With barely an hour to go before the solar eclipse began its steady creep, tour buses, trucks, RVs and cars loaded with families and eclipse chasers crawled along the dusty track, through crops and cornfields towards Rosencrans Memorial Airport.
Billed as the largest organized viewing site in the country, 50,000 people are expected to make their way to this patch of asphalt on the outskirts of St Joseph, Missouri.
Neon signs along access roads warned anyone hoping for a last minute spot that the space is ‘SOLD OUT.’
A rare spectacle: A total solar eclipse will cross the United States for the first time since 1979 (NASA stock photo)
Eclipse chasers: Penka and Alexey Stoev have made the trip all the way from Bulgaria ready and waiting and hoping for good weather in the Heritage Park Softball park in St Josephs Missouri
St Joseph, Missouri is at the center of the path and will see one of the longest durations of totality – set to begin at 1:06pm CDT
At two minutes and 38.6 seconds of total eclipse, St Joe’s is just 1.4 seconds off the maximum duration possible along the path as the shadow of the moon crosses the sun and blots it out entirely.
The last time the U.S. saw a total eclipse was 38 years ago, but the last time the path of totality unfurled across the country like this was 1918.
Plum on the path of totality, in St Joseph’s the rolling shadow will start its move across the sun at 11.40am Central Time edging towards a totality at 1.07.38pm that will last until 1.08.57pm. And by 2.34.27pm it will all be over.
However, earlier this morning there was a distinct concern in this tract of Missouri that, as far as the predicted influx of eclipse chasers was concerned, it might never even begin in the first place.
While an estimated 30,000 people pitched their tents in Oregon’s Ochoco Forest where a Burning Man-style Eclipse party was in full swing and authorities pointed to gridlock roads and issued dire warnings of the worst traffic in history, St Joe’s held its breath.
NASA had predicted that between 1.8 and 7.4million will travel to or along the path of totality, a 65-mile-wide diagonal, which sounds like something on a map drawn up by L Ron Hubbard and stretches like a pageant winner’s sash between Oregon and down to the East in South Carolina.
Hundreds of cars with Eclipse chasers are seen arriving the Rosencrans Memorial airport near St Joseph, Missouri
Thousands made their way to Heritage Park to camp out for the once-in-a-lifetime event. But others are bracing themselves for the end of times
Eclipse souvenirs in St Josephs Missouri being sold at the souvenir stall run by Jennifer Burks
About 800 souvenir T-shirts, and hundreds of Christmas ornaments, buttons, coffee mugs, and koozies were made for spectators
But here in St Joe’s, forecasted storms and cloudy skies may have discouraged at least some from making the trip.
Crowd-controlling barricades had been erected, streets had been closed off, and signs along the I-29N – the main artery between Kansas City and St Joseph – flashed warnings of increased traffic glimpsed only fleetingly by the cars that flowed freely past.
Records show overcast skies on August 21 occurred just once since 1995. Now, forecasts suggested that 2017 would make it twice.
By early evening Sunday, the tent city expected to have sprung up on the outskirts of the Heritage Park Softball Complex, was at best a village with barely a third of the allotted plots actually boasting a tent.
Penka Stoev, 63, and Alexey Stoev, 65, were among the first to arrive. The couple had more reason than most to pray for the clouds to part.
Both are scientists at the Space Research and Technology Institute in Bulgaria. As fellow campers pulled drinks from coolers and handed out hot dogs, the Stoevs worried away at the telescope that had been broken on the flight from their native Bulgaria.
Penka explained: ‘We are here to make pictures of phenomena only visible in a total eclipse.’
They hope to measure the heat of the sun’s corona – estimated to be around 1million degrees.
Eclipse chasers Mary and Bill O’Donnel had driven the 180 miles from their home in Des Moines, Iowa, to camp out for the solar event
Mary and Bill O’Donnel’s trip was an altogether more lighthearted affair. The newly engaged couple had driven the 180 miles from their home in Des Moines, Iowa earlier that morning.
They had strung Christmas lights from truck to tent-top and finished off their festive homestead with two signs. One pointed to the ‘Alternative Universe,’ next to it a cardboard orange bubble bore an oddly cheerful, ‘Goodbye World!’
Bill, 64, and Mary, 58, freely admitted that friends and family – the couple have five kids between them – labeled their trip ‘dumb.’
But that didn’t deter the electrician and his surgical coordinator fiancée from claiming their $40 plot at the town’s Heritage Park Softball Complex, packing their truck with supplies and hitting the road.
He said: ‘This only happens once in a lifetime and we saw that St Joe’s was one of the bigger places to go to where there will be totality.
‘We got the T-shirts, we got the glasses…if it’s the right moment and the clouds open up it’ll be awesome.’
Nodding at the signs he added: ‘They’re just a joke. People used to think all types of crazy stuff was going to happen during a total eclipse.’
In the build up to totality, the atmosphere in St Joe’s itself was one of excited anticipation spliced with just a hint of end of days alarm.
