Jim likes stuff like eclipses. So last year, he decided we needed to witness this one along the line of totality. He reserved a hotel room in Marshall, Missouri well in advance. Since it was just a two-day, one-night trip all to enjoy about 2 minutes of darkness, we decided to try to make the trip itself fun. Have you ever looked at RoadsideAmerica.com? Its a bunch of random, weird stuff you can stop and see on your road trip. On the way down, we stopped at a rock n roll McDonalds...
a giant fish statue...
a giant ice cream cone...
a pyramid house...
the place where sliced bread was first sold...
We skipped the high trestle bridge and the place in Missouri where the Mormons believe Adam and Eve went after they were ejected from the Garden of Eden. But we drive this road a lot and will catch them another time!
That evening and the next morning, we mostly hung out around the hotel, walked to Walmart, talked to other eclipse watcher people, and watched Teen Titans Go. Then, about 2 hours before it was supposed to start, we got serious about the weather watch. We knew it might be cloudy, but it wasn't obvious how cloudy until just at the last few hours. I decided I wasn't driving all that way just to sit in the rain, so we made a plan and started driving southeast, toward the clearest area around. As we drove, the moon started covering the sun a little at a time, but that takes a while. When the sky seemed blue enough and we didn't want to miss any more, we started looking for somewhere to stop and watch. Keep in mind, we were on small, backroads in rural Missouri. I saw on the map a church up ahead, so we figured the church parking lot would be a good spot to stop. Well...here's the church:
Huh. Not what we were expecting, but it was lovely! We wondered if stopping at a cemetery was rude, but we decided it was public-ish land and we would be respectful. Plus, if we hadn't stopped, we wouldn't have met Nancy:
Born Feb 6. 1776!!! The kids were so impressed.
We had lunch under the canopy and laid on a blanket to watch the show. It was so perfect!
Very cool experience! Everyone was super impressed with the eclipse itself and we're all glad we made the trip.
The state capitol was just 30 minutes farther southeast, and Jim decided he didn't want to have to come back here someday to cross it off the list. So we journeyed into Jefferson City and toured the capitol.
The worst tour guide we've ever had, but one of the prettiest buildings we've seen yet.
The way home was just plain long. Traffic added at least 3 hours to our total trip, and it was long enough to begin with. Here we are slowed down enough for me to stick my phone out the window to take a picture of Adam's waving hand (i.e. we were going very slowly!). But people were nice and patient, and Jim was a super hero driver. And for once in their lives, the kids slept in the car on a road trip!
Our view for much of the trip. Brake lights.
But totally worth it!
