And Finally, the Reason We Went to Arkansas, the Total Eclipse of the Sun

April 26, 2024

The day before the solar eclipse (April 7), Bruce and I checked the weather forecast and decided that Hot Springs, Arkansas was still a good place to try to see the total solar eclipse.

On Monday (April 8), we got up at 4:00 AM to drive to Hot Springs. We wanted to miss the large rush of traffic and find a good spot to get set up.

Since we couldn’t leave Nox behind for an entire day, she got to come with us on our excursion.

We left the RV in the truck at 4:20 AM. Along the way, we drove through some rain.

We drove the three hours to Hot Springs and pulled into a Walmart parking lot. Up the hill from the Walmart was a strip mall with a couple of restaurants.

We walked Nox and put her back in the truck. It was rather cool, so we didn’t have any concerns about leaving her in the truck with the windows rolled partially down and the sunroof open.

We headed inside Walmart to use their restrooms and then we went shopping. There were some items we needed and Walmart was convenient.

After shopping, we got back into the truck and read. I went to sleep and got a nice nap in.

Around 11:00 AM, Bruce wanted lunch. I had packed sandwiches and fruit for us, but since there was a sushi restaurant in the strip mall next to the Walmart, Bruce wanted to try it.

We left Nox in the truck with the windows rolled partially down and the sunroof open. Thankfully, it was still cool, so we felt Nox was safe.

Lunch was wonderful. The sushi restaurant was top notch. If you like sushi and are in Hot Springs, stop in at Gozen Japan House Hot Springs.

After lunch, we took Nox for a walk and set up our chairs in the shade.

When it was time for the eclipse, we put on our eclipse glasses over our regular glasses and watched the sun slowly disappear.

I put my glasses over my phone camera and tried to take a picture. I didn’t want to damage my phone camera; it didn’t work well at all.

Then, totality happened!!!!! The eclipse glasses came off. Shock and awe!!!! Everyone who was watching the eclipse in the parking lot was exclaiming, “how cool!” Words really can’t express the amazement of seeing the sun blacked out with a shining silver ring around it. We also saw a red line extending perpendicular from the sun towards the bottom of the sun.

I did remember to take a picture, but I mostly just stood there staring at the shining silver ring around the blacked out sun with the red dash until the diamond showed. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/putting-a-ring-on-it-2017-total-solar-eclipse/

We believe the red line was a tower of plasma erupting from the sun. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/red-dots-around-total-solar-eclipse-explained/

We put our eclipse glasses back on and watched for a bit as the moon slowly slipped away from the sun.

We decided to head back to the RV before traffic became bad. We did make a stop along the way at a gas station to see the partial solar eclipse again.

We never did run into bad traffic.

The dogwoods were blooming in the woods as we drove past.

We pasted a power station for a solar farm on the way home.

We arrived back home around 5:00 PM. It had been raining in Lake Village and we drove through the rain when we were close to Lake Village.

We took Nox for a walk and afterwards ate the sandwiches and fruit I made for lunch for supper.

The total solar eclipse was well worth traveling over a thousand miles to see. Would I do it again? Yes, absolutely! I consider our starting point Trails End RV Park in Florida.

(We drove our truck to Hot Springs to see the total eclipse of the sun. – sung to “You’re so Vain” by Carly Simon.)