Eclipse April 8, 2024

In search of cloud-free skies

Never being one to miss a sky event (with much help from Joe the astronomer), I headed out on April 3 in search of the perfect view. I posted up in Chillicothe Ohio at a friend's cabin in the woods waiting for the sky prognosticators to make up their minds.

For awhile it looked like Arkansas was the place to be for good view. Then the clouds slowed down and it became clear that New England (of all places) would be the least cloudy on April 8th. Sara and Joe ditched their plan to view the eclipse from Austin TX (now stuck in a cloud bank) and headed for Franconia Notch, NH. Although I hadn't expected to be watching the eclipse in the snow, RosieVan pointed north and away we went.

I did take a break while driving through West Lebanon NH and had lunch at a pub on the town square. The rest stop was very carefully planned to coincide with the Women's March Madness basketball finals. I raised a beer to Dawn Staley and her South Carolina team's big win - the whole place was totally into the fast-paced, record setting game - what a blast! South Carolina has now won three titles in the last eight years, including two of the past three - go coach Staley!!

Eclipse morning we crawled our way north through small towns in NH and Vermont until we found the perfect view on the VT/Canadian border looking across the ice-covered lake Averill. There were approximately 40 people camped out on the boat access ramp watching the 5 hour event.

Luckily, I had brought along RosieVan ensuring that our merry band had access to food, heat, beverages and a bathroom. The weather was perfect, the view of the event was divine. It was a really great day.

Joe took excellent pictures of the corona:

Of course, the 250,000 people who had decided that VT would be the place to watch from, all decided to go home at the same time. We drove 8 hours one-car-length-at-a-time to get back to Franconia Notch (approx 60 miles). Many ran out of fuel in line.

The following day I met lots of people who spent the night on the side of the road in their cars. The traffic jam was epic in a state that never had that many people trying to leave all at once. We pulled RosieVan over and cooked dinner by the side of the road for our watch party crew, so we had it way way way better than most.

Whatever you do, don't miss viewing the next eclipse, they are spectacular in every way.