Solar show doesnʼt disappoint

Unlike much of Nebraska that was clothed in clouds on Monday, the sky over Superior was clear on Monday morning.

Shortly after 1 p.m the blue of the sky began to deepen. It was like I was wearing sunglasses. I followed a small crew of Celestial Event Observers, Tyler Holland, Darien Holland and Chief Observer Oliver Holland (age 4) to the property of Lonnie Bargen located north of Superior.

As Darien and Oliver sat patiently in the rear of my Mazda B2300 pickup nicknamed Hot Wheels, I prepared and manned by photo equipment waiting for the big moment.

The temperature began dropping as the totality of the solar eclipse grew closer by the minute. We were told to expect more than 80 percent totality about 1:45 p.m. and I was ready.

After applying the recently obtained solar viewing glasses, Chief Observer Oliver, declared he could not locate the sun. However, with assistance from Darien, he was able to locate the 20 percent uncovered star. After seeing the star he exclaimed, "It's cold. I'm getting in the car now."

Overall we were pleased to have observed the solar eclipse.

Friends of this newspaper living in Massachusetts joined other family members on a planned drive to Vermont to a prime viewing spot.

En route their electric powered car needed to be recharged. They found a long line of vehicles waiting for access to the charging station. Eventually it was their turn, the vehicle's batteries were recharged and they continued on their way reaching the prime viewing spot two minutes before totality.

We may not have experienced totality in Superior, but we didn't have to contend with heavy spectator traffic and Hot Wheels didn't run over gasoline as I drove from work the viewing location.