Yesterday morning at 5:57 the phone rang, waking us from a deep sleep. For a moment I couldn't figure out what was going on, and then I remembered that I was in a hotel room in Decatur, Illinois, and we had put in a 6 am wake-up call to get to Benton in time to see the eclipse. We quickly ate breakfast and hit the road, and everything was going smoothly until Travalon's "check tire" light came on. We soon found a gas station with an air pump that was $2, but the readings didn't make any sense - the tires seemed to be getting lower as Travalon filled them. Fortunately a guy who was a mechanic helped us out with his own little pump that you plug into the phone charger, and soon we were on our way again.
We arrived in Benton around 11:30, so we probably could have slept in longer, but this way we could have a leisurely lunch and even go to the antiques shops on the square. I bought a couple of rosaries, and Travalon found something that seemed to be made for him: a Sinclair sign with Dino the Dinosaur and characters from The Flintstones. Photos soon.
I had seen on a video of the projected path of the eclipse that Benton would be right in the middle of the path, meaning totality for the solar eclipse would be at its maximum of slightly over four minutes. We had originally been planning to go to Carbondale, but that was going to be a zoo and was about forty minutes further south, so Benton seemed like a good plan. It was perfect too, with enough people to feel festive but not crowded. We got out our camping chairs and our special glasses and looked at the sun. Travalon had a lens for his camera to take photos, but we couldn't get it to work. A younger guy offered to take a photo on my phone through the glasses (we had two extra pairs), and this is what he got.
You can kind of see the "bite" out of the sun where the moon is starting to cover it, but I've seen way better photos. As the sliver of sun got narrower and narrower, it got darker and darker, and colder and colder (it had been 80 F out), and the streetlights came on.
You could see the stars appear in the sky, and the birds got confused and stopped singing. Then we couldn't see any more sliver of light through our glasses, so we took them off and saw - totality! I can't think of a good word to describe it, because people call everything "awesome" and "amazing" so I need something stronger. Spectacular? Travalon took some really good photos, but there's nothing like looking up in the sky and seeing a black ball with white light flowing around the edges.
Here you can see a star (actually probably a planet) in the lower right side of the photo.
It was kind of like a giant Niko in the sky, an eye surrounded by dark blue. Of course in my excitement I had forgotten Niko in the car - I meant to have him watch it with me. I brought Tenebrae too, but she was also in the car. Then again, maybe they could see it from the car.
Afterwards we had been planning to go back to the fish restaurant where we'd had lunch for some key lime pie, but they had a note up that they would be closed from 1-4, so we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant and had Mexican sodas and dessert. The people at the next table had a black margarita, and it was so cool-looking, but I figured they would think it was weird if I asked to take a photo of it, and we didn't want to get a drink because we had to hit the road.
Travalon took back roads, and we hit a couple of backups that lasted for a few minutes, but nothing too major. It took a while to make forward progress because we had to keep slowing down to go through towns, but that way passed interesting things like this carillon in Centralia.
We also discovered Kitchell Park in Pana, a great place to take a bathroom break and stretch our legs. Here are some photos.
The bridge leads to a small island, which we walked around. We did try to get on the freeway, but it was a parking lot so we continued through Bloomington, which has such interesting lights at night. This is not a very good photo, but it gives you an idea. There were also some very colorful lights on other buildings.
In Normal the highway was moving, so we got on it and headed home, arriving very late and getting into bed just after two in the morning. What a long day! But so worth it! And playing The Game helped us survive all that driving. I had thought I wouldn't get any exercise, but somehow I got all my move hours, five miles of walking, and enough active minutes too. We did walk around Benton a lot.
Today I woke up before my alarm and snuck out of bed so Travalon could keep sleeping. I worked from home, and Rich gave me a ride to adoration while Travalon picked me up so I wouldn't have to drive in my sleep-deprived state. Anna Banana II offered to lead Night Prayer for me, since Tuesday is my usual night. I appreciate everyone's help! I will fall into bed early tonight and hopefully wake up refreshed tomorrow.
Famous Hat
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