After 2017, we are once again traveling to a solar eclipse in the USA. We had booked a hotel in San Antonio many months ago with the highest probability of clear skies. But on Saturday, two days before the eclipse, the weather forecast for southwest Texas was no longer good. We were still in Dallas and there was only one thing to do: cancel the hotel and go somewhere else with better weather..
The weather forecast is optimistic for a few hours around the eclipse for Arkansas. So we decide to drive to Texarkana on Sunday, a small town that lies in both Texas and Arkansas, in order to drive in the best weather on the day of the eclipse. And on Monday morning we head for Little Rock. The sky quickly clears, and we decide to stay in Hot Springs. Unexpectedly, we find a free parking space next to a green area in the center, where many enthusiastic spectators and photographers are already waiting. The equipment is quickly set up and the last veil of clouds disappears minutes before the eclipse. Phew!
And then the rare, deeply impressive and emotional spectacle in the sky begins.
The crescent sun becomes narrower and narrower, the sun hides more and more behind the moon. The last rays shine through lunar valleys for about a minute, the sun appears like a diamond ring. Prominences and solar flares glow red. And then the corona envelops the sun for a few minutes. It passes far too quickly. The sun suddenly reappears behind the moon, a glistening beam of light dazzles and expands, a narrow crescent appears and slowly enlarges. The sun is back. As if nothing had happened.
And what about us? We are happy to have made the right decision.