The First Presbyterian Church on 7th St and Jules St posted the rather ominous quote: ‘The Sun Shall Be Turned into Darkness,’ from biblical scripture that describes the final days.
Solar Eclipse information listed on the city’s website which proudly bears the logo, ‘St Joseph, MO Right in the Middle of it All!’ read like a kind of jovial survival guide to the apocalypse.
Camping Eclipse chasers Sarah Belanus with son Sam 11 and Mae 6 (left with Deanna Nelson with daughters Eleanor 6 and Edie 4 picnicing and hoping for good weather in the Heritage Park Softball park in St Joseph, Missouri
Those driving were warned to ‘stock up on groceries, fuel and other incidentals.’ If using coolers ‘freeze larger blocks of ice now rather than counting on convenience store ice.’
With a Solar Eclipse art fair, campers, music planned and souvenir stalls it was as if Doomsday Preppers had been put in charge of Woodstock.
‘Charge batteries on everything,’ it continued, ‘from point and shoot cameras to flashlights to portable chargers. Get cash. Put a roll of toilet paper in your car.’
And in case your children went missing or fell prey to ‘stranger danger,’ visitors were advised to ‘take photographs of your children as they arrive to show current clothing and hairstyle.’
Listen closely enough and you could hear City Hall’s muffled screams of ‘Don’t Panic!’
High School Librarian Shelly Huette, 40, and her teacher husband Charlie, 41, were surprised by the preparation overload when they decided to make the 30-minute drive from their home in Kansas City a day ahead of time and camp out in St Joe’s.
They were worried by the prospect of ‘crazy traffic’ on the day and made a spur of the moment decision to spend a night under the stars in St Joe’s.
Stocking up for their trip on Saturday, Shelly found grocery store shelves empty of the most basic items.
‘You’d think it was the Super Bowl or that a snow storm was coming,’ she said.
The couple was lucky to get one of the last of the 127 plots in the Heritage Softball Complex, which has been filled with campers happy to stump up $40 for a plot and $6 for a hot shower – another $2 and they’ll throw in a towel.
Moms Deanna Nelson, 39, and friend Sarah Belanus, 41, who erected their tents nearby had made their eclipse experience a ‘girls’ trip’ while their husband’s enjoy a boys’ weekend.
Deanna, a fundraiser for a university in Kansas City was turned onto the eclipse by one of her donors. Looking at daughters Edie, 4, and Eleanor, 6, she admitted: ‘I don’t think they get it really. They’re more excited about the candy.’
Marketing Director Sarah supposed the same was true of her daughter Mae, 6, but son Sam, 11, was enthusiastically anticipating the event.
For their campsite neighbor maintenance technician Dean Reida, 53, coming to St Joe’s was a no-brainer. He said: ‘I’ve always been big into astronomy so when I started reading about this a year or so ago I started talking to my wife and kids about going.’
A cursory glance around Dean’s campsite revealed no wife and kids – he is father to six between the ages of 26 and 6.
He explained: ‘I looked into Nebraska but all the hotels were booked with the exception of two motel rooms in Kearney. One was $900 the other was $1200. So that’s when I came back to St Joe’s and camping.’
And that’s when his wife and kids decided to let him make the trip solo.
In stark contrast Ryan Ravenhorst planned his trip with family in tow.
The thirty-eight-year-old part-time scout master wife Gwen, 37, and their children Greta, nine, and Burkely, 14, made the five-and-a-half hour drive from their home in Minnesota on Saturday.
By Sunday afternoon, Greta and Burkely had already started filling in the section of their Eclipse Diaries – souvenir issues from the town’s Pony Express Museum – designated for ‘Friends I Made During the Eclipse.’
They came in convoy with friend Misty, 39, and her son Brandon, 17.
Ryan said: ‘We were going to be at 91 per cent or in the high 80s where we were, but for the sake of half a day’s drive we wanted to be in the line of totality.’
He added: ‘I’m being optimistic about the weather and if nothing else it all makes for good people watching.’
He had considered bringing the entire troop on their journey but balked when he heard the sheer volume of visitors expected to descend on this small Missouri town.
Storeowner Jennifer Burks, who owns Personally Yours in the local Mall and had set up a souvenir stall next to the city’s Civic Center Park, worried that some of the advance publicity had scared would-be eclipse chasers off.
She said: ‘We were worried Friday and Saturday. There was very little traffic. The Mall was a ghost town.’
Having had 800 souvenir T-shirts pre-made and hundreds of Christmas ornaments, buttons, coffee mugs, and koozies, Jennifer admitted: ‘I was nervous.’
But by Sunday noon her fears had abated somewhat. She said: ‘I think the publicity may have backfired a bit and scared people off but it’s been hopping today.
‘I’ve had customers from Barcelona, Canada and even Japan.’
Buoyed by the morning’s brisk business Jennifer said: ‘Even if it’s cloudy you’ll experience totality, midnight dark, no birds singing. It will be something you’ll never forget.’
As for her sales projections she joked: ‘My goal is to sell out – totality, that’s what I’m shooting for!’