As many in the Society, I booked nonrefundable flights and lodging to Dallas for the April 8 total eclipse. When I heard and verified that it would be cloudy in Dallas, I started examining satellite shots and comparing weather forecasts for an area that had a chance of clear skies. I wasn’t going to travel 1,700 miles to have a chance of seeing the eclipse. I found a satellite shot that looked like it had a clearing in it. Then I had to estimate where this opening could be on the day of the eclipse. My Apple weather app told me that it would be sunny the day of the eclipse in a small town called Mount Ida, Arkansas. It was about a three and a half-hour drive from Dallas. I had a feeling I would need the unlimited miles for the rental car.
I arrived in Dallas very early in the morning of April 6 and skies were quite clear that day and the next. The news kept warning of storms coming and even put out a severe weather alert for the possible tornadoes and hail balls that could hit the night of April 8. They said the storm would hit Dallas at around 9pm. I hoped the storm would be coming from the west and it would allow me plenty of time to hopefully have an uneventful drive back from Arkansas.
The night before the eclipse I checked weather reports for Mount Ida and of course it changed. This time it showed it would be cloudy during totality. I looked for another town where it would be sunny all day and settled on another small town called Hot Springs. It was about a half-hour farther than Mount Ida. Hot Springs was advertising how special they were for the eclipse because their national park was one of two national parks where the path of totality was traveling through. Hot Springs’ national park is called Hot Springs National Park and the other national park on the path of totality was Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio. The website says their close to Cleveland and Akron.
I wasn’t prepared with chairs or blankets and needed to be close to my car for food and drinks so I opted for not going to the park. I was driving in the downtown Hot Springs, looking for parking when I thought I saw some elaborate telescopes in what looked like a small park on the other side of the street. I immediately flipped a U-turn to maneuver my way to this park. I was delighted to get a parking spot that wouldn’t be too far where I anticipated I’d set up.
Then as I walked over to scope out where I should set up, another astronomy enthusiast was setting up his sophisticated telescope with a sun filter. What I thought was an elaborate telescope turned out to be an elaborate astrophotography set up. I instantly knew I was in the right place and laid out my jacket to mark my spot.
I bought a used camcorder, similar to the one I used in Madras, Oregon for the 2018 eclipse; it’s a Canon with a 57x zoom. I learned I needed to use the solar glasses over the lens until totality in 2018 so I did and then put it back after totality. My camera ran out of juice as the moon was exiting from being in front of the sun but I got the most important part.
Here’s the video I shared at our last equinox dinner.
The drive back was treacherous. I got caught in a good rain storm. It was so bad I had to pull over. By the time I pulled over, I passed around a dozen cars that had already pulled over to the side. At one point, the lightening was horizontal! It felt like an eternity for the rain to subside but it was only a few minutes. I was too exhausted to remember that my tablet had juice and I could’ve tried to video it all. I drove out of the storm and made it safely back to Dallas just as it began to rain. I was relieved to be back at my Airbnb. I left at 5am and returned at 9pm.