After reading so much sturm and drang about this year's eclipse, I thought I'd try something different.
In 2024, I will be 79 years old, or not. In the latter case, my troubles and cares will be over, about any eclipse, or anything at all. In the former case, I've got plans!
I intend to view the eclipse. rain or shine, from Pleasant Pond, Maine. Why this out of the way place and not Texas?
Does anyone remember the 1963 Total eclipse and Pleasant Pond being the Sky and Telescope headquarters for the eclipse? Yup, I was all of 18 and I was there where I saw my first solar eclipse and walked away a changed man. I've often wanted to go back to that pleasant place to soak up some stars and reminisce. I never got the opportunity and thought I had missed my chance. Ten other eclipses passed over me and I saw every one. Missing one at my age wouldn't matter quite so much as it might have been in 1963.
Imagine my shock when I inspected the 2024 track and discovered that Pleasant Pond was within totality! It's been a slam dunk to decide where I have to go for that eclipse, probably my last. It hardly matters that totality is a sad two minute affair and the weather probably horrible.
Look at it this way -- I see the two Pleasant Pond eclipses as bookends in my life, the place where I saw my first eclipse and the place where I will see my last. That will be enough for me. I feel that there can be a certain poetry in one's life. And this is mine.
See you in 2024!