I'm dying to go to Carbondale for the big eclipse on April 8. To me of all the towns in the totality, Carbondale is by far the best.

I read something the other day about being in the 99% percent range is just not comparable to being 100%, so Marion won't do, and neither will Galesburg (where I am now), though I may have to settle for Galesburg. What I'd really like to do is take a day, drive down there, and see a number of old friends, and experience the total darkness while I'm at it. But I'm not sure I'll be able to pull it off.

The best place in Carbondale by far is the Tree improvement lands out on Thunderstorm Road. I'm not sure if the university wants me saying this, but they have a few acres out there with a pond and an old Civil WAr graveyard, in short a good place to get away from it all, and it's generally not heavily guarded with security. We used to take our dogs out there and they'd run around, jump in the pond, etc., and we'd all come back much improved, though I'm not sure we did anything for the trees. it's just southern illinois as it was before all the people showed up and it's very nice.

A place like that would have a million stars, but mostly only on clear nights in the fall. Southern Illinois in April is more likely to be cloudy, and I say that mostly as a warning to those of you traveling from a long distance. It's even more likely to be cloudy than Iowa or Galesbug, and that's because the weather system draws all that moisture up from the gulf, whether there is a shadow crossing over us or not. Really San Antonio might be a better place to catch it without the clouds, and there you can go across town and witness the difference between 99% and 100% as it's a very large town. The Alamo is small but SA is quite large and the skies are usually clear, unlike Carbondale.

Maybe I can make some eclipse pop art. I miss all my friends down there though, and that's my real reason. I just want to go back and see the place. And then see the darkness.