I was fortunate to experience it as a member of an appreciative audience.

We were in KY right on the Tennessee state line, just north of Nashville

just across the Georgia border. Gave me a sense of the numinous I’ll never forget. Lucky us!

The Transit of Venus.

The first and last I got to see.

Next one is December 2117.

I poked a pinhole in a piece of cardboard and used that as my eclipse observatory. The eclipse shone through the cardboard onto a sheet of paper, and I got to see the phenomenon without burning my eyes out.

I'm not 100% sure it was lunchtime. But if it hadn't been, I would have been inside the clinic visiting with patients.

The dead center of the path went right over my hometown - actually my sister's house was under the line. You couldn't find a hotel within 100 miles that wasn't triple priced for the whole weekend.

We saw the eclipse in Franklin KY; stayed 3 days with friends there and had a 3 day Eclipse Party (all Democrats too)! I met our hosts in Sunday School class here in Texas, where we found out we grew up 20 miles apart in KY and had to come to Ft Worth to meet.

Six of us stayed in her parents' empty house; others stayed with them in their place but we all ate together for lunch and dinner for 3 days. There were probably a dozen out of towners altogether.

We also got to attend the Simpson County Democrats fundraiser, with guest speakers Alison Grimes and Andy Beshear!

I even met a cousin I did not know I had!!

There is another one coming up that will pass over DFW link:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses/2024/apr-8-total/where-when/

They opened it up at 6AM and there were about 100 cars in line. The true epicenter was only one more mile north.

I went there the day before and slept in my car that night as all motels were fully booked.

So, I just drove around, ate at local restaurants, and visited lots of stores and places. Those two days were one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life.

And when leaving, there was a traffic jam from John Day to Bend and then hwy 97 going south. Traffic moved at about 20 mph for several hours. It took all day just to get to Weed CA.

My mates and I watched it through a welding hood one had and we stood on the lawn passing it around.
I bought the collectible stamps. They are heat changing.

The orange idiot looked full on at it! Remember?

I was doing my scheduled morning puja prayers, waving the ghee lamp and as I reached the words "na tatra sūryo bhāti na candratārakam" the umbra settled over the scene.

Na tatra sūryo bhāti na candratārakam means, "There, the sun does not shine, nor the moon and the stars"

21 Aug 2017 but longer.

And see an eclipse. 60 miles northeast of Nashville.

which is a bit north of Kearney. My first ever total eclipse. I'll be seeing the annular eclipse on October 14 this year from Albuquerque.

The one you all need to get excited about is the total eclipse on August 12, 2045. That's right before my 97th birthday, but I'm optimistic about making it. Totality will last up to six full minutes.

I remember that. Chump looked directly at it, instead of using the special glasses that NASA gave him.