Hello Wonderful People!

I hope you are having an awesome day and that you had an opportunity to view today’s solar eclipse.

Having not experienced any solar eclipse, I wanted to make sure that I experience this one. When I found out that my wife and I live and work so close to the area of totality, I knew it was going to be an awesome experience. When viewing a solar eclipse, it is all about the totality – how much of the sun would be covered by the shadow of the moon. Living in the Gateway City meant that we would just on the edge of totality, like 99.5 percent totality. But 99.5 percent totality is like zero percent totality. It is all or nothing. If it is not 100 percent totality, you don’t get the full effect of the eclipse. You miss out on the seeing the corona and seeing the full effects of the total darkness.

My wife and I decided to take the day off from work and drive to Augusta, Missouri. Being just a little further south and west of Saint Louis meant that we would be in the band of total totality for two minutes and 19 seconds – an incredibly long amount of time compared to other places. Augusta is only forty-five minutes outside of Saint Louis, but it seems like it is a world away. Settled by the Germans in 1836, Augusta boasts wineries, antique shops, and a includes a stop on the KATY Trail. The streets are line with quaint little homes and charming bed and breakfasts; and is home to only 256 people.

Augusta definitely offers that small-town charm and it was evident at today’s eclipse party. It seemed everyone knew everyone; but we fit right in the crowd just like everyone else. We met two men who wondered into town to view the eclipse, just like us. Nick, a Virginia native and recent transplant to Saint Charles; and Gordon, a cross-country bike rider from Georgia. Nick previously worked in journalism and had some extensive experience in photography. But unfortunately, he had left his memory card for his camera at home. We decided to let him use our card to take the photographs with the his camera. He was able to get the amazing photograph shown above. It worked out great because he was still able to get the photographs he wanted; and we got much better photographs than we could have imaged to get. (More about this in a later post.) We also met Gordon who travelled from Georgia to Pennsylvania and then to Illinois on a hunt for his ancestors in a genealogical challenge, as he described it. After finishing up the search in Illinois, he continued his journey to Augusta to view the eclipse.

J and T taking a look at the solar eclipse.

The eclipse proved to be a great opportunity to bring people together and witness such a rare event. For a moment today, we stood together in unity and we all looked up at the sky and forgot about the evils of this world. We need to have an eclipse everyday.

In the coming days, we will share more photos that Nic captured with our memory card and our thoughts about the day.