First of all… a HUGE thank you to everyone who left a comment on Chris’ 18th Nomadiversary / April Fools Day post.
This post generated more comments than any other in ages, and it absolutely warms our hearts that so many are still following along after all these years.
The post asked everyone to vote on the fate of Technomadia – weighing in on whether or not we should abandon the blog and YouTube channel to focus only on TikTok.
As promised, we have shared the results on TikTok:
@technomadiaDelete the Technomadia blog and YouTube channel, and focus only on TikTok?!? The vote results are in!? original sound – Technomadia
And OF COURSE, we’re NOT actually moving to TikTok from the blog, YouTube or Facebook. It was an April Fool’s post after all.
But we will always do what inspires our hearts, and sharing has been a huge part of our journey – that’s not ending anytime soon.
And TikTok.. OMG, it’s ridiculous.
But we are not going to delete the Technomadia TikTok channel, and we might try posting some short clips from time to time there.
But making TikTok our focus? No way!
Now For The Road Trip…
So anyway, soon after that post we hit the road west to chase the Eclipse.
After only having a partial eclipse in 2017, and a cloudy annular eclipse last fall in Oregon – we were bound and determined to see just what everyone was referring to by saying that it’s Totality or Bust when it comes to these things.
We had signed up to meet up with friends in Paris, TX for the Xscapers Eclipse event, which was our destination.
But that’s not quite where we ended up.
Here’s our video version of this tale, which we filmed on the drive back:
Stop 1: DeFuniak Springs, FL – Amour Coastal
For our first night out, we booked a Harvest Hosts stay not too far off I-10 in DeFuniak Springs. As the day was our 7th legal marriage anniversary, we wanted something a bit special to mark the occasion – and Amour Coastal winery totally delivered.
We were greeted by the winemaker himself, who gave us an awesome spot to park – and then invited us to join in on his 5pm tasting in a few moments.
Bill has decades of experience in the wine industry, and is absolutely passionate about his art form. And he has just moved his winery from Oregon to Florida, working with local universities to figure out how to grow grapes here. He has big visions for the property.
All of the wines we sampled were elegant and unique, served up with paired delectables. We adopted a couple bottles to enjoy later.
And he seemed genuinely excited to geek out on the wine making process and share his knowledge.
What a wonderful evening, wrapped up with a quick hike along the nearby Florida Trail.
Stop 2: Vicksburg, MS – Cracker Barrel
We didn’t plan a stop for our second night, as we wanted to see how many miles we could make and get in some adventures along the way.
We stopped in Hattiesburg, MS for an awesome Thai lunch followed by a bike ride (on our new bikes!) along the Longleaf Trace trail.
It was absolutely stunning, super shaded and a great break from all of the van miles. It is easy to see why this trail is featured in the Rails to Trail Hall of Fame!
After the ride, we started looking around for options ahead that might be reasonable and selected a Cracker Barrel in Vicksburg, MS.
Several RVs were already setup in the rather unlevel lot, so we picked a spot and grabbed some dinner to support our host for the evening.
In the morning, we checked the weather ahead in Texas and things weren’t looking good – a storm system had much of Texas in iffy conditions for clear skies on Monday for the eclipse.
Not wanting to chance it, we made the tough call to instead to follow the river north to the next closest option with better odds – Missouri or Illinois.
But before we shifted our route, we discovered that the Vicksburg National Military Park was just across the way – so with our National Park pass, we decided to give it a whirl.
It’s a lovely drive through the battlefields with lots of memorials, and a very impressive display of a restored ironclad boat, the USS Cairo, to explore.
Stop 3: Helena, AR – Delta Dirt Distillery
Next up, was another Harvest Hosts stay – this time the nation’s only black owned farm-to-bottle distillery in Helena, AR.
We knew nothing of this delta town when we pulled in, but we were immediately charmed by the quaint run down buildings.
We were in early enough to hit the Delta Heritage Trail for a bike ride followed by a run. The trailhead’s gift shop also had eclipse glasses for sale, so we picked up two pair as we wouldn’t be getting the ones included with our Xscapers event.
After a shower in the van to remove our workout sweat, we drove into downtown Helena and walked into Delta Dirt. We were warmly greeted by the distiller himself and ordered up some cocktails he expertly whipped up. We also purchased a bottle of his super smooth and tasty vodka made with sweet potatoes – it was amazing!
After a long driving day, biking & running and our nightcap – we slept soundly. In the morning we did a walking tour of the town, learning about how Helena played such a huge role in the birth of the Blues, and we encountered several friendly locals.
We enjoyed our time in Helena, and look forward to returning one day to see how the town revitalizes.
Stop 4: Cape Girardeau, MO – Trail of Tears State Park
We targeted Cape Girardeau, MO as our next stop to await weather updates for the big day.
It was in the path of totality, had events going on, an estimated 4 minutes and 5 seconds of darkness, and fairly clear weather predictions.
Once we had picked our target, I was able to quickly book a campsite at Trail of Tears State Park for Saturday evening.
Sunday evening was of course already booked up just about anywhere in the path of totality, but we needed a dump station to refresh our tanks.
We enjoyed the park, and the hiking trails for a morning run.
The location was a good spot to plan where we wanted to head the next day. Ominous clouds had us on edge, even though they were forecast to dissipate.
