A solar eclipse is always exciting, but a total solar eclipse is exceptionally exciting. I still remember standing on the playground in 6th grade holding a white piece of paper with a tiny hole poked in it watching my first total eclipse. Mrs. Cloud, Mr. Valderama and Mrs. Wright were close by reminding us not to look straight at the sun.
We’ve had several partial and total eclipses since then and we’ve been lucky enough to be in the path of a few partials. Mark’s mom and step-dad were at the one in 2017 camped in a field in Madras, Oregon. Just for fun we looked up the next one that would trek across the country and joked how fun it would be to see it.
Fast forward to the summer of 2021. I saw a Twitter post from NOAA about the 2024 eclipse and showed it to Mark. Off to the internet we went to check the path with a bigger picture than my phone. The path was set to cross into the US in SW Texas, not all that far from us in the desert. Even better, the path of totality crossed right over Fredericksburg, Texas. We stopped there for a quick day and a half in 2019 on our way back from the Perry FMCA rally and we wanted to return.
This was completely doable.
Last time in Fredericksburg we stayed at The Vineyards RV Park, not far from downtown. This time we wanted to be able to ride our bikes to downtown so we honed in on Fredericksburg RV Park. Mark called and made our reservation. The lady he talked to was a little surprised that we were making a reservation almost three years out.
Lucky us we planned to be in one of the best places along the path to be. Dumb luck for sure.
Tick tock, eclipse month had finally arrived! Friends that live in the general Austin area told us the local towns were preparing as if it was a mass casualty event and to be stocked on groceries, medications and fuel as they expected a crush of people. We rolled into Fredericksburg like we were going to dry camp; water and fuel tanks full, holding tanks empty and cupboards stocked.
The staff at the RV park were prepared. The lady that checked us in told us the entrance and exit would be blocked and the grassy area streetside would be roped off. She gave us a pass for the truck so we could get back in if we left anytime on the day of the eclipse. We also had to get a special pass for Jeff when he arrived. We didn’t care, we had a campsite in the area of totality and weren’t going anywhere during the eclipse.
Mother Nature had us rethinking that plan as eclipse day approached. While this part of Texas generally has better weather and less storms at this time but she had other plans. As the day got closer, the weather pattern stayed the same. Grr. Jeff said we might need to find another place for a better view of the eclipse. We asked where and he jokingly said, “Did you bring your passport?” Three days before the eclipse Mexico skies looked much better than Texas skies. Mark and I obsessively checked our weather apps and checked the NWS Austin/San Antonio X page for updates. By Sunday, the rain percentage dropped dramatically, now we needed some upper-level winds to move the thick clouds away. Jeff and I made a plan to head to nearby Mason if Monday morning didn’t look good since their forecast was for thinner clouds.
We were up early Monday morning and Mother Nature looked like she was going to cooperate so we decided to stay put. We were still going to have some clouds but our escape plan to Mason now had similar conditions.
Turns out we had many eclipse enthusiasts camping with us! There were many campsites set up with telescopes of varying sizes. Most of them had special lenses and were hooked up to a computer ready to record the second the eclipse started. We met two couples from Utah in the row next to us.
The couples are from Price, Utah. Mark & Keith have known each other since grade school and are lifelong friends. They are eclipse chasers and told us about all the eclipses they’ve been to. Mindy and Mary are just as excited with this hobby as their husbands. They were so kind and generous with their time and set up. They answered all of our questions and had us come over to see their pictures when it was all over.
Their equipment looked expensive and indeed it was. They used a Refractor scope with an Equatorial mount. The spotting scope is ½ of a set for binoculars. Their astronomy camera was set up to take pictures at a few-minute interval in the beginning of the eclipse then ratchet down to more frequent intervals as the eclipse progressed. It was fascinating listening to them tell us all that goes into photographing an eclipse.
The clouds played havoc as the eclipse moved through the first half. Jeff and I stayed put in our chairs, glasses on, watching every minute.
The clouds parted as we approached totality. It was so very cool! The campground automatic lights came on, the birds were quiet, crickets chirped and even the frogs at the pond croaked!
We had 4 minutes, 24 seconds of totality. Then it happened. The diamond burst forth on the other side. I think every person in the campground cheered. The first rays of light on the other side appeared. Jeff and I were back in our seats ready to watch the rest of the eclipse but Mother Nature had other plans. She laid down a cloud blanket so thick that our eclipse was over.
We were all a bit sad, including our new eclipse friends. They didn’t pack up their equipment saying they would hang on in case there was a break in the clouds. We waited for a few minutes then gave up and decided to walk around downtown.
Even though this total eclipse didn’t pan out completely, we aren’t done. The next total solar eclipse over the US is in 2044. There is a total solar eclipse in 2026 that clips Iceland. I’ve always wanted to go to Iceland…