August 1999. The last total solar eclipse visible from the UK was 72 years ago, and the next one would be 91 years later. Young Ted woke up to a gloriously sunny day. This would be it!
An hour before the event we drove out to a nice remote viewing spot with minimal obstructions for miles around. 30 minutes to go, the clouds rolled in. Thick, blanket cloud from horizon to horizon. The eclipse happened. From under the cloud it got a bit darker and the birds had a bit of a freak out but it was otherwise a non-event. We drove back home, disappointed.
30 minutes later the clouds cleared and the rest of the day was as glorious as the morning had been. 27 years later I’m still bitter about it. Seattle’s got nothing on us!
So a few years ago there was an eclipse over spring break, which was nice because it wasn’t happening where we lived. Also my wife wanted to take a trip to Texas and see where I used to live and I wanted to introduce her to Real BBQ, because the stuff I make is good but the stuff they make is better. So we plan out one of those BBQ and music pilgrimage trips to Austin what happens to coincide with the eclipse maybe and… damn. It costs like $3,000 more a plane ticket if we stay over to see the eclipse. Like, to the minute, the airlines really were fucking us over, and the eclipse wasn’t really the point of the trip it was just a coincidence so we just decided to go home early.
We ended up coincidentally running into friends (who live in New York but are also music and space and BBQ geeks) in Austin at a ham shack that week so that was fun.
It was overcast The Entire Day in Texas. We saw more (partial) eclipse back home.
August 1999. The last total solar eclipse visible from the UK was 72 years ago, and the next one would be 91 years later. Young Ted woke up to a gloriously sunny day. This would be it!
An hour before the event we drove out to a nice remote viewing spot with minimal obstructions for miles around. 30 minutes to go, the clouds rolled in. Thick, blanket cloud from horizon to horizon. The eclipse happened. From under the cloud it got a bit darker and the birds had a bit of a freak out but it was otherwise a non-event. We drove back home, disappointed.
30 minutes later the clouds cleared and the rest of the day was as glorious as the morning had been. 27 years later I’m still bitter about it. Seattle’s got nothing on us!
So a few years ago there was an eclipse over spring break, which was nice because it wasn’t happening where we lived. Also my wife wanted to take a trip to Texas and see where I used to live and I wanted to introduce her to Real BBQ, because the stuff I make is good but the stuff they make is better. So we plan out one of those BBQ and music pilgrimage trips to Austin what happens to coincide with the eclipse maybe and… damn. It costs like $3,000 more a plane ticket if we stay over to see the eclipse. Like, to the minute, the airlines really were fucking us over, and the eclipse wasn’t really the point of the trip it was just a coincidence so we just decided to go home early.
We ended up coincidentally running into friends (who live in New York but are also music and space and BBQ geeks) in Austin at a ham shack that week so that was fun.
It was overcast The Entire Day in Texas. We saw more (partial) eclipse back home.