I was very tired writing that - still am - must be old age, since I didn't actually do anything physical yesterday. . I don't like it.
But I should have said that all of the drivers on the way out were 100% courteous and polite. It was only after some of the herd animals found out from talking to others that there was a better way , did we see anyone trying to cut ahead, or double turn and so forth. And in every instance it was a Subaru. You should have seen the look on that driver's face when the guy in front of me served into the right hand lane to block him from forcing his way into (another) merge ahead ( those 10 car lengths are worth the strife, and irritation!) while I hung back and refused to make up the open ground in front of me so the blocker could get back in easily. But then the cheaters took to using the shoulder to get around the blocker, and since these were back roads. there was no oncoming traffic and some decided to just use the oncoming lane to "pass" - IN bumper to bumper traffic where no one could let them in even if they wanted to ( yeah, those 100 cars you passed? Totally worth your life, the life of someone else and an accident that blocks the road for hours!) . And its back roads so no cops. And yes. It was always God Damn Subaru or a SUV with a Liberal Bumper sticker. Every.Single. Time. It was an educational experience for the kids though... so they know the bitchin' I do about liberals isn't made up. And it went really pretty well for were I was even though Wyoming's population doubled for the day
https://collegian.com/2017/08/solar-eclipse-chasers-double-wyomings-population/Though really it was a great day with my family, singing along to songs as we drove ( We have a family playlist with everyone's songs; a mix of Anime themes, favorites from childhood ( Garden Song, Rainbow Connection), folk , classic 60's & 80s rock, modern country, and 80s rock and classical) and its always pleasing when the family sings along with one of the songs you picked...
We also had a good conversation about Intelligent design with the kids ( my son, like me , is very rational, and at the moment still rejects the concept. He is 15 and knows everything...)
My son was very excited by the sight, and I asked him how evolution could possibly have given him an emotional appreciation for a rarely occurring event as a survival advantage. Fear perhaps would be an instinctual reaction, but he admitted it wasn't fear he felt. It was elation because it was "cool" -- I said "sure. But what about it makes it "cool"? Why do you experience Awe when witnessing the basic, simple and fundamental workings of planetary clockwork? Isn't it, after all, just a shadow? Your mind completely comprehends this rationally, so why would you feel excitement or Awe when it happens? How is that an evolutionary advantage?
"Earth, you know, that planet where all of those laws of large numbers allowed the 21 interlocked evolutionary changes necessary for biological cells to work to occur simultaneously, where evolution created a sentient creature who instinctively feels joy at nature's beauty ? Its also the planet where its own moon ( the only inner planet to have one) happens to be the exact right size and distance to block out the sun's disc, but NOT its corona ( which appeared with a bluish tint to my eye, but my eyes aren't the best) . Isn't the wonder that you feel a result of seeing one of God's fingerprints on his handiwork?"
My son had to change tactic at that point and suggest that if God existed he could find better ways to communicate with his creation. I admitted that he could, but perhaps there is a reason he chooses not to? Maybe Religion requires faith BECAUSE if he were to be ever present on our daily lives the AWE you felt at the eclipse and the perspective it provides would influence your behavior? Perhaps full proof of his existence would motivate more people to obey him out of awe or fear and perhaps he doesn't want that? Perhaps he really only wants your obedience if you give to to him freely and wit love, and the only way to let you have that choice without Awe or Fear manipulating you is to leave his existence unproved and potentially in doubt? Perhaps there are things you can learn better or only if a parent isn't looking over your shoulder?
He got quiet then and we went back to singing songs.. I was the same as a kid, so there is still hope.
Today the sky is 100% overcast at the moment, and yesterday it was 100% clear - at least where I was. Perhaps not just my son needed to see that Eclipse. And perhaps my good day of driving and the relatively safe transit of millions of people wasn't a coincidence either.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/science/total-solar-eclipse-day.html?mcubz=0"The weather cooperated along much of the eclipse’s path, which included parts of 14 states. Scientists in Salem, Ore., who had gambled that skies would be clear, were not disappointed. They shouted and hugged each other as totality ended, knowing that their cameras and other instruments — many of them meant to gain a better understanding of the mysterious corona — captured the eclipse under ideal conditions."
neat progressive image in this one too
http://abcnews.go.com/US/total-solar-eclipse-2017-totality-phase-begins-us/story?id=49251339http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41010898( take a look at the progressive image.. cool)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-great-american-eclipse-is-finally-here/2017/08/20/5d243c32-8506-11e7-ab27-1a21a8e006ab_story.html?utm_term=.27b5445294e1My original plan was to just watch it from the house ( 97% total) My wife insisted we go into the millions of person exodus, and I am ever so glad she did. Seeing totality is a completely different experience. But perhaps my Wife newfound dedication to God and insistence on a prayer before we left was also responsible.