I live in a town that will experience 100% Totality. We will see it for 2 minutes and 39 seconds. We have a population of 1800, but we have been told that some 20,000 folks will descend upon our little town way out in the Smokey Mountains of western North Carolina!!! We had to rent 100 Porta-potties to ensure health and safety for ourselves and our guests today. We only have one motel, 5 or so restaurants and 3 gas stations. We set up camping areas for as many campers as we could. Farmers have had to cordon off their fields, and parking spaces are being rented for $20 each all over town.
There is a street fair with vendors all along our main street. Some have put up their tents on side streets too.
I will be volunteering at my church all day, in the morning being a hostess for a showing of a movie entitled "The Privileged Planet." Then I will be seeing the BIG EVENT IN THE SKY! I have my camp chair, beverages, the protective glasses (of course!) and some snacks, so it will be even better than watching a movie. I just pray for good viewing weather. I will report back later as to what I have seen.
Saturday and Sunday nights we had a lecture at our church from the local college professor of Astronomy about light pollution and how it will affect eclipse viewing. He suggested getting as far away from street lamps and buildings that emit light, so as to be able to see the event with the best viewing qualities. What you want to see, at totality, is not only the moon eclipsing the sun, but if you have good viewing conditions, you should also be able to see all the stars as well! COOL!!!
I have a pocket watch with a second hand on it, because it is only safe to look at it for about 2 minutes during the time of totality here. Other areas may have different times, depending upon your location. Be careful!!! I need to be able to time that for myself. I also have 2 flashlights, so that I can see the watch! If I look at it for any longer than the 2 minutes, I can be blinded, I have been told by an RN and others. So I am going to be very careful.
None the less, I am so excited!
Our church is serving 2 meals today also. We are trying to help the local restaurants to deal with all these people that are expected. I will be at church all day, in the parking lot with my camp chair during the eclipse, and for the rest of the time, just doing whatever is needed.
Then, at 6PM I will be leading our 12 Step Meeting too. So I have a FULL day ahead of me. But I am so excited!!!
