Originally Posted by Finster
We were also lucky enough to see the eclipse in totality with near perfect weather at the Jellystone in Eureka, MO. We did not travel specifically to see the eclipse, we were already going to St. Louis anyway and just decided to extend our stay a couple days so we would not miss it. We arrived on Monday the 14th and stayed until the 22nd. We were vacationing with friends in another RV, and all of our kids are in about the same age group. We managed to cram a lot of stuff into the 8 nights we spent there. We visited the Arch, the City Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, and Six Flags. We also took the kids to the Starlite Drive-In just outside of St. Louis in Cadet, MO. That was a first for all of my kids, and my wife. We had several drive-ins growing up but all have shut down several years ago. My wife grew up in Germany on a military base and has never experienced one either. The entire trip capped off by the eclipse on Monday.
We were looking at it off and on with our eclipse glasses through out the day. We sat down for Lunch around 1, and watched as the crescent of the sun grew smaller and smaller until it was just a sliver. I was surprised at how light out it was right up until the sun was completely covered. Totality hit about a quarter after and the entire campground erupted in cheer. None of the pictures we took could serve it justice, they just did not capture what we were actually seeing. It got dark, and the temp dropped about 10º. The locusts started chirping, and a few stars became visible. You could see twilight in just about every direction, with a ominous black moon overhanging in the sky with a white haze around it. It was a little eerie. Like others have said, im lost for words as to describe it.
Im glad our trip worked out as it had. But even if we were skunked by bad weather, it still would have been worth it as we did not plan the entire trip around the eclipse. Rather, we included the eclipse in our plans. So if it didn't work out, the trip was still not a bust. We had a lot of fun, and the trip was a lot of firsts, for most of us even without the eclipse.
My wife and friends are already planning out our trip for 2024, and planning to invite more RVing friends and family to join us. Being since it will be on April 8th, we are thinking we are going to head south as the weather will be not as forgiving that time of year in most northern states. The eclipse path will come from Mexico, cut through Texas in a diagonal line all the way up through Maine hitting parts of Ontario and Quebec along the way. We are thinking Texas, and with Dallas, Austin, and parts of San Antonio all in the eclipse path we will have no shortage of things to do while in the area. We will plan it much as we did this trip. We will plan a vacation in the area, including the eclipse. But that will not be our sole focus.
If I had to change anything about our trip, I would have picked up a better camera to take along with. That will be something on my wish list for our next eclipse vacation in 7 years. While I didn't get any good pictures of totality, here are a few interesting ones my wife got of the crescent shadows falling on everything just after the eclipse had passed, and one of the crescent after totality.
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