The Great American Eclipse ‘An Amazing Experience From The Best Place To Watch It In The USA’
All the time, the effort, expense and all other factors people went through to witness what was known as “The Great America Eclipse,” the first full solar eclipse in the USA in 99 years on Monday, Aug. 21, was well worth it.
That was certainly the case for those who flew their private planes into one of the first places in the eclipse’s path, the Madras Municipal Airport in Madras, Oregon.
“Fantastic,!” beamed Ramona Cox. “It was an amazing experience from the best place to watch it in the USA.
“I got to watch it fro the highest point at the Madras airport, the top of the Bergair Hangar!”
The eclipse began at about 9 in the morning with the full eclipse taking place at 10:19 a.m.
There were 400 private planes that flew into Madres as early as Friday, and a total 100,000 people overall in this tiny town in the central part of the state. Venders were selling everything from souvenirs to Oregon craft beers.
There was even a three-day festival, Oregon Solarfest, a three-day festival with beer, more than 20 bands, even hot air balloons. Tickets were $20 a day.
This scene was repeated across the country, mostly in small towns as the eclipse made its way diagonally across the USA through the Midwest and the South, eventually exiting in Charleston, S.C.
As the sun became blocked by the moon and people cheered as if they were at a football game. Then the “diamond” appeared – a beam of light as the sun reappears from behind the moon – people roared in awe of this spectacle of nature.
And this from my mother in Loudon, Tennessee outside of Knoxville, which was right in the path of the eclipse:
“It was awesome!!!
“I really didn’t expect to have an exciting experience but when I sat there and noticed the light getting dimmer I checked the sun and moon’s positions it was strange. The temperature was dropping, too, and you could feel a coolness like evening. Then all of a sudden it began to get lighter and brighter and it all returned to bright again.
“As it darkened it was not like it was getting to be the evening because the shadows were from overhead. It was not as if the sun was setting.
“I was in the driveway at the garage area and the birds began to fly to the trees as they do for night and the dry flies began to sing, but as the light began to return they stopped. It never did get pitch black as I expected it to because we are in the mountains and there was a glow on the lake.
“There were lots of boats on the lake. It was all quiet when it occured.”
When Is The Next Solar Eclipse In The USA?
There will be solar eclipses visible from parts of the USA. on Oct. 14, 2023, and April 8, 2024. The one in 2024 will be a total solar eclipse visible from Texas to Maine.
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