Texas Eclipse Adventure
April 8, 2024

Our trip to Texas to view the eclipse took 7 days in our motorhome. We visited Karen's cousin, camped on BLM land, and explored Sonora Caverns,  and generally had a pleasant trip as we worked our way to Fishers of Men Ranch just outside of Marble Falls, TX, to experience the eclipse.

Fishers of Men Ranch offered full hookups for our RV, was close to the center line of the eclipse, and that area of Texas had the best chances of good viewing weather April 8th. We were concerned by predictions of cloud cover and precipitation when we left Camarillo on April 1st, and as we continued our journey, the predictions kept getting worse, but we continued with the plan in faith. So much for statistics.

Lisa, a long-time friend, joined us on the 7th and introduced us to Texas BBQ, a marvelous treat. She spent the night so she could experience the whole event the next day.

On Eclipse morning, David cooked bacon and Eclipse Pancakes to kick off the day.

After breakfast David began programming two laptops to control two cameras and set them up on solar tracking systems to automatically photograph the eclipse.

As the clouds were getting thicker, David set up the television on the side of our RV to play a Planetarium simulation program of the eclipse just in case the eclipse was eclipsed by clouds.  The eclipse was set to start at 12:17 PM CST and the two layers of clouds were not cooperating; one high thin layer of stratus and one low layer of cumulus each with holes  needed to align in order to get a view of the eclipse. Too much drama!

With all the equipment set-up, we were ready for the eclipse to begin, but the clouds were beginning to change the whole purpose of the trip.

But desperate times make for desperate measures.

As noon approached David started the automated cameras and we crossed our fingers. Here are the highlights. Start with the video.

First Diamond Ring

Coronal Mass Ejection

Prominences visible just after first diamond ring.

Prominences just before the second Diamond Ring.


Composite image of all prominences.

If you haven't already seen the movie, click here for a larger version. Video of the total eclipse

After the eclipse, Lisa drove back to Austin, and we put all the equipment away to prepare for departure the next day.

Departure morning was interrupted by phone alerts warning of possible tornadoes in our area, heavy rain, and winds with the directive to "seek shelter immediately especially if you were in a a mobile home or motorhome". Uh, where? We're not in California any more Toto.

We were in the tornado warning box under the red dot. Fortunately, the tornado did not materialize and the weather forecast of storms on the day of the eclipse were delayed by about 18 hours.

The return to California was highlighted by a visit to Kartchner Caverns, Karen's cousin, and Biosphere 2 all in Arizona.

Driving in windy conditions is hard work, and we set a limit of 300 miles a day with lots of stops.

Final thoughts: We are always moved by the beauty and rarity of an Eclipse. It is fortunate that God saw fit to make the moon 400 times smaller that the sun and that the sun is 400 times further from the earth making them appear roughly equal in sized. Due to differences in the orbits of the earth and moon, some times the moon's apparent size is larger than that of the sun leading to a total solar eclipse roughly every 18 months when the shadow of the moon is cast somewhere on the earth. Other solar eclipses where the apparent size of the moon is moon is smaller than that of the sun produces an annular eclipse, where there is a ring of fire. It is difficult to describe the experience of a partial solar eclipse as compared to a total solar eclipse to someone who has never experienced a total solar eclipse. Here is my attempt to describe the difference between different types of solar eclipses.