It’s a week from today! I am starting to feel the reality of it now, and I’m getting excited.
For the “Great American Eclipse” back in August 2017, my family and I flew out to Denver and drove up to Cheyenne as our base. On eclipse day, I woke up at 2 A.M. because I knew this was a big deal, and I wanted it to turn out right. A little before sunrise, we finally headed north. We didn't know where we’d end up, only that we had to get into the zone of totality. At about 6 A.M., we hit Wheatland, Wyoming, the southernmost town that would see totality. I was so happy to see “Welcome to Wheatland” because I knew we’d made it. And the skies were clear as a bell.
We kept driving north, and eventually stumbled upon Guernsey State Park. A ranger was guiding traffic in, so we decided this would be a good place to settle on.
Rows and rows of cars were parked, but we got a good spot. There were port-a-potties, and we had a big box full of food. The University of Wyoming was handing out eclipse T-shirts. A couple people had drones flying around.
We made a rule that day for our kids: You are permitted to eat Pringles and Pop-Tarts for breakfast if there will be a total eclipse of the Sun that day. So that is exactly what we did.
We were struck by the casual presence all over the ground of cacti, something we Easterners think only comes in little flowerpots. And then we got a look at the horizon, and we knew we’d have the best view you could possibly ask for. There’s a little structure called “The Castle” not far from where we parked, and you get an idea of what the horizon was like from where we stood:
Totality was to begin just before noon, so the Sun would be very high in the sky. In the minutes leading up to the eclipse, it was apparent that the shadow of the Moon was approaching from just about the view you see here. It seemed to come from near that hill or mountain on the horizon in the photo above. It was like an expanding 3-D force of darkness, and my son, who was nine at the time, was quite afraid of it.
There isn’t anything like totality. Even at 99% it seems almost like daytime. But when the last strings of sunlight disappear, it’s like someone suddenly slid the dimmer switch. And then you look at the masked Sun without any filter, a few stars around, pink glow on all horizons, and no photograph can quite capture the backlit glow of the disk you see. And you hear the spontaneous reactions of everyone around you. Not one person expresses the least bit of snark or hostility. Only wonder and emotion. All age groups, all persuasions. If you want a moment of national unity, this is that time.
Then a couple minutes later the light returns, and you think of people thousands of years ago who didn’t understand what was happening, and the relief they must have felt. Because you never spot the culprit — the invisible New Moon — through any of this, only the Sun disappearing, then reappearing.
This Monday, April 8, my wife and son and I will be in Stowe, Vermont, for a repeat performance. We had thought about going to Texas, but I really felt we should stick it out in New England, and right now it appears that Fortune is lining up with us. Lookie here:
We'll be staying at an inn we’ve been to many times, and we will not attempt to drive anywhere after the eclipse. That was the one tough part about 2017 for us. It took us 9 hours to get back to our hotel in Cheyenne from Guernsey, and we were not without worry about where we and others would get water and where we’d all be able to pee. So do stay put after an eclipse if it is at all possible.
But I’ll tell you, when we got back to our hotel in Cheyenne at 10 P.M., some other guests were also returning, from Casper, from Glendo, or wherever else they went, and we all had a great reunion at our late dinner, knowing we’d seen something we’d remember for the rest of our lives. Those milkshakes tasted very good.
And here we are, 7 years later, ready to go do it again. My daughter is a freshman in college, so she won’t be able to join us, but my son, now 16, remembers the most important rule. For breakfast on April 8, he’s requested cheddar cheese Pringles and s’mores Pop-Tarts. Sounds great to me!
What do you plan to do?
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I also want to let you know that I haven’t been posting anything for awhile because I got laid off from my job on December 1 with no warning and no severance, because my company had nearly run out of money. The last 4 months have been hard for me, very stressful, and very busy. But I’m pleased to say that at last I have landed with a very exciting startup company in a position that is a major promotion for me, and out of my traditional technical field entirely, because I had some very good luck and also worked my butt off to get it. It’s a long and weird story, but I can say that I feel very, very fortunate to be where I am right now.
The skills I developed by posting here at Daily Kos — namely, fearing no subject matter, projecting enthusiasm for topics I love, and articulating technical matters in an understandable way — were all directly key to my ability to do this. But most important was the support that I got from all of you, that kept me going. It’s hard to express how much that means to me. For every one of you that shared your insightful comments and your encouragement, I just want to say thank you so much. Little did I know 19 years ago when I joined this site, just looking to vent about political news somewhere, that it would end up playing such a key role in my development, and in making me what I am now.