of totality passed through South Carolina about an hour and a half from our house so we decided to make the drive, despite the traffic. Greg's brother went so far as to reserve a parking spot in a corn field and leave at 4 am. We left at 8, took back roads, hit no traffic except the random old person going under the speed limit and planned to just park at the temple, but the temple (and its gates were closed that day), so parked at a park across the street.
We failed to order glasses early enough to get any but thanks to Greg's Googling skills, we found another park about 3 miles away where the City of Colombia was giving away free glasses and free water bottles, so we hustled over there and got some. Then, noticing that there was no traffic, we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and to play in the air conditioning for a while before heading back to the park.
It was hotter than Hades. I nearly melted. My children did melt into little piles of whine. I nearly killed them. And then the eclipse started and they continued to whine. We tried to play some games but it was just too hot. And then, about 15 minutes before totality a huge cloud came and covered the sun, which on a normal day, would have been really nice, but the cloud just hung out there through all of totality so while we did notice the sky get much darker, and the temperature drop but we missed the life-altering glow of a fully eclipsed sun. My life will stay the same forever apparently. We stayed another 20 minutes or so then packed up and drove back roads home with no traffic again in a very quiet car.
The next total solar eclipse is in 7 years and passes directly over the small Kentucky town where Greg's grandma lives, so I've filed away our free eclipse glasses for that. Hopefully I'll remember where I put therm (in the FHE box in a file called "Eclipse"--remind me in 7 years). Thanks.
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| Totality! |
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| A nice, quiet drive home |
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