Stop 5: Cape Girardeau, MO – Century Casino
It was too soon to make any final moves for weather at check-out time – so we decided to spend the day in Cape (as the locals call it, so I will too so I don’t have to keep typing Girardeau).
It’s such a cute little town along the Mississippi with shops, breweries and dining.
As the area was also in the 2017 path of totality, the locals were all geared up to handle the anticipated influx of eclipse chasers like us. Everyone was so super welcoming and excited.
By sunset, weather forecasts were looking good and Cape seemed just as good as any other spot within an hour or so drive. Follower and meteorologist Dave Titley of RVWeather was also feeding us his best predictions and concurred with our plan.
So we decided to stay the night.
Cracker Barrel was our default option, but when we drove by it was absolutely packed with RVs. That would have been fine, but we decided to check out Century Casino right downtown to see if any RVs had congregated there.
We found a group of several vans in an area of the lot and pulled in – and when we asked at the front desk, they warmly welcomed us to stay the night.
We enjoyed their piano bar and a night cap before turning in.
ECLIPSE DAY!
It’s like waking up on Christmas morning… the day we had been waiting for after driving over 1,200 miles and ditching our friends and event in Texas (which was still having very iffy forecasts).
We awoke to heavy fog conditions that somewhat deflated our excitement, but forecasts were still looking quite hopeful for later in the day once the fog burned off. We knew we didn’t have much time left to make our final call to move before traffic would be insane.
We opted to stick around Cape, and moved the van back downtown along the waterfront – snagging one of the last parking spots, but in a perfect location near the town’s block party.
We strolled around awaiting the start of the celestial show, and grabbed a delicious gluten free crepe at a food truck appropriately named ‘Crepe Girardeau’.
As soon as the eclipse started, we headed back to the van to settle in for the next few hours.
We setup a little spot on the grass in front of us, joining many others.
We watched the moon slowly move across the sun through our glasses, with brilliant clear skies (hooray!). We also paid attention to the shadows – any light passing through a pinhole would beam out as a crescent shape – making for fascinating patterns on the ground.
Excitement was building.
We had seen a partial solar eclipse before, and knew just how cool this part of the experience could be.
But even with having heard tales from so many in 2017 who experienced totality – nothing really prepared us for what totality would actually be like.
The moment the moon totally overtakes the sun, everything changes in an instant.
You take off your glasses, the sky turns an eerie dark blue, planets appear in the mid-day sky, street lights turn on, and sunset colors illuminate the horizon for 360 degrees around you.
It’s a lot to take in.
And when you look up… wow!
The sun has been replaced with a blackhole in the sky. Orange fire has been replaced with a ring of scintillating white light.
You can even see solar flares with your naked eye!
It is a sight that feeble iPhone photos just can’t do justice to.
We took a few, but quickly gave up trying to photograph the event. Instead, we just immersed ourselves in every second we could.
Our experience in totality was the fastest 4 minutes and 5 seconds of our life, and it will enchant us forever.
It is true – the difference between 99.9% eclipse coverage and 100% totality is approximately one million times more amazing.
After those absolutely breathtaking four minutes of totality, we sat in the afterglow with our eclipse glasses back on and watched the moon move past for another hour or so as the sky got brighter and brighter.
Once the sun was back to normal, we aimlessly wandered around Cape with others just as stunned as we were.
We hit a local brewery to wait out traffic jams, and connected with other eclipse chasers as we dreamed of heading to Iceland or Spain for the next land accessible totality in 2026.
Wow. Just wow.
BTW – if we had stuck to our original plan and had gone to Texas, it actually would have worked out too. We got live reports from friends in Paris, TX that the clouds cleared just minutes before the time of totality.
We’re thrilled our Xscapers community got to experience it too!
Stop 6: Cairo, IL – Fort Defiance State Park
After letting traffic dissipate, we decided to at least get some miles in towards the long drive back to Florida. After all, the storm system coming up from Texas was moving right into our route back to Y-Not.
We picked a free boondocking location at Fort Defiance State Park in Cairo, IL – right at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. A location we’ll one day pass in Y-Not along our Great Loop.
Cairo is quite run down, but the park was pleasant and felt safe. Especially as we were there with several other eclipse chasers who had experienced totality here earlier in the day.
We made up some dinner and watched tug boats assemble barges along the banks.
Stop 7: McDonough, GA – Cracker Barrel
While we had planned a slower roll back to Florida with some biking adventures along the way – that just wasn’t in the cards with this weather system approaching.
We either needed to make a lot of miles quickly or hold back.
After such an amazing experience with the eclipse, the rainy weather the first day driving back was soothing to help bring us down from our high.
We made it just south of Atlanta to a Cracker Barrel for an overnight, pulling in just before midnight.
We were up early the next day and made it back to Sanford in time for a run and sunset.
What’s Next
Now that we’re back in Sanford and aboard Y-Not – we have a lot to do to get ready to restart our Great Loop adventure in less than 2 weeks!
There’s getting Blooper ready for long term storage, spending time with local friends & family who we won’t see for a while, and buttoning up some boat projects.
We’re super excited for this next chapter, and feeling all the feels of our upcoming ripping off the velcro from our beloved Sanford.
We’ll be back soon as we say our farewells and cast off the lines.
Related
