Neither my wife or I had seen anything approaching a total eclipse before – so this was quite an experience!

Travelling with our dog was fun- she loves seeing new places (Truck stops or national parks are equally exciting to her). And everywhere she goes there are people eager to pet her. She had been in recovery from a very serious squirrel chasing accident a couple of months ago, and got the final staples removed the day before we left on the trip- so she was ecstatic….

I am disappointed I didn’t get better footage of the eclipse, but if I had been fussing with cameras to get the perfect shots I would have missed the real experience- and that can’t be caught on film.

I managed to find a cabin north of Murphy NC well inside the path of totality. We (My wife, dog and I) left Maryland on the 17th, had a nice drive down Skyline drive in Shenandoah park where we saw amazing views, and had to make a sudden stop for a Bear and her cub crossing the road.


https://www.habitablezone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/skyline.jpg
We stayed in Roanoake and then drove to Hot Springs- the density of confederate flags was disconcerting.
We drove past the site of the Shelton Laurel Massacre:

Hopefully that wouldn’t happen today…
In retrospect I would skip Hot Springs- not worth the drive.

We arrived at the cabin on the 19th, on the 20th we drove up to my original planned eclipse viewing spots- Whigg Meadow, and Huckleberry Knob- they were already becoming packed- had we gone up with a tent on the morning of the 20th we might have been able to park at a reasonable distance from the trails, and camp out until the eclipse the next day-

We stayed at the cabin for the eclipse, and it was nice.
I set up my 360 degree camera in the morning (Samsung Gear 360) and had it taking a timelapse all day. We went out to watch the eclipse with the occupants of the other two cabins.

I didn’t see Baileys Beads, and I was looking for them… It was surreal the way the light faded- it was not like sunset- it was as if the color was slowly draining from the sky- it gave the world an unreal feeling. Shortly before totality a streetlight turned on down the road.

The light dimmed gradually during the eclipse , but totality seemed shockingly sudden. There was a large crowd camping out at a nearby campground and there was a roar of cheers when totality hit.

The sight of the corona was awe-inspiring! But the most striking moment for me was the instant the sun re-emerged…

They say you should pay at least as much attention to whats going on around you as to the events in the sky-
The world takes on an unreal appearance as totality approaches. Birds and insect sounds changed to the night-time soundtrack rapidly.

Our dog did not seem to take notice of the eclipse, and the 4 year old daughter of the family staying next to us was much more interested in our dog than in the events overhead… repeatedly asking “Can I pet the white dog?”
As you can see in the video, the answer we always gave was “Yes”.

When the sun re-emerged the dogs in the campground nearby broke into a rather creepy howling cacophony.

In addition to the 360 video I also set up my phone to take a timelapse- sadly it autofocussed on a blade of grass in the foreground so the video is out of focus… BUT it does give a good sense of the moon’s shadow moving across the sky, so here it is:

In the 360 video you can see that one of the guys had a DJI Phantom drone- he sent it up just before totality to capture the event with 4k video – and see the approaching shadow- he said he would send me the link when he puts it up…. I will share it here.

My wife said that she could understand how people 1000′s of years ago invented gods to explain such phenomena…

On the way back we hiked down to Natural Bridge in Virginia:

I filmed it with a samsung gear 360 camera…

The totality starts at 1:19ish. Sure, looking up, the view of Sol is not great, but still cool how the sun reduces to just a spot, then reappears. Better, though, is watching the landscape and the people in it, the total darkness, the peoples’ reactions. And the setting! You chose wisely. Must have been quite the experience. Would like to hear more about the setting, the people, your experience, and the equipment you used to capture it. Suitable for the Space Board, in my opinion.

Thanks RL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAucJ2-jR58