When I heard that the Great American Solar Eclipse 2017 was on target to go over Nashville, TN, I knew it was fate that I must make the trip to see this once-in-a-lifetime experience in Music City. I booked my flight, hotel, and car rental several weeks ago, and flew up from South Florida yesterday.
Once I got settled into my hotel, I ventured out for dinner and then to WalMart to stock up on water, snacks, and suntan lotion for the big day. I have never seen a WalMart so busy with such long lines, other than maybe right before a hurricane or on Black Friday.
I woke up this morning still not sure where I was going to actually watch it from, but after doing some research, I determined that driving up to Hendersonville, TN (about 30 minutes north of my hotel in SE Nashville) would be the best plan since the totality there would last 2 minutes and 35 seconds, around 30 seconds longer than what downtown Nashville would experience.
I drove up to Hendersonville early in case of traffic issues. I did not experience any kind of traffic on the way up, and in fact from what I’ve heard, traffic was lighter than usual in Nashville. I guess a lot of folks took the day off of work. I did hear traffic reports on the radio that people coming into the path of totality were hitting heavy traffic about 20 miles north and 20 miles south of downtown.
Upon exiting the highway, I searched out a place to grab breakfast and ended up at the Red Rooster Cafe. While enjoying my meal there, I was scrolling through Facebook on my phone when I discovered a video from the Country Music Hall of Fame that pointed out that Johnny Cash‘s song “Ring of Fire” runs 2 minutes and 35 seconds long, the same amount of time the “Ring of Fire” of the eclipse would hover over his old property in Hendersonville on Old Hickory Lake (as seen in the movie “Walk the Line”).
Sadly, the house that Johnny and June Carter Cash called home for 35 years burned down 10 years ago, but the property and some remnants are still there. Once again, fate slapped me in the face as I realized I was IN Hendersonville, so I did a quick Google search to find the address. After I tipped my friendly waitress (and gave her a spare pare of solar glasses I had), I drove the 10 minutes to the Cash property and parked in front of the stone wall and gate.
There was a car of German tourists there to take pictures of the property, but then they drove off. Over the next hour and a half, I waited there mostly by myself for the solar eclipse to start. A few other cars of tourists stopped by to take photos of the property, but they too moved on without realizing the significance of watching the eclipse from this precise location.
photo by Mike Carroll
Finally, the eclipse started right before noon local time. Using solar glasses, I checked the status of the moon’s progress across the face of the sun in small spurts, choosing to spend some of that time in the comforts of my cooled off rental car. Despite part of the sun being obscured, the first hour and fifteen minutes of the eclipse you wouldn’t notice a difference in the brightness of the day without looking at the sun through the special glasses. I then used the glasses to cover the lens of my digital camera to safely get photos of the eclipse as it progressed.
photo by Mike Carroll
As totality was approaching, a gentleman from Michigan pulled in to see Johnny Cash‘s house. He was a HUGE Johnny Cash fan and instead of going back to the other side of the lake to watch the eclipse with his family, he chose to stay and watch it from this historic location (good luck with the wife buddy!). Two more guys pulled up just as the totality was about to kick in, bringing the grand total of people lucky enough to see the total eclipse from Johnny Cash‘s property to four. Quite an exclusive club to be a part of!
photo by Mike Carroll
By this point, the brightness of the sky was dimming slightly. The best way to describe it was that it was like looking down at the ground with sunglasses on, but you weren’t actually wearing them.
photo by Mike Carroll
We then noticed that the light coming through the hickory tree leaves above, which were working like a pin box camera, were casting a crescent area of light among the shadows on the pavement. At this point, it was becoming less and less bright out, and cicadas and birds started chirping as if it were sunset.
photo by Mike Carroll
Then, it happened. The much-talked about “diamond ring” effect, which only lasted a couple of seconds before the moon blocked out the entire sun. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of this and words can’t do it any justice, but it was something I’ll never forget. At this point it was safe to take the glasses off, and boy what a sight it was. These photos don’t do it justice.
The sky was a post-sunset, twilight-like deep royal blue color, the horizon had the orange glow of sunset, and Venus was visible a few degrees away in thy sky. The lake, which minutes earlier was bustling with activity as boats and jet skis were motoring back and forth, was suddenly eerily quiet. The watch party up the road was full of “oohs and aahs,” someone was shooting off fireworks, and the electric-white prominences were radiating from behind the moon. Everyone was staring up at the sun in awe and amazement of what we were witnessing.
photo by Mike Carroll
My only complaint was that it didn’t last long enough. Just as quickly as it got dark, the diamond-ring effect kicked in on the other side as the first rays of the sun started peeking through the mountains and valleys of the moon. Once again the solar glasses had to go on and the peak of it was over. The birds and cicadas quieted down, a turkey ran across the road down the hill, and the magnitude of what I had just witnessed started to kick in. I excused myself from my new friends to review the video I shakily shot with my phone, and had chills across my body as I relived the experience.
I finally said my goodbyes and drove off. I stopped at WalMart to get a soda, and on my way in shared a moment with a pleasant woman who was looking at the second half of the eclipse with her solar glasses to talk about our experience during totality. I then ran into the (now eerily empty) store, then headed back to my hotel. Traffic back into town was pretty heavy, as the return drive nearly doubled the time it took me to get to my destination.
2024 can’t get here quick enough, as that is when the next total solar eclipse will pass over the United States. If you’ve never experienced a total solar eclipse, it is something you must do in your lifetime. As Tim Robbins’ character Andy Dufresne famously said in Shawshank Redemption, “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.” I know what I choose. Do you?