The sky was getting dark early Monday afternoon (I have not edited the color of the sky in this photo). Granddaughter Ellie, clutching her beloved cloth lambie, stared at the sky with rapture. When totality arrived she let out a whoop. She may remember the day for the rest of her life.
I need to take a break from the blog for a few days to attend to some family matters.
We scouted traffic online before heading out yesterday morning. Traffic on the Interstate running south from St. Louis appeared to be in gridlock. We decided to head east into Illinois, stopping at a large truck stop parking lot about 55 miles / 88 km away. Plenty of room. I set up the tripod and got lots of ordinary photos of the moon gradually covering the sun.
Just after I took this shot the plate that connects the camera to tripod's ball head decided to come loose. It was the critical moment. I couldn't get it tightened fast enough to get the eclipse filter off the lens for totality. No images of it at all. So I put the camera aside and just looked. I saw the diamond ring effect. The sky was less black than seven years ago, more like sapphire. The wind calmed considerably but the temperature didn't seem to drop that much. Instead of making images, I had the experience.
Most important of all, my granddaughter, Ellie, was spellbound. It was the most fascinating experience of her young life.
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It is a privilege to see a total eclipse once in a lifetime; we have two in our part of the world in seven years, This picture was taken in 2017. Our family plans to drive about an hour and a half southeast of St. Louis today to get close to the center of totality. The forecast looks good but there are no guarantees. Report tomorrow.
