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Eclipse 2017!
Aug. 21st, 2017 06:48 pmWell, as I'm sure many of you know, there was a total solar eclipse today. Apparently this is a pretty rare thing. According to Wikipedia, this is the first time since 1918 that a total solar eclipse was visible across the entire contiguous US. And the last total solar eclipse that was visible from somewhere in the mainland US was in 1979. Wow!
I live in southern Illinois, which was right under the path of the eclipse. They've been hyping this thing for over a year around here; selling memorabilia, planning events, the whole nine yards. Hell, Ozzy Osbourne headlined at the rock festival held at a local winery! I want to say that shows how big a deal they made of this...although, it kinda says how far Ozzy's star has fallen, that he's performing at some little podunk town in southern Illinois. ^^;; But either way. .Apparently a lot of people traveled here to see the eclipse, so it's been a big fuss with tourism and all. Good for the local economy, hopefully! But, I digress.
Seeing as this is something uncommon, and pretty neat besides, I decided it was worth getting up early to see. I think it started here a little before 1:00PM, and it finished somewhere around 2:00PM. Though it was only total for a few minutes, of course. Mom and I stood out in the backyard and watched most of it. We checked it out when it first started, then went back inside for a bit. (The heat index was over 100 degrees; it was pretty uncomfortable outside.) As it got further along, we went back outside. We watched it progress, then finally it turned total. That was really cool to see. Too bad it only lasted for a few minutes. Though, it was a little eerie. Even though you understand what's happening, it's still really odd to see. I can only imagine how primitive man must have freaked out when this kind of thing happened! It was a little funny, though. After it went dark, the streetlights all came on, and the crickets started to sing really loud. Guess it faked them out! They stopped shortly after it got light again.
And apparently, traffic was an absolute nightmare afterward. Everybody wanted to go home, I guess. Thankfully, most of traffic had either passed, or was going in the opposite direction, by the time I headed to work. The southbound lane of 57 was almost normal; maybe a little heavier, but nothing bad. But the northbound lane was practically at a standstill. I don't know if there was an accident, or if it really was just that many people trying to go north. Either way, it was a mess.
Well, this post is a little short, but this was a cool experience, and I wanted to mark the date somehow. =)
I live in southern Illinois, which was right under the path of the eclipse. They've been hyping this thing for over a year around here; selling memorabilia, planning events, the whole nine yards. Hell, Ozzy Osbourne headlined at the rock festival held at a local winery! I want to say that shows how big a deal they made of this...although, it kinda says how far Ozzy's star has fallen, that he's performing at some little podunk town in southern Illinois. ^^;; But either way. .Apparently a lot of people traveled here to see the eclipse, so it's been a big fuss with tourism and all. Good for the local economy, hopefully! But, I digress.
Seeing as this is something uncommon, and pretty neat besides, I decided it was worth getting up early to see. I think it started here a little before 1:00PM, and it finished somewhere around 2:00PM. Though it was only total for a few minutes, of course. Mom and I stood out in the backyard and watched most of it. We checked it out when it first started, then went back inside for a bit. (The heat index was over 100 degrees; it was pretty uncomfortable outside.) As it got further along, we went back outside. We watched it progress, then finally it turned total. That was really cool to see. Too bad it only lasted for a few minutes. Though, it was a little eerie. Even though you understand what's happening, it's still really odd to see. I can only imagine how primitive man must have freaked out when this kind of thing happened! It was a little funny, though. After it went dark, the streetlights all came on, and the crickets started to sing really loud. Guess it faked them out! They stopped shortly after it got light again.
And apparently, traffic was an absolute nightmare afterward. Everybody wanted to go home, I guess. Thankfully, most of traffic had either passed, or was going in the opposite direction, by the time I headed to work. The southbound lane of 57 was almost normal; maybe a little heavier, but nothing bad. But the northbound lane was practically at a standstill. I don't know if there was an accident, or if it really was just that many people trying to go north. Either way, it was a mess.
Well, this post is a little short, but this was a cool experience, and I wanted to mark the date somehow. =)
