The 2017 total eclipse was going through Wyoming a little over 3 hours from us on a normal day. We planned to go, then got scared by the traffic predictions. In the end, I woke up at 5am to check the traffic, and it didn’t look that bad. Lina didn’t thin kit was worth it and stayed home.
I left the house with Google predicting that it would take 3.1 hours. By the time I left Denver, it was 3.6 hours. By the time I got to Glendo, Wy, it had been 4.5 hours and the line to get into Glendo was over a mile long. The WY state patrol issued statements saying not to stay on the side of the road, but I figured “why not, everyone else was doing it”. I also hoped that meant I would get a jump on the traffic home.
I didn’t notice much difference at 90%+ coverage and started wondering, “How did ancient people even know that these eclipses were happening. I knew my phone wasn’t going to get good pictures, but here’s what everything looked like at 90%+ coverage.
You could immediately tell when the sun was completely covered. The sky went dark blue, you could see planets in the sky,the temperature dropped, and colors everywhere changed. It reminded me of how science fiction shows try to convey when you enter another dimension or reality, but it took a day to remember the exact effect I was reminded of. It was a lot like the Phantom Zone from Smallville. Why is that crap still in my head???
The drive back was a little more frustrating, but it took about he same amount of time.
Next time we fly in beforehand and ride in a hot air balloon when it happens!
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