Eclipse trip
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63594)
United States
April 10, 2024 7:31pm CST
I went to Kerrville TX to see the eclipse on Monday, April 8th, 2024.
I have a friend who lives there. Another friend asked if she could come also. The Kerrville friend said yes. So, on Tuesday I then drove the other friend back to Houston, where she lives.
It seemed like a really long drive from Kerrville to Houston. We stopped in Columbus for dinner. I wasn't really hungry, but my friend was. So, it was after dark when we finally left Columbus. The speed limit most of the way was 75 mph. I was often over 80 and there were some people who were passing me like I was standing still!
At least today had fewer crazy people and no one going crazy speeds.
I have seen partials before, but this is my first total and it was really interesting. It was dark, but not so dark we couldn't see each other.
My roommate asked if I were in "this mess."
"This mess" was severe storms and hail. There were, at that time, also some bad storms in Houston, but when we got there it was all fine. Did drive through some mist, but I got everything inside and then parked in one of the spaces that was covered in case there was hail. I heard a loud clap of thunder, it woke me up, but I went right back to sleep.
The eclipse was the best part, being able to do it with friends was a big part of it. The drives weren't horrid, but I would prefer to not do 3 longish drives in 4 days again. I'm getting too old I guess.
So, how was your weekend?
5 people like this
3 responses
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
11 Apr
I doubt that I'd drive to check it out, unless it wasn't far away.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
11 Apr
It was a 2 hour trip from Austin to Kerrville. Austin did see about a minute of it, but Kerrville it was almost 5. This was my first - and probably only - total eclipse. The 5ish hour drive to take my friend back to Houston was long, and we got a very late start, we stopped for dinner, it made the trip a bit over 6 hours (would've been 5 if we hadn't stopped.) The trip back to Austin took about 4 hours because of buying gas and then the traffic on 610 because of both the Gallaria and the construction there.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
11 Apr
@MarshaMusselman oh, I don't expect to be alive in 20 years. I'm getting ready to post a discussion about something health related.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
11 Apr
@ElicBxn there'll be another one in twenty years. I'm hoping to live that long but maybe by then I'll just look at you tube videos on it unless I have a working TV by then that gets local channels.
1 person likes this
@sweetloveforeve (13120)
• Portugal
12 Apr
That is great that you got the chance to watch the eclipse with your friends 
sorry that you had to drive for so many hours in a row but at least in the end of the day it was worth it 
sorry that you had to drive for so many hours in a row but at least in the end of the day it was worth it 1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
13 Apr
I do like to drive, and the 2 original hours wasn't bad. I've done it several times in the last month. However, the one from Kerrville to Houston was hard. Partly because the last hours was in the dark. And my friend was like a diabetic - and isn't one - she wants to eat all the time. I will say she had a point about there being nothing much open by the time we got to Houston, but the place we ate was fonder of the food than I found it.
@FourWalls (67775)
• United States
11 Apr
The 360-degree sunset is the most amazing thing. I mean, the “diamond ring” effect is cool and the Bailey’s beads are cool, but everywhere you look you see the sunset? That’s unreal.
Hope you didn’t get any severe weather. Slidell, Louisiana got hit pretty hard today. I have friends who live near Alexandria, Louisiana and in Dallas, Texas, so I’m always aware of what the weather is doing in that “neck of the woods.”
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
11 Apr
It was really bad in Austin, but I was under a cover in Houston. That's the second hail storm in 6 months I've dodged because I was out of town. And you are so right! We didn't get to see a lot of the effects because of the very thin cloud cover. But that was what we mostly got, the actual lead up to and past the eclipse had been mostly missed because of the clouds.
1 person likes this
