Eclipse Day pt. 1

It's finally here. We've been watching forecasts all weekend long and it's been a rollercoaster. Right now it's mostly sunny here. The forecasts through the time of the eclipse say partly cloudy. I sure
Credit: NASA
hope they hold up. As long as heavy cloud cover doesn't roll in, we'll be golden. It doesn't seem like the town is crazy busy...yet. There's still 3 hours and some change to go before totality, so anything can happen before then. We'll probably end up finding a grassy spot with a shade tree or two to view the eclipse. We didn't do a very good job of looking for a viewing party, which may have been fun but I don't mind the experience being a little private to our family. I plan to setup my phone on a tripod to capture our reactions. I doubt I'll bother trying to capture the actual totality happening--I just want to experience it. There will be plenty of much better videos/photos taken of the event than I'll ever be able to manage with my smartphone anyway. I hope the skies are blue wherever you're reading from and that you can experience the eclipse too.

After it's done, then the hard part begins. We have to be back to the North by 3:15 tomorrow for an orthodontist appointment. Do we leave right after the totality finishes? Do we wait a few hours to let the roads hopefully clear or are they only going to clog more during that time? It's hard to say. If the cell coverage holds out (so far it has), I should be able to view the live traffic analysis on Google Maps and the Missouri and Illinois websites. I feel like once we get through central Illinois the traffic will start dispersing to other areas and probably won't be so bad. Heading up through St. Louis though could be a real treat. Only one way to find out!

Stay tuned.

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