I Should Have Arched an Eyebrow

Opportunity lost. 

Shadow Over America: Eclipse

When the moment comes, everything but awe is eclipsed. It is the sight of a lifetime, majestic, irresistible: nature's reminder of our place in the vast and wondrous cosmos. The moon's shadow passes over us at over 3,600 km/h, and from our location that gives us a little over two minutes of totality. We soak up every moment as we are suddenly cast into an eerie midday twilight.
And then the shadow passes, heading southeast. We'll remember this for the rest of our lives.

To Metropolis, Illinois, where even Superman himself has donned a pair of eclipse glasses. He doesn't need them, of course, but ever the public servant, he sets an example for the throngs that came here to experience totality.

The drive from Farmington to Metropolis is sublime, with winding back roads twisting through lush, gorgeous country of dense forests teeming with life. As planned, we make our way through Kentucky and Tennessee to Nashville, our original destination for this trip, made impossible by sky-high hotel prices. We had thought that prices would come down and hotels empty after the eclipse, but alas, there are no rooms at any inns for we weary travelers. Our plans to explore Nashville are dashed, and we're forced to press on - but there are no hotels in Kentucky, either, and worse, it all the traffic we avoided heading to the eclipse is visited upon us. Endless convoys of tractor-trailers bar our progress, compounded by construction that reduces the highway to single lanes. By the time we finally find lodging we're in Indiana, and the hotel, though cheap, is a disaster. We collapse on bloodstained sheets, Sylvia laying out a protective towel and sleeping in her clothes. We refuse to shower in the morning, though we desperately need it after so many hours of driving, for bathing here would only make us filthier. It is the nadir of our trip.

Shadow Over America: Today's Tom Sawyer

With one day to go before Luna's shadow crosses the USA, we head to the shore of the Mississippi River for a brief sightseeing tour on the riverboat Tom Sawyer. How strange it feels to see the words of Mark Twain made manifest, to make our way down a river steeped in history. The heat is oppressive; the weight of history, more so.

Shadow Over America, Umbra: Gateway to the West

"You're not welcome in St. Louis!" The shout comes from an angry woman who sees us on a horse-drawn carriage tour of the city's downtown. Our driver apologizes and explains the woman is probably upset about the horse working in the heat of the day; she explains that her animal, Darth Vader, is well cared for and quite comfortable. The horse seems healthy enough, and it can't be denied that it's a beautiful creature.

The driver's well-intentioned explanation is meant to comfort us, but the frenzied woman made no mention of the horse; she seemed to be shouting at us, the obvious tourists in the carriage.

The day is too lovely and the tour too interesting to allow the incident to spoil the experience. Our driver is an excellent guide:

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