"Keep Looking. Keep watching the skies!"

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: For millions of people across the US, from Texas to Maine, today is the big day: total solar eclipse! The swath of the totality is notable for being so accessible to such a large share of the population, and seems to be a sort of divine economy booster for the many towns and small cities in its path. 

 

Here in Maine, for instance, one of the best places to see the eclipse will be in Houlton, a city of 5,800 most noted, in my family, for having a great Circle K truck stop, perfect for all your needs after driving four hours from the Portland area and before making the next hour and a half up to Limestone, where Youngest went to boarding school. 

 

But today, Houlton has a LOT more than rest stops going on. They’ve been prepping for months – adding rooms to rent and Air BNBs, planning three days of public events, laying in supplies for thousands of restaurant meals and bringing in what sounds like an entire troop of the state police to handle parking. 

 

The Maine Office of Tourism is estimating the eclipse will add millions to the state's economy. Now that’s solar power!

 

I’m staying put at home, content to see the spectacle via properly-filtered video streams. I got to experience a half-totality during the 2017 solar eclipse. It was very cool! We did the pinprick in cardboard thing to watch. However, driving eight hours round trip? Not so much.

 

How about you, Reds? Do you have plans for the 2024 solar eclipse? Anything exciting going on in your state?

 

LUCY BURDETTE: No, Key West is not on the path so we'll stay home too, Julia. I remember the last one we looked at we'd constructed a safe viewer using a cereal box. Honestly, I don't remember that we saw much at all! I sure hope the weather's good for the rest of you!

 

HALLIE EPHRON:  My part of New England isn't on the path, either. Though I have a relative who's long planned a trip to Texas to experience the real deal in an ideal location. She's had it booked, air travel and hotel room, for months, long before I was aware that a solar eclipse was on the way. Smart, too, since I'm not sure the clouds will part enough to truly experience it even if we were in "the path". We are, after all, having a very rainy April.

 

JENN McKINLAY: I had to go see where the AZ Observatory said the spot in AZ would be: “This eclipse’s path of totality goes from the Pacific coast of Mexico through central Texas up through the Midwest and over Niagara Falls and then off the Atlantic coast of Canada,” said Theodore Kareta, a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. 

Bummer. If I was in our cottage in Nova Scotia, I bet it would be amazing. I do remember being in the path of totality when I was a very little kid in CT and my parents let us watch from the rooftop. Ah, the 70's no seatbelts in cars, drinking out of the hose on hot days, having your parents reminded by a PSA on TV to look for you at 10 PM, and apparently perching on rooftops to stare at the sun without safety glasses. The good old days!

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We are right smack in the path of totality here just north of Dallas! And, dang it, our forecast is now for overcast and rain!! People have come from all over the country to watch it here! But, hey, this is Texas, after all, and the weather can change.

We had originally planned to go to some friends who have a place in the country south of Dallas, but then we started hearing reports of how bad the traffic is going to be and decided that our back yard was just fine. Now the public safety department is warning that many major freeways may actually be shut down. Yikes. I think it will be crazy.

We have our eclipse glasses and will be prepared, however the weather behaves, for our own backyard--or inside--party. Fingers crossed! 

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, we are all set with special glasses (I got 12, because they came that way, but maybe neighbors will need them.) We also have the pinhole gizmo Jonathan made last time out of a big box.

I think we are supposed to have 93% here, so that's going to be very exciting to see.

(Jonathan and I are bonded over celestial events--we met in the midst of a Perseid meteor shower, and  saw shooting stars that night. So...it's all very cosmic.)

RHYS BOWEN: I remember a full eclipse when I was in school. I think we watched it through 2 layers of photograph negatives. Anyway, it was cool. Here in Arizona I think we get 70 percent coverage, which should be good. Unfortunatly my termite man is scheduled for exactly the same time. How is he going to spot a tiny termite when darkness covers the face of the Earth?

Clare is bringing me good glasses to watch tomorrow and I can pretty much guarantee it will be fine.

 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What are your plans for the eclipse of '24?

 

 Photo of specialty cameras by Phil Hart. Graphic of the eclipse in Maine from UMaine Versant Power Astronomy Center. Original artwork of Houlton, Maine from local artist Cynthia Taylor (who has amazing prints perfect for those of you who love the Pine Tree State!)