The grocery store was very crowded. A lot of people buying picnic supplies, like a holiday.

Dang, it's hot!

We could be 10,00o feet above sea level in Wyoming. It's only 60 degrees there.

There are people from NASA in the Smoky Mountains doing eclipse tests.

Eclipse underway here in Blount Co.

Sun is halfway covered.

Wow!

Even heavier traffic on Alcoa Hwy, eclipse viewers returning home. The traffic is barely moving.

I work on the square and we had a good view of it. So we didn't get full totality, but we got some lovely shadows from the trees and some cicadas and crickets. There were a fair number of people and lots of kids, and everyone seemed to have eye protection. It was a really fun moment to have vaguely shared with everyone there.

A friend brought over a welding helmet, which apparently offers acceptable eye protection for viewing the eclipse (learn something every day...). Another had a pair of those cheap paper glasses NASA produces, these purchased by Oak Ridge City Schools and passed on to us. We just shared eye protection and had an interesting and entertaining time all around.

My teacher-daughter was bummed, though, that I had phoned her Sunday night and put a crimp in her plans to view from Sweetwater. As you may have read in Sunday's KNS, the City of Sweetwater advised on Sunday that if you hadn't already purchased your $50 parking pass, they didn't want you to show up because you would not find anywhere to park. They're a town of 6,000 and had already sold 60,000 parking passes.

Anyway, being closer to home was fun, too. Great pix, Randy!

During the totality, we could see the shadow of the sun's corona moving in waves across the pavement in our parking lot, like ripples on a pond. It was an astonishing sight.

A reader sends this video of the "shadow snake" effect taken in Maryville yesterday...

Nikon D2H, Nikon f4/300mm (figure in +150mm for cropped DX sensor), 1A filter, Gitzo tripod, RRS BH55 head. Location just east of Lake Barkley near Cadiz KY.

Bracket 9 shots (+4/native/-4 in 0.7EV steps) at f4, f8, f16, f22.

Best thing about the D2H -> 8FPS with a 25 frame buffer. And even with max resolution at 4MP, how much res do you need to capture a monochromatic event?

Decent results, too:

Lee Hawn and I just headed down 411 Monday morning and ended up at Kefauver Park in Madisonville. They had a good crowd of folks helping us park for free in a field adjacent and it was a great location with a small lake and walking path. WVLT was broadcasting from the vending area and they had city or county commisioners handing out free Moon Pies. They estimated 2000 cars parked. Return traffic was a nightmare we broke it up by doing some shopping at Benton's.

What a spectacle! I'm thinking about 2024 now.