So, The Moon Shadow Approaches...and at last, Departs!

For more than a year now, the hype has been building toward the Total Solar Eclipse later this month. People are renting out their bedrooms and yards for what is supposed to be a multitude or so of solar enthusiasts, and who-knows-what-else, flooding into the swath of totality. There will also be a bunch of camera/instrument equipped balloons launched to monitor the eclipse.

Not wanting to be left out of all the hoopla, I've signed up for an 'Eclipse Float'.  During the midday darkness, I shall be adrift in my kayak in the Cache River over in Illinois.  The Cache (pronounced locally as: 'Cash') is basically a long swamp with only a slight current running down it's middle, that eventually splits in two north of Cairo to drain into both the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

The area of the float is in a cypress forest that could double as a Cajun swamp were it not for the absence of Spanish Moss, and is actually quite beautiful in it's own creepy/crawly way.

I've kayaked it several times in cool and warm seasons, but never at night when the big-eyed critters come out to play.  I'm told that we'll be in star-gazing darkness for over two minutes, so I'm hoping that the local Blue Ribbon-size water moccasins are slow to start their rounds.  Whack'n em with a plastic paddle only ticks them off...so I will be adequately equipped.

Miss Beth and I are once again involved, and she will be in her own kayak...this is actually her original idea...and is somewhat 'apprehensive' about the whole deal.  Between the two of us, including phones, we'll have a half-dozen cameras running, and I may try to 'nerd-out' a bit by taking a digital thermometer to monitor the temperature drop as the sun goes away.

In the mean-time, I need to research a filter for my expensive video camera, along with working out a method for not getting it dunked.  Of course, this could all be flushed by a simple layer of cloud cover, but the float will happen regardless.

If I survive this latest post-mid-life-crisis adventure, there SHOULD be some photos and video posted here of the event...with maybe a first-hand dissertation on  emergency room techniques for the treatment of snake bites...and/or self-inflicted gun-shot wounds...