Survival of Total Eclipse '17

So, we headed north on Saturday morning in A'Viking, and made it to our hotel in Hardeeville at about 7:30 pm. It wasn't a bad drive at all. The Tesla is smooth as silk!

Sunday, we decided to hit the flea market on the off chance we might find a little treasure to resell. It was hot, though--probably about 100 degrees, and we were all sweating buckets after about an hour or so. But we tried to go through as much as we could, and James found the awesome deal of the day. This is an antique paper scroll. We aren't sure where it was made, but it appears to have been hand-wrought. It is silver all the way through (not silver-plated). It has hand-carved beads for a kind of handle.

Mr. South Carolina had picked it up when he bid on a storage unit. I don't think he really knew what it was. James haggled him down from fifteen to twelve dollars or something like that. The next day, we went into an antique store after the eclipse and showed it to the proprietor, who recognized what it was, confirmed it was antique, and worth a lot more than $12. She said not to clean the tarnish off--the older it looks the better it'll sell, I guess.

I saw this vintage sign, too:

After the flea market, we headed to the beautiful and cozy little old quarter of Savannah. But now it was raining, so we ran into a restaurant to eat before heading to Encryption Escape on Franklin Square. We escaped from that escape room, but had so much fun we signed up for the next available game, which was about two hours from when we finished the first one. So we wandered through Savannah, looking in all the quaint little shops. Also, bought candy. Lots of candy.

This old blue eyed nag looked so sad to be out in the rain. I pet her for a few minutes before heeding Joe and James's calls to "come on." I didn't tell her I wished she could be running in some sun-soaked, grassy field of freedom, but I think she already knows. That's why she looked so sad.

Near Franklin Square, I wondered who this old footprint belonged to. Maybe a cartoon character.

And I couldn't resist putting on this hat in a gift shop and taking a quick selfie with James. I'm NOT a Trump supporter, and I already think America, even with President Chaotic Idiocy, (that's his name--look Trump up in the dictionary and that's what you'll read) is inherently great, and will only be greater when our current POTUS is gone.

We walked by this interesting old house:

Anyway, we escaped the second escape room, too. We're probably pros, by now.

The next morning, we woke up early and decided to head to Columbia for the eclipse, since Charleston was expected to be very overcast. The TV was telling us to head inland for the best view. So, we plotted out course according to the charging needs of the Tesla, and it told us we should stop at the Santee, SC, charging station.

So, we did, and discovered upon arrival there was a whole BATTALION of Tesla's there.

As Tesla's began arriving to charge, someone discovered that because we were on the leeward side of Lake Marion, our location would be prime for viewing the eclipse. Being so close to the lake would supposedly hold off the clouds that were forming all around us.

Joe sorta wanted to continue on, because of what the TV reporters had said, but James and I had a feeling we should stay at the Tesla Tailgate party that was continuing to build. The longer we stayed, the more the sky cleared.

This is the cloudiest we got at Santee:

And wow, are we glad we stayed! As the eclipse started, there wasn't a cloud around to mar the spectacle.

Here's James picking up a traffic cone and claiming it was a telescope:

Here's Apollo, a giant dog I fell in love with:

My pics and videos don't even come close to doing the eclipse justice. It looked just like the professional photographs --100% totality, where the moon edges her way across the sun's face until you see the "marriage"-- the "diamond ring," -- which signals you can take your glasses off. Then all you can see is a huge black disc surrounded by a coronal halo made from the stuff of science fiction dreams. It was amazing, phenomenal, and totally awe-inspiring.

This is how it looked to us:

And this is how it looked to the iPhone:

Here's how pre-totality looked to our iPhones (mine and Joe's):

Here's how pre-totality looked on the iPhone without the solar filter:

Here are a few YouTube videos of the event. At times, everything is upside down, because I laid flat on the grass and put the phone on my stomach to film, and when I picked the phone up, I suppose it was upside down. And some of the good stuff is right as I end the video. I guess I was too excited to pay much attention to the camera. Lol...

We are so glad we didn't continue to Columbia, because one of my friends from high school was there and he said all he saw was clouds.

Here we are with our fashionable sunglasses:

And apparently Judge Marilyn Milian from The People's Court was very near our location in Santee. I didn't find out til after the event, but man, was I bummed I didn't meet her. I've wanted to meet her for years. She reminds me of me sometimes. Here's the Twitter pic she posted:

After the eclipse was over, we went to the antique store I mentioned above. James and Joe waited patiently for me to go through tons of comics, many Golden Age. I may email the owner and see if we can make a deal on the ones I didn't buy right then. I did buy one that I could guarantee a large profit on, though.

This also caught my eye, and even though I wanted it very badly, I refrained from buying it.

And then Satan, who must've felt eclipse witnessers were entirely too happy with God's splendor, decided to get revenge with one of his best tricks--traffic.

So, we drove 100 miles at 0 mph. How long do you think it took us to get back to our hotel in Hardeeville? If you answered, "Forever," you're correct.