Patience and perseverance, in the helplessness of cloud cover.
The Great American Eclipse of 2024 may have been the most out-of-our-control of all. We had the whole eclipse path across the United States to choose from, and with the cloud statistics, Texas looked good — heading north towards Buffalo only got cloudier. So we went to San Antonio, hunted for a base, and settled on Kerrville, scouting a site up in the hills where a little cafe was getting ready specially for the eclipse. Perfect.
Then Mother Nature laid on her own special weather: strong winds, big billowing clouds, heavy rain in places. We were spared the rain but got the wind and the clouds. Totality seemed beyond our grasp — teased by glimpses of bright sun between first and second contact, then, as totality came, the clouds raced in and gave us a peek-a-boo totality. We saw it, and so did everyone on that hillside cafe — though not everyone in Kerrville did. Buffalo, of all places, got a perfect view: people who weren’t even looking for it got the biggest treat.
In the end, all eclipse chasers are united in what they hope to see. And when they get it, everyone is singularly awed — standing on this planet, in the shadow of our moon, while the whole thing orbits the sun. That is the chase.