CARBONDALE — By midmorning, the sun beat down on southern Illinois. Thin, sparse clouds provided little respite from the heat but offered hope for undisturbed viewing for the thousands gathered in southern Illinois to see the total solar eclipse.
Ashley King and William Faulkner, a couple from Atlanta, had been set up on a pair of folding chairs overlooking Crab Orchard Lake since early morning dew coated the grass.
As a thick fog dissipated in the warming air, bees buzzed from wildflower to wildflower on an expanse of grass near the shore, birds cawed and trilled and groups of American white pelicans spread their black wings in flight for their northward spring migration.
The area is one of seven eclipse viewing locations on the 43,000-acre Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge near Carbondale.
In a global rarity, southern Illinois will be in the path of totality, where the moon completely blocks the sun, for the second time in seven years. The contiguous United States won’t see another total eclipse until 2044.
King’s parents, George and Stephanie King, joined them with a picnic blanket, a popup canopy and their tiny 16-year-old dog, Bailey, a Shih Tzu and poodle crossbreed.
Faulkner set up a small telescope with a homemade filter to try to capture some images of the eclipse.
On Sunday night the young couple had driven to Louisville, Kentucky, where they’d be close enough to the path of totality to check the latest weather forecasts and decide the best viewing location Monday morning.
For the last week, Ashley King had been following cloud cover predictions at different places she had pinned on Google Maps along the path of totality.“I would’ve gone wherever because it’s like, we’re already getting this far,” she said.
In 2017, George and Stephanie King watched the total eclipse on a beach by the Chattooga River between Georgia and South Carolina.
Despite cloudy forecasts, they got lucky when the sky cleared as the moon completely covered the sun and enveloped them in darkness. “We didn’t know, really, what to expect. But we went because it was close to home so it wasn’t that big of a deal to go,” George King said. “And we just thought it was one of the neatest things we’d ever seen.”
Related Articles
Eclipse chasers head to southern Illinois for 2nd total solar eclipse in 7 years: ‘You get hooked’
Solar eclipse: Glasses are key, but did you know clothing choice could enhance viewing?
During next month’s solar eclipse, these scientists won’t be looking up
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Solar eclipses and how Chicagoans viewed them
George King remembered the fascinating and eerie sight of shadow bands being cast on the sand — thin dark ripples waving over the ground. His wife said insects started chirping as soon as the sky went dark, but they went silent again when the sun peeked out from behind the sun.
Ashley King and Faulkner had gone elsewhere in 2017 and missed totality when a cloud blocked the view at the last minute. So this time, they made a game-time decision to join King’s parents in hopes their luck improves their viewing odds.
“In dad we trust,” Ashley King laughed. “Because, I gotta say, last time was pretty rough.”
About an hour before totality, as the sun approached its highest point in the sky, the open area at the wildlife refuge got busier. People set up chairs and blankets, cameras and telescopes, and others got on boats to find a spot on the water.
A little boy tentatively dipped his toes in the lake. A group sailed away blasting “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” by KISS. All signs pointed to a picturesque day by the lake.
