Is anyone making plans to go see the eclipse? This is the big one, definitely on my bucket list, and it is truly of apocalyptic proportions. I’m surprised the anomalists aren’t talking this up as the end of the world. The moon’s shadow will come ashore in the Pacific Northwest and exit North America on the South Carolina coast. All of CONUS will be within a few hours’ drive of seeing this, weather permitting. I’ve seen lots of lunar eclipses, and a few partial solar eclipses but I’ve never seen a total solar eclipse before, so I really want to go, at my age, I’ll never get another chance. Totality: two minutes and 40 seconds.

In the early 1970s, when I was a student, I was invited by the USF Astronomy Department to participate in their Mexico Eclipse Expedition because I spoke Spanish. Unfortunately, I had to cancel at the last minute. I was flunking Differential Equations and if I couldn’t get through it it would throw me off the timing of the math sequence and might have delayed my graduation for a year. I didn’t think I could take any time off and still pass the course. As it turned out, I got through D.E. (just barely) and graduated on time. But I never forgave myself for that.

Right now I’ve made tentative plans with an old college chum who lives in Durham, NC and the plan is I’ll fly up to see him and we’ll drive down and
watch the show. A lot of things can happen between now and then, so keep your fingers crossed for my sake. Chris and I drove my VW across the country in 1970, we went to all the national parks along the way and got to the Grand Canyon just in time to watch the sun set. We hiked down to the bottom of Meteor Crater and drove across the Bronson Bridge in Big Sur.

If the weather doesn’t cooperate…well, that’s always the chance you take with eclipses. You win some, you lose some, and some are rained out. Just like life.

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