Well, put in for Monday and Tuesday off five months ago so I could make the 10 hour trip up to Idaho to check out the solar eclipse. It was amazing! By going the back route I avoided almost all the traffic and the threatened clouds and wildfire smoke never really materialized. I was able to find a spot on the line of maximum duration for totality (missed the absolute longest time by maybe 300 feet or so) and witnessed the awesome event.
I can see how ancient people were freaked out by eclipses because, to start with, you cannot see the moon's approach because the sun washes out everything in the sky near it, so you have no idea what is coming. Additionally, you would think that as the moon crosses the path of the sun, the sky would just get dark gradually, but that is not what happens. Instead, it stays almost fully light until the last 15 minutes before totality, where it seems like an overcast day, but with no clouds. In the last 40 seconds before totality, it's like someone took a massive dimmer switch to the world!



Even with the massive drive, it was worth it!

That's awesome, Rick! Thanks for sharing.

Indeed! Great shots of the totality! We had about 88% where I live, not nearly as impressive, and we had lots of thick cloud cover. Went to a park with the wife and kiddos, but no luck. Then, as I was preparing to unload the kids at home, the clouds thinned a bit for just a few seconds, and there it was at about 85%! I looked away fairly quickly and have no ill effects (as I did not expect to see it!), but I'm glad I got a glimpse. Already planning for April 8, 2024 (also a Monday), planning a multi-day trip to Texas.

Congratulations on the experience!

Regards,

Jeff

From the Ramp at JFK. We had 75% cover in N.Y. it was weird. Without the special glasses, you'd never know it was happening

OvS

I know, it didn't get dark until right before totality!

I wasn't near the totality zone but was close. I set up a pinhole box for folks to view the eclipse. It dimmed the area pretty well and was very impressive. Our sky had very little cloud to block the event. Thanks for posting the awesome vid!

No problem, I did the pinhole camera for the last one and it worked pretty well! You shouldn't have to travel too far for totality in the 2024 one... ask for those days off now!