We have always wanted to see a total solar eclipse and this
was the year to do it. The zone of
totality stretched from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. However, the spot with the greatest duration
of totality of any place on Earth (2 minutes, 40 seconds) is Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
We had made our lodging reservations at the Days
Inn Elizabethtown many months ago so we would be certain to have a
room. Because we made lodging
arrangements so early before rooms were booked up we were able to get a room
with two double beds for $80. We also
arranged for a viewing spot at the Greater
Cumberland Baptist Church so we would be sure to have a place to park and a
grassy area to put lawn chairs and to view the eclipse. Our parking spot and a 15X15 grassy area cost
$20.
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| Mary using a pinhole viewer |
We left on Sunday morning at 6 am and drove to Finnell Pike
to do some outside chores. We chopped
small trees and ran the trimmer with the saw blade to clear brush around the
lagoon. The temperature was miserable in
the mid-90s and not much breeze but we were able to clear over a fourth of the
area in a couple of hours of intense work.
Because there was so much poison ivy in the brush we had to wear long
clothes which made the heat even worse. By
noon we were tired and ready for a shower and lunch.
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| Ian using eclipse glasses |
After a quick McDonalds meal we picked up Emily & Ian to
head to Hopkinsville. From Georgetown,
the drive was only a few hours but we made a short side trip to outlet malls
near Shelbyville. Mary & Emily
were able to get shoes for $10-$15 each and Ian picked up a Columbia shirt for
$6 and a Fossil wallet for $19. We were
at the Day’s Inn in Elizabethtown a little before 6 pm. Our room was clean and quiet although pretty
minimal. We were there only long enough
to go online to find the best eateries in the area. Among the top picks was Mark’s Feed Store specializing in
some great barbecue. Mary had a brisket
salad, Ian and I had brisket sandwiches and Emily had a lemon pepper chicken
meal. While we were all happy with our
meals, everyone thought that Em’s fish was the pick of the evening. We split some buttermilk pie which was quite
tasty. We returned to the room for
cribbage before turning in for the night.
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| Our group at watching as totality approaches |
We were awake early on Monday and went to the Day’s Inn
office for coffee and tea then checked out to get on the road. We stopped for breakfast at a McDonalds in Leitchfield,
Kentucky then continued on to Hopkinsville.
When we arrived the town was buzzing but wasn’t overly crowded so you
couldn’t get around. There were a lot of
street vendors for food, water and souvenirs but there was still parking and a
good flow of traffic through the streets.
We went by Kelly
Station Park for a brief event cache
then went to the Greater
Cumberland Baptist Church to set up for the eclipse viewing.
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| About 50% eclipse |
We were greeted by many volunteers from the church who
directed us to parking and where we could set up lawn chairs. A group of amateur astronomers were set up
near us and had some serious solar telescopes.
We were able to look at the sun and see tremendous detail before and
during the eclipse. We had pinhole
viewers and eclipse glasses but these scopes were great. A little after noon a tiny bit of the sun was
becoming obscured because of the moon and over the next hour the sun got more
and more blocked. There were some odd
things that started happening as totality approached. Colors didn’t render to the eye as they do on
most days. It is impossible to describe
but it was almost like looking at old photos where the colors were not quite
right.
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| Totality |
As the light dimmed we felt like
it was dusk but our shadows weren’t long.
Birds began to roost and the dog day cicadas were singing. Emily made the most accurate comment when she
said that the sky looked like a 360 degree sunset. Totality was something completely
unique. The sun was completely blacked
out by the moon but the corona was exposed.
We were able to safely remove the eclipse glasses and look at the
eclipse for over two minutes. The
temperature noticeably dropped from the mid-90s only a few minutes
earlier. There was a stillness as
everyone stared upward. When the moon
began to move away and the sun was no longer in totality there were fireworks
and people cheering. Birds flew from
their roosts and people put their eclipse glasses back on. As the sun returned to normal we, like most
others, began to pack up and prepare for a tip home.
We remarked at how well prepared Hopkinsville was for the
huge influx of the at least 150,000 visitors who came to the town of
30,000. There were plenty of bathrooms
and Porta-Pottys in town. Many food
trucks were there to feed people and the police were out to direct traffic out
of town to make sure that visitors got safely on their way. We were surprised that while heavy, traffic
moved quite well. . . until we got out of town on the Pennyrile Parkway. We traveled about 10 miles per hour for much
of our time on the Pennyrile and Western Kentucky
Parkways. At one point we took 6
hours to go 60 miles. We were hot, tired
and frustrated. There were few places
along the rural drive to get off and buy food, use a bathroom or get fuel. Even if there were places, we would have been
reluctant to get off the highway. Dinner
was gas station food near Central City, Kentucky. The available offerings were very limited but
we made the best of it and got back underway.
We were past Elizabethtown before we were able to drive much more than
20 miles per hour on the expressway. It
was around 2 am when we dropped Emily & Ian off in Georgetown and nearly 5
am when we got home ourselves. We went
straight to bed for a quick power nap, awaking around 6:20 to shower, dress for
work and return the rental car to the Barboursville Enterprise.
Even though the drive back home was miserable, the
experience was unbelievable. Seeing a
total solar eclipse was indescribable.
We agreed that we would happily do it all over again. With another eclipse coming through Central
Ohio in 2024 we may get our chance to see another eclipse.
