Eclipse Camping

 

Two plus years ago we started planning our trip to southern Illinois for the eclipse.  The path of totality (which, sounds so silly) was set to hit southern Illinois, about 6 hours south of us.  When it happened back in 2017 people sold it as one of the coolest experiences of their lives so when we realized we'd have another opportunity in 2024, we popped it on our calendars and vowed to figure out a way to see it.

Ed and Marsha's son, Chris and his family, live in Marion, Illinois and it was set to be smack dap in the middle of where we wanted to be, so 2 years ago we inundated this little campground in Marion Illinois with requests for campsites for 4 campers - and it's a good thing we were so far ahead of the game.  Nearly everything was sold out or crazy expensive as the day neared.  We were all so thankful when about 3 months ago the owner of the campground called to get our credit card numbers and set up our reservations officially.  I really had my doubts, but it worked out better than I could have hoped!

We had to book 4 nights, which was fine because the eclipse was set to take place around 2pm Monday afternoon and we'd learned from everyone who went in 2017 that the traffic would be crazy afterwards so we pulled the kids out of school for the extra day and took a 4 day weekend in southern Illinois.

You know what's super questionable in southern Illinois in early April!?  The weather...that's what.  But, God must have been shining down with us because we lucked out with the most amazing weather.  I don't think I could have ordered up a better weekend.  It was sunny, 80 and exactly what I needed for my mental health.  A few days off, some sunshine and the feeling of summer...it really had us all feeling super grateful and thankful.

We'd put so much effort into making our way down there just for a 10 minute block of time...I was prepared for it to pour rain, or not be that cool, or to generally be disappointed.  But mother nature did not disappoint.  

When people ask me if it was worth it....all the planning, all the prep, the long drive down and back and I say hands down, if you ever have a chance to experience a full eclipse, fully in the path of totality, make the time, make the effort and you won't be disappointed.  It was such a cool experience.  

It went from full on sunny as you can see here, to night and back again in probably 10 total minutes.  The sun was fully covered for maybe 4 or 5 minutes, but it was wild how quickly it all happened.  Not like a sunset that takes an hour.  It was so much more instant than that.  The temperature cooled what felt like 10 degrees for the short time.  I even went inside the camper and grabbed a sweater!  The street lights came on, the birds flew to roost and stopped singing, everything was quiet and still, until it all came back up and everything came back to life.  

It was very hard to get photos of the sun while it was happening but these two were the best we got!  In the one above you can see the moon right in the center of the sun.  You can see from the sky that it looks like near dusk and I bet it was only another minute or two before the below photo was taken. 

Long story short this was an experience we will not forget!