2017 TSE - Klondike Park, St Charles County MO

The build up for the 2017 eclipse was several years in the making.  As totality was coming through our town, our school district(s), and our club membership area, we had to prepare not only ourselves but the local police, county parks, city parks, businesses, etc.  We loaded up on eclipse glasses, and helped schools and others buy their own at our discount rate.   Initial reactions were often of the "you've got to be kidding!" variety.  Much disbelief and resistance, even by some respected school superintendents.  (Note:  many lessons were learned in 2017 and utilized in 2024)

About 2-3 months prior to the 2017 Eclipse, I was starting to 'sweat it' over the large inventory of eclipse glasses that I had stockpiled for our astronomy club.  I put out the word, and I got orders that I delivered as far as Florissant and Hillsboro!  Many local deliveries to Wentzville, LSL, and O'Fallon.  I even dropped in at Charlie's Farm & Home, gave them 100 for free and told them to charge $2 for them, and to call me when they wanted more (that they would buy from me at $1 each).  I got a call back in 4 days.  Salesmanship!   Then, with about 3 weeks to go, it was announced that many fake eclipse glasses were out there, and Amazon had a recall.  At that point, when folks called or emailed an order, I had them come to my house!   I sold the entire stock about a week prior and our astronomy club made out very well. 

As this eclipse was somewhat short, and as the prevailing knowledge was to "Simply VIEW your first eclipse, and don't fiddle with a camera", I took that advice to heart and did not attempt any organized or skilled effort to image it.   So it all is saved as a memory.

It was to be an EXTREMELY hot August day.  Many folks who had placed reservations to observe at one of the county parks were allowed to pick up their eclipse glasses ahead of time, and simply stayed home close to AC and their refrigerators!

My early AM drive to Klondike took just 25 minutes, only 5 minutes more than normal.  I had agreed to man the main visitor center, which apparently was by invitation only to influential people (They were a bit 'stiff', and I did regret missing out on hearing the whoops and hollering at Totality that could be heard in the distance at the nearby "beach").   Most folks had a passing look through one or both of my scopes, but typically seemed fine with just eclipse glasses and quickly retreating into the building for the AC.  I sweated it out.  When totality came, I took advantage of the 80mm and fipped off the filter for some views.  And what a great view it was!  The delta shaped corona was marvelous.  Tiny red prominences were seen at the edge.  I was dumbstruck that I could view the corona by simply looking through a small cheap telescope - and NO FILTER AT ALL !   After an unknown time I paused and a young man standing next to me wanted to see, so I let him.  As he gazed, I became aware of the loss of time and checked the time - and let's just say he got a lot shorter view through the telescope than I did.  The diamond ring appeared shortly thereafter.   The crowd petered away slowly as the Sun returned.

By the time I packed up, the retreating partial phase was almost over.  I was drenched in sweat, and my wife Kathy was past ready to leave.   The way home was soon blocked by traffic, and our return home took about an hour and a half.  This experience laid the groundwork for NOT doing a public show location in 2024.  The time in totality is SO very short and precious!