We planned a year in advance for the April 8, 2024 eclipse, with flight reservations and hotel bookings in Austin, Texas, since it was one of the longest duration points. We flew in from Orlando, and Dani and Trish flew in from Vancouver BC, meeting up in Austin on Saturday the 8th. But the weather forecast for all of Texas, and Austin in particular, was bleak. So on Sunday we abandoned our rooms and drove across Texas to an Airbnb I was able to book. Then on Monday morning, we set off north for three hours to the only place in the middle of the country with a clear forecast.
It was worth it! We had lunch at a small cafe in the ironically named Plainview, Arkansas, and then headed back south a bit to find a space away from lights and telephone poles.
This eclipse was even more spectacular than the one we saw in Nashville in 2017. The sun is near a peak in its activity cycle, so the corona formed a bright ring, and there were spectacular solar flares shooting out from the sides as bright orange flames. Impossible to photograph, but so worth the experience.
