The morning has started with weather forecast checking. I was considering Columbia, Mo, Richwood and Carbondale. Carbondale was promising T-Storms, Columbia abd Richwood similar. St. Claire had intermittent clouds. Well it looked the best chance we have. 7 am we were on our way out from Springfield to St Louis.
After the short drive we stopped at shopping mall parking. I asked the shop assistant if we can park and he said he said yes. I clarified how much we need to pay as other places were charging 20-30 bucks. He said free. Apparently shop closes for an hours just because of Eclipse. Everyone wants to see it! We arrived so early! It was 8 am! 5 hours to wait for totallity.
Quick check om camera to see how Sun looks like through the filters.
4min for beginning of the eclipse and clouds gathering above. Extremely hot and humid.
We had to go to the super market just before Eclipse started to cool off. The sky was covered with scattered clouds and it didn’t look much promising.
11:48 am we started seeing the Moon covering disk of the Sun. I have started taking pictures. People were taking pictures with their cameras and filters on, but most people were watching with the glasses mostly.
We had to wait for awhile to see more and more disc being covered.
To follow Indian customs we refrained from eating any food during Eclipse.
The more the Sun was getting covered the cooler it was getting and then there was that moment when we could see it getting dark around and a sudden wow from the crowd. My first captures of the first diamond I believe are a little bit out of focus. I glimpsed with an eye to the dark Sun, but had just two minutes to make sure everything is being captured. Also took a quick shot with a small camera so I can transfer via WiFi to my phone. Here it is!
I took some pictures after totality and we were heading further on our way – Route 66.
Total duration 2min 44s!
The video taken with video camera (self made aluminium film filter applied before totality), but since sun has shifted and no tracking was there. Anyway it is still quite impressive.
When you watch you will notice that cicadas start chirping once it gets dark. Animal world thinks it is a night.
I’ve even made to a local newspaper in Chicago!
We were there on this day. We enjoyed your pictures and conservations. We are in the video that captured the crowds reaction to totality. We are in the lower right hand portion of the video. We will be in Russellville Arkansas on the 8th (tomorrow) Got to experience totality again
Hi Randy and Nancy, I am glad you liked it. Unfortunately I will not be there this year. Initially I was planning to go to Mexico (due to longest totalitty there), but due to safety concerns travelling to north Mexico, I’ve decided not to go. There was some cosniderations to go to USA and eventually I am not going.
Probably I will see you in 2026 in Egypt 🙂 I am trying to get in touch with local travel agencies there, to arrange something at that time.