Total Eclipse
Total Eclipse
August 21, 2017
I spent the night in Omaha, Nebraska with my uncle Norm. I left Omaha at 8 o'clock this morning, August 21 and headed south on Interstate 680. It was jammed up with traffic. I made my way to Interstate 80 and then onward to highway 50 south. My destination is the path of the total eclipse. Highway 50 got all jammed up around Weeping Water. We all want to see the eclipse. I got off the highway and started going south on gravel roads. Making progress. It's better to keep moving at a steady rate rather than at a slow crawl, stop and go. This is no time for a traffic jam.
It's a slightly overcast morning. The forecast is to be partly cloudy. Perhaps it means puffy clouds here and there later in the day. The eclipse starts at about 11:30 with totality beginning at 1:04 and lasting about two minutes and 39 seconds where I will be. The longest totality is in Missouri somewhere, lasting about two minutes and 44 seconds. I'm excited! Right now it's 10 to 10 and I'm right on time to where I need to be.
The landscape here is beautiful, mostly corn and bean and alfalfa fields spreading out over a rolling horizon. I'm able to see 15 miles in every direction. It looks like I'll be able to find a nice spot in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the sky with no one else in sight.
It's 10:15 and it's raining. I hope things clear up, it looks like it might. I'm near Elk Creek moving to get to Table Rock to view the eclipse. It's 12 o'clock noon and I'm out here in the middle of nowhere, standing on some ranchers hill. Over to the west the sky is cloudy, overcast for the most part but there are some holes here and there so I have been getting some peaks at the sun.
The eclipse has started and the moon is taking bites out of the sun. I can see my shadow. I am now following a ridge to get to the crest. The mix of clouds are beautiful.
The eclipse is a good excuse for being out here in the middle of nowhere being a child of nature with the land below, the sky above, with the sun and moon uniting!
The sky is starting to break up a little more now with more holes. I take glimpses of the sun with my special eclipse glasses that filters the sun so won't be permanently blinded.
It's now 12:20. There is a big hole in the sky now with puffy clouds still around. I'm near a bunch of cows and they are getting restless.
It's 12:37 right now. The sun looks like a crescent moon, orange through the viewing glasses. I'm up on the top of the hill with a 360° view 10 to 15 miles in every direction.
I take out my medicine bag and make offerings to Father Sky and Mother Earth, to the sun and the moon. I give thanks to my ancestors. I give thanks for my wife, my children and their mates, for my grandchildren, for my father who still lives, for my brother and sisters, for all my brother and sister earthlings all around this planet. We are lucky and blessed to be here right now at this time in history. I pray for this world.
It's 12:45 and the light is shimmering. Clouds pass over. I’m able to see the crescent sun through the filtered clouds without using my glasses. It’s one o'clock now. There's a halo, a rainbow around the sun. It’s beautiful! It’s close to totality. The light is quickly dimming. A jet streaks through the sky. The clouds open up.
It's dark and it's getting visibly darker rapidly. A shadow sweeps across the earth. There's a ring around the sun now. Totality! Beautiful, beautiful beautiful. Awesome! Stillness. Complete silence. I stand and stare into the black hole and ring of light. The moon passes over the face of the sun. Light beams out like a diamond ring. Brightness now fills the sky. Light comes back to the Earth. Now a crescent moon appears on the other side of the sun. The moon is heading east, the sun is headed west.
It's 1:15 now and it's quite bright and there's still a halo rainbow around the sun. Bright blue sky through holes in the clouds.
It's 1:30 now and the moon continues passing over the sun, between the Earth. I walk through the field of grass and flowers. I come to a dirt road and make my way back to my truck to continue my journey. Today it's onward, over the great plains and high plains, and into the mountains. I reach my truck and sit on the tailgate and continue viewing the rest of the eclipse through my glasses. I break open a small watermelon and rehydrate, giving thanks for all that I have seen and experienced. I am fully alive! My journey continues...