How many times have you had the opportunity to do a āonce in a lifetimeā event, TWICE? Fortunately for us, it happened the second time the weekend of April 7; the eclipse.
We took our granddaughter to downstate Illinois to see the eclipse in 2017, our first āonce in a lifetimeā activity. We initially planned on taking another granddaughter to the recent eclipse but she was out of town, so we decided to go on our own. Several steps were involved in our planning. The first was the path of the eclipse. Fortunately, there were several locations within a 4 to 6-hour drive where there would be a full solar eclipse.
OK, now which of those places would have the best weather for viewing? The entire Midwest was being soaked with rain and the clouds were hanging around, but northern Indiana looked like our best shot. Rain the day before but clear the day of. Decision time.
On Sunday, April 7, Eileen and I decided we would leave around noon for our drive to Danville, IL. Why Danville? When I was checking for hotels, most of the ones closer to the center of the eclipse zone had either doubled their prices, had made every reservation a two or three-day minimum, or were sold out. I worked with the reservationist at the Hampton Inn in Danville to book initially for two nights, but then we canceled the first night. Luckily, the system held the reservation. So, we had our one-night reservation before the eclipse. Yay.
The trip to Danville was somewhat uneventful except for the on and off-again rainstorms. While we initially thought it was a ābadā sign, we still pursued the goal. Listening to the radio, we began to hear a lot of negatives regarding the eclipse viewing: huge crowds, high gas prices, heavy traffic, and then Google Maps informed us several highways were underwater from the storms. We were told to gas up before the eclipse as the crowds would be flooding the gas station afterward with potentially hours of wait time. If things were going to be this bad today in 2024, imagine the challenges the ancients faced when they didn’t have an understanding of eclipses!
The traffic was not that heavy and most of the delays were construction related. We arrived in Danville basically on time. After stashing our luggage, we decided to search for a place to eat. We received a recommendation for the Seagrass Steakhouse which was attached to the local casino. The food was good, but the waitress was wonderful. We had a lot of fun talking with her, joking and laughing, and finding out more about the area.
After a night’s sleep, we woke to find a bright and sunny day. The weather gods had, for once, been correct. The storms had blown away and it would be a perfect day for the eclipse. When we went down for breakfast, there was a crowd of people, mostly kids, who were skipping school and preparing for the event. Now, where to go for the viewing?
We thought Indianapolis would be best, but after watching the morning news, we immediately rejected that idea. They were expecting thousands of people and were funneling everyone to the Indy 500 race track. We later saw a picture from the area and the entire grandstand was full. We decided on Crawfordsville, IN. It was only 40 miles away and had a small local event planned. Food trucks, music, and restrooms. What else would a visitor need, right?
We did stop and fill up before the event as suggested and headed downtown. Parking was adequate and several hundred people were setting up for the event. We placed our chairs in the town library parking lot and began to wait. The town provided free viewing glasses, some snacks, and a telescope for the event. I began looking for a neat T-shirt as a souvenir. The one I found was a big favorite, and I bought the only one left, which happened to fit Eileen.
Now the wait. Everyone got excited when the event started. You could see the moon creeping across the face of the sun (with your glasses on, of course). Trying to get a picture proved impossible. The sun was so bright it flooded the camera lens and you couldnāt see the moon. After about 50 minutes, it began to happen. The temperature began to drop and the sky darkened. A big ‘ooh’ arose from the people watching as the moon completely covered the sun. Even the street lights turned on and we could even see stars in the sky at 3 p.m. in the afternoon!
But alas, it was short-lived as the sun began to peek out a few minutes later. We had our event so we decided to pack up and head home, trying to beat the crowds. Leaving was easy, but highway construction put us into a 45-minute delay and once again Google said to watch for flooding. Although we never saw any flooding, we rerouted to side roads. We visited a number of small towns on our journey back, avoiding the construction delays we had encountered on our journey to Indiana. Once back on the interstate, it was easy sailing back to Huntley.
What had been a two-day trip seemed much longer, but one well worth the effort. The next solar eclipse in North America wonāt come for 20 years and will be in the Northwest. Should probably start saving up now and make it a ā3-peat.ā
