| Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds |
D Vautier
4/2024
It all started six months ago when my son wanted me to come with him to see the eclipse. "No thanks" I said. I had already filled that bucket list item in 2017 but alas, he finally convinced me to go. We decided that St. Louis was a good destination because it offered the best airline fairs, and we chose as our site the college town of Carbondale, Il. which was suggested as a main gathering place for observation. It was over 100 miles from St. Louis but we allowed lots of time to get there and chances were that the motel would not bump prices as is usually what happens in these cases. I studied the weather and we had less than a 50 % chance of clear sky but it was not predicted to be any better anywhere else along the eclipse path. Fortunately God was on our side and we had real clear skies.
But St Louis had a lot of interesting things to see besides, and some great eat spots too. The (stl) airport was a complete madhouse and just about everyone I talked to was there for the eclipse. We had rented a compact car but they offered us a big Ram truck which Val loved. We had a chance to see the Gateway Arch and then drove all along the Mural Mile which actually stretched for over a mile.
There were a lot of people at Carbondale. The little town is the location of Southern Illinois University (SIU), home of the Salukis. A saluki is an ancient breed of dog, a very fast running sight hound.
Val and I had an additional opportunity to visit the weird City Museum, which was in fact a very weird museum.
Below is my best picture of the eclipse. The planet Venus is clearly visible.