We were not able to make it to the 2017 total solar eclipse, so Barry immediately looked at the path of totality for 2024. Texas made the most sense for us. Being in the Dallas area for the 2024 eclipse became our priority from which the rest of our 2024 travels would be planned. (The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. will not occur for another 20 years.)
Starting out from Yuma April 1 – 2024
We pulled out of CVR today to start our April – October adventures in Vinny. Preventive maintenance on Vinny is important, before being on the road for 6 months, so we began with an oil change for Vinny in Tucson, AZ at the Velocity Truck Center on April 2. While Vinny was being serviced, we visited with Harold and Gerlind. Harold and Gerlind are our friends (and neighbors) at CVR.
What a beautiful home they have here in Tucson (actually – Vail). Gerlind made a fabulous red lentil soup with nice crunchy bread for a filling lunch. For dessert we thoroughly enjoyed a chocolate, flourless cake. Harold wasn’t too keen on it, but I loved it. It reminded me of those decadent, flourless chocolate tortes that some restaurants serve. Gerlind gave us a more- than-generous portion to take with us. That gave us a special treat to our road travel–and especially the afternoon/evening of our anniversary.
April 3 – Happy Anniversary. 🙂
Lake Tawakoni Thousand Trails in Point, TX, which is our solar eclipse destination site, is about an hour east of Dallas. We left Tucson this morning, and spent the first night at the Las Cruces Elks (NM) where there were 17 RVs staying the night! Luckily, there was plenty of room. Since we had to park in the dry-camp overflow area, we were able to keep TJ hooked up!
Our next two nights we made use of two wonderful Texas Safety Rest areas. Many people are hesitant of staying at a rest area. They do vary, but we do some research when planning our stops, and go with our gut feeling when we pull in. We have had positive experiences, and value the ease of using these resources when available. These newer safety rest areas are really nice. They give RVs room where they can park without being sandwiched between the 18-wheelers. Due to the seventeen RVs at the Elks last night, we figured we better get to our sleeping destinations no later than 2-3 PM. We easily put out either our full wall slide, or the two passenger-side slides, to give us ample room to access everything inside Vinny.
This first rest area did not fill up as we expected. Most RVs that did come here went to the area on the far right edge behind the angled truck slots. It was a quiet night!
Eastland County Safety Rest Area
Beautiful rest area, but no designated RV parking along the curb as the one last night, so we parked parallel along the far right edge as you enter the rest area.. We parked near a light, and had another great night. There were a few behind us that opened slides on both sides, but we chose to only open the passenger side ones. Glad we got to this rest area when we did. 🙂
We arrived at Lake Tawakoni on April 6.
Our site C25 was amazing! Full hook-ups and so much space on all sides! Loved the super-small, smooth pebbles that made up the entire extended patio area! So nice to eliminate ankle twisters, and would be perfect for the outdoor rugs.
When I posted our arrival on Facebook, Dave and Nancy P. Reached out to us. They were here, too! We met them a year or so ago at a Quartzsite gathering “rally” organized by YouTubers, Bob and Pearl “The Next Exit”, who we have enjoyed following for a few years.
The four of us enjoyed catching up for several hours. Time flew by! We are all excited for tomorrow’s eclipse!
We selected the Dallas area not only for the proximity to Arizona without much worry of late winter weather, but we thought it should have a greater likeliness of clear skies than other areas along the path of totality. Well, a couple of weeks out the weather forecast wasn’t looking favorable. Rain and clouds. NO! The forecast improved a bit within the last couple of days. It pushed the rain out to just after the eclipse, but then this morning the forecast went from “the sun icon with one cloud” to “sun with two clouds”, and then it went to total cloud cover. Seriously!?!?
Still filled with hope, Barry and I headed with our chairs out to the big open field here in the park even though it was solid cloud cover. Every once in a while we would see an opening that lasts maybe about 5 sec. The peaks allowed us to see the start of the eclipse!!
Man, are there some big bees here in Texas!
Even darker clouds rolled in…but…
There it is in the tiny opening in the middle of the picture below…zoom in. 🙂
I would not have been able to get these pictures if the skies had been clear. Glasses would have been required the entire time till totality.
We were very excited. I continued silently praying for God to help the clouds break apart – at least for the transition to total eclipse, and the 4 minutes of totality! Oh my goodness! We got it! Thank you, Lord! This was spectacular!! We were so thankful. This was 100% opposite of the updates from the weather apps!
Hardly any clouds… beautiful blue sky!
NO CLOUDS!!! Yes, we could feel it getting cooler. The cooling effect was even more apparent during the minutes of totality! There was joyful cheering from everyone who had gather on and around the perimeter of the giant field. Automatic security lights around the park turned on. This was such an amazing and unique experience that was also a bit eerie at the same time. 🙂
During totality we actually saw “the diamond ring”, and then “Baily’s Beads”. It was SO cool!! Unfortunately, these pictures from my phone didn’t capture what it really looked like with our glasses!! The glowing rim was really so much thinner!
Below are two pictures shared by NBC Dallas/Ft Worth of how it really looked. The little red spots are sun flares – also referred to as Baily’s Beads that shine through due to the craters around the perimeter of the moon.
Photo on the left by Kaleb Fulton, a Dallas-based photographer. (Permission to share given.)
Photo on the right: The diamond ring -by Greg Rice;
The Wedding Ring with some Bailey’s Beads
Eclipse photo from Colleyville, Tx
Nikon D90 f11. ISO 200. Shutter speed 2000 pushing green
Wow! The four minutes of totality went by so fast! It ended in what seemed like only about 40 seconds! LOL. We sat and watched as the moon continued its path across the sun. It was equally cool to experience how quickly just a tiny sliver of the sun popping out on the right immediately lit up earth! A bird and a few clouds appeared, but not enough clouds to allow me to get pictures with my phone as I did earlier. We sat and watch with our glasses on as the moon slowly revealed more and more of the sun.
Before the moon had completely passed by the sun, the thicker, darker clouds returned.
This meant I got a couple of pictures of this phase. 🙂
Barry put so much effort into setting up a time-lapse of the entire eclipse. He had a special eclipse glass piece over the lens and sealed it around the edges to ensure no light got in. Unfortunately, he forgot to set the time to “infinity”, so it automatically stopped recording after 10 minutes. That was certainly disappointing and frustrating, BUT we are extremely grateful that we experienced the total eclipse in person and have those photos stored in our brain. This was so worth coming to see!
What awesome pictures-glad you guys got to catch up with Nancy & Dave-can’t wait to see the rest of your adventures 😊