Day Twenty Seven

Up early. Very early. 5.20am to be precise. Woke up to thunder storms out the window. Initial plan was to be ready by 6am, but we had notification whilst getting ready that it had been revised to 6.15pm. Got ready, went downstairs, got in car. Lincoln itself was liable to be in cloud so we needed to drive west. Not as far as we thought last night, but we still needed to get away from the mass of cloud which would be over eastern Nebraska.

Our first target was Grand Island, roughly ninety miles west along I-80. We drove and kept going, only stopping briefly at a rest stop so Paul could triple check he had his camera. He did. We took both cars in case one broke down or something, so we could still get somewhere. Highlight of the first part of the trip was seeing camels looking out the back of a lorry.

We reached the travel plaza at Grand Island and grabbed some breakfast and used the facilities. More studies were done of the meteorological maps and a decision had to be made. Continue west on the Interstate or head a little north and hit Highway 2. We chose the latter and got on Highway 2. The good news about this was we got to go though the outskirts of Hazard. Anyone who knows their 90s soft rock trivia will know that is town that Richard Marx sang about in the hit(?) of the same name. Had it on the iPod ready and pressed play as we passed the town.

And here it is to save you looking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdmHHoI9beM

We stopped again at Custer's Last Stop in Ansley. Again we used the facilities and got some supplies and some final double checking happened. We then headed south on Highway 183 hoping to find a nice gravel track to head up and park up. We passed lots of people parked at the side of various roads. Eventually we headed up Cumro Road and pulled into Road 451.

It was a perfect spot. We could see other people down the road but we had our own piece of Nebraska to view this event. And the sky was perfect. Lovely blue sky with just a hint of whispy cirrus. Paul and Helen's trusty work on the various maps got us to the ultimate spot to witness it. We parked up and set ourselves up. Sun cream was needed as it was getting toasty, cameras were prepared and drinks were guzzled. And we waited.

I inflated our orange chairs and stuffed them back into the car so they didn't blow away. We kept the cars running so the air con would keep them cool enabling us to dart in and out when necessary. We also posed for a team photograph.

Eclipse Stalkers

And then just as predicted the moon moved into the top right corner of the sun and it began. We looked at it. Took some photos. Gradually it got further over. An old woman pulled up in a truck and dad took it upon himself to go and chat with her. Then a man turned up in another truck. Neither of them seemed fussed about the eclipse. Eventually when dad let them, they left.

We could start to make moon shaped shadows on the floor using our fingers.

Can you see moons the where the fingers cross?

The moment grew gradually ever closer. The tension was palpable. Our view was fabulous.

And then we got ourselves set as we counted down the last couple of minutes. The temperature dropped, the light changed to an almost silver quality. The cries of here comes the shadow erupted and as I turned ungracefully in my orange chair I could see the darkness coming. The next two and a half minutes were just incredible. From the cows automatically leaving as if it was the end of the day, to the crickets starting to chirp, to the spectacular aurora and light that was on display. I tried to cram in as much as I could into the time. I took photos of it, filmed it, took photos of people watching it, took a photo of a donkey watching it and managed to watch it myself. Here is some of that stuff.

Blurry onlookers

Aurora and Mercury

And then a sliver of light started to appear and I took one last shot. I am so glad I waited until the last possible second.

The money shot

And then as the sliver got bigger the light came back almost instantly. The cows didn't. We stood around generally in astonishment for a while and gradually watched it disappear away. We gave it a good half hour before we packed up and headed south towards I-80.

We stopped at the Travel Plaza at Elm Creek for lunch. As we sat an old man in dirty clothes came and started talking to us. Ann let out an 'Oh, god!' as he did. I don't think she realised it had left her brain and made its way to her mouth. He spoke mostly about nothing. Then just as he was about to walk off, dad started a new line of chat thus encouraging him to sit down at the table with us. It was a little awkward as we were trying to eat, so weren't saying much and he had nothing to say. Eventually he left. Then just as we were about to leave a man saw my NASA t shirt and started chatting. He was not as strange as the first guy. He had driven up from Texas and managed to find a backyard to camp in on HomeAway as all the motels were charging massive prices. We were lucky we booked months ago as our two nights is less than the price of one night booked now.

We eventually got back into the car park. I tried to watch the second half of Man City v Everton, but poor signal and annoying websites prevented that. Eventually we left and drove the 164 miles back to Lincoln. Traffic was heavy but moved at a decent speed for most of the way. We did see one accident and one car perpendicular to the road which was odd.

Made it back and then relaxed for a while, catching up with the eclipse gossip from across the country.

Headed out for dinner at 7.30pm. Paul and Helen wanted to introduce dad to Applebee's, their favourite restaurant of choice. The service was a little bit better than IHOP the night before, but still not up to the usual USA standard. To be fair, everywhere is very busy due to the celestial event. As we left the restaurant we were greeted with another thunderstorm in the distance.

Tomorrow we head back past where we were today as we make the return trip to Denver. Just two days left. Very sad but what a great way to finish the trip.

States visited - 12

Eclipses seen - 1

Camel watch - high