Chasing the 2017 Eclipse

This is a blog post I wrote in 2017 after viewing the solar eclipse from southern Illinois. Reposting now since North Texas will be viewing an eclipse on April 8, 2024. I thought it might be of interest to those preparing for it.

August 21, 2017
I woke up Monday morning, August 21, in Southaven, Mississippi (outside of Memphis.) I was driving with my daughter, Emily, back to her college in northern Indiana. As part of our trip, we made plans to be in southern Illinois on Eclipse Day 2017 since that part of the country would be in the path of totality.
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We left our hotel at 8:30 in the morning for the 200 mile trip into Illinois. Passing through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri on the way, we didn’t get into the “zone of totality” till we crossed the Mississippi river on Interstate 57 and entered Illinois. At one point we passed a rest area that was full of cars parked and people out taking positions for the eclipse. 

Our destination was a small park next to Crab Orchard Lake near Carbondale, Illinois. We reached the vicinity of our spot around 11:50 AM, just as the sun was starting to be covered by the moon. We stopped at Grass Road General Store to look with our eclipse glasses and get some lunch. They were busy with a BBQ lunch going on outside the store and vendors selling eclipse merchandise. It was hot – temperatures in the 90s and the sun was shining brightly at this point. The forecast called for partly cloudy skies.

As we approached our destination, we discovered that it was not as out of the way as we had hoped. About 50 cars lined the parking lot with people hugging the tree line for shade and others under tents by the lake. Everywhere you looked people were gazing at the sky with eclipse glasses on. We found a place to park and walked around the scene, stealing glances at the sun every few minutes. About an hour from totality, it was fun seeing the golden sun slowly getting covered more and more by the moon and turning into a crescent shape. 

The clouds were a problem. They were building now and covered the sun every few minutes. It seemed like it would be hit or miss if it would be clear for the totality. About 30 minutes out, we could tell that the temperature was dropping and the sunshine was dimming. However, it was still obviously inappropriate to look straight at the sun. We noticed that the skies seemed to be clear to the north and so with only 20 minutes until totality, we decided to drive to a better location. 

As we got to the car, it was obvious that driving a short distance up the road would make a big difference since the sun was shining bright on a nearby hill. We drove only about a half mile and pulled into the driveway of the area wildlife refuge. The only other vehicle around was a utility truck parked a short distance away – obviously stopped for the big event. We had a clear view at this point and no clouds to worry about. Emily would later say that we were #eclipsechasers for making such a bold move!

About 1:10 PM, things started getting interesting. The lighting was starting to look like it does at dusk. We started hearing birds chirping in the nearby trees. Then the locusts starting buzzing. The sun was almost entirely covered now and no longer had a crescent shape. There were not shadows anymore. The light made kind of a moon glow over everything just before it went out. 

The “diamond” moment caught me by surprise. I thought I would be looking at it through glasses, but we realized we should watch it without. It was a spectacular bright light that was very vivid for a few short seconds like a striking match bursting into flame. It left me wanting more. It was exciting to think it would return in a couple minutes at the end of the totality. 

The moon covered the sun. The countryside turned very dark, but I remember seeing an orange sunset glow on the horizon to the east still. The orange glow would grow larger a little later before dimming close toward the end of the eclipse. The effect of the darkness was very eerie. I kept stealing glances at Emily and the surrounding trees to take it in, but wanted to keep my focus on the eclipse. The moon and sun were beautiful. The glow around the moon was a unique shape that I didn’t expect – more like a rectangle shape with curved ends around the side. Not as much glow on top and bottom. A nice ring around the moon’s outer edge all the way around. You could hear exclamations from people in the distance. It would have been neat to be closer to the lake where the crowd was, but I have no idea how well their view ended up being. 

The eclipse went fast (about 2 minutes and 40 seconds) but was long enough to really relax and enjoy the moment. Finally, there was a flash and the “diamond” effect returned and I enjoyed the brilliant light one more time, but just for a few seconds. 

The countryside seemed to brighten very quickly and things seemed to return to normal. We actually got in the car right away to start driving north. Emily kept watch over the returning crescent shape through the window. At one point, we passed a local airport and there were about a dozen small planes lined up in the grass facing the sun. It looked like a number of people flew their airplanes into the area for the event. 

We were about 5 miles from the interstate. By the time we got there it was already filling up. The Carbondale area was a spot that many people from Chicago traveled to. They had come in over the course of a few days, but now all were going to be leaving at once. We had a slow 6.5 hour drive back into Chicago for the next leg of our trip. But it was a special time to talk through what we had experienced and recall the wonder of the day.