Hello there! It has been a while since the last update, promising a lot of goodies. Hopefully I haven't given up on writing, it just took me a while to go over the 1400 pics I took over those three weeks.
I may also had to handle a BoneZone event or two in the meantime, which should get published eventually... Anyways, back to the main subject: Eclipse 2024!
Right below you will find some music suitable to further improve your reading experience, make sure to start it now.
06:13:20 to Totality : Cybertruck hour
Ready to leave our subpar RedRoofInn+, which we paid 4 times the normal rate, it seemed that we were still surrounded by the wealthy and the out of mind. A sight to behold, the mighty and sharp vehicle was waiting for us on the lot.
A lucky sight considering that there is a whopping 3878 on them in the US. The day had started bright, we were going to be lucky for the eclipse...?
03:55:38 to Totality : Location, location, location
We had set our sights on a practical location, one which would give us plenty of room to park the car, and settle nicely for the waiting game.
Naturally, The Wolf Ranch Town Center, Georgetown, TX was a premium choice, located right next to I35 and a mere 30minutes drive from Austin, the area provided parking spaces, entertainment and food.
After drinking half a liter of Scambucks coffee, we went on to explore the San Gabriel River which would be our little corner of wilderness for the day.
This location was providing us with a hefty sum of 197 seconds of totality and a nice setting to appreciate the event.
After scouting, we found the greatest rock in Texas, where we could lay down and appreciate the moon slowly starting to cover the sun.
01:25:24 to Totality : Old man yells at cloud
As you may or may not have heard, Texas was a bit... cloudy... for the only day it needed to be cloud free. Many had to change their plans and fly to far away lands up north to be sure to catch the Eclipse.
We did not have the ability to quickly go around the country, and we relied of sheer luck to see the eclipse. For the most part of the partial phase, we had thick clouds covering most the view, letting us see some glimpses from time to time.
I was nervously checking the sattelite data every 5 minutes for the critical moments of Totality, cloud cover was coming in waves and it started to look like we were on a clear zone for totality!
00:07:17 to Totality : Like a magic
Barely 10 minutes before totality, sky was completely cleared, was it the effect of the moon shadow letting the high atmosphere cool down a little ? The two of us were screaming and hollering at the sky, we were safe for at least 15 minutes.
Things start to get interesting right before totality, having done my research, I was ready to observe some eclipse phenomenons, in the end we did end up seeing:
Crescent shadows, clear temperature drop, fuzzy shadows, convective clouds disappearance, weird colors (Peni effect) and finally shadow bands!
That is most of what you could expect to see during an eclipse, knowing where and what to look was really a great plus, thanks to SmarterEveryday videos on eclipse preparation.
At that point I was shooting the last parts of the sun slowly getting obscured up by the moon, I lift the camera up and...
00:00:01 from Totality : I am at a loss of words
I freezed for an instant, a few seconds earlier, the light was weird but still there, now the view is undescribable, I can barely say anything.
I took a hold of myself and continued shooting, trying to make the most of those 210 seconds. The result is what I wanted, but the experience is much stronger than I had anticipated.
02:12:41 from Totality : I am STILL at a loss of words
It took us a while after totality to snap out of what we had just seen. Already, we were making plans for the next eclipse.
A month later I still don't see why I would miss any other one, plus it's a good excuse to travel to unexpected places.
Following this link you can find a bigger album containing more images of the eclipse.
