I was at Lake Hartwell on the Georgia/South Carolina border. The guy in the cabin next to the one we rented (who lives there full-time) chose to light his trash fire 15 minutes before totality. I am not making this up. The deck we were on, watching the crescent-shaped flashes of sunlight between the leaves, became enveloped in a noxious cloud of smoke as the guy burned his plastic bottles along with his empty beer cases.

We walked about 30 yards away and enjoyed totality in solitude. Despite knowing exactly what to expect, it took me by surprise. I was awed, teary-eyed, and found it a little disturbing. My wife, who is more in tune with the cosmos than I, said she found it very disturbing, like things were mixed up. I have read that some indigenous Americans say the same thing: that it's not really a benign event.

It was over way too soon. But the birds who had begun their morningsong kept it up for the usual 90 minutes or so, as if it were a real dawn.

We waited until the next day but still became stuck in the traffic Eclipsocalypse. Interstate 81 is only two lanes each direction so every fender-bender turned into a massive delay. It took us 15hrs instead of 8hrs to get to our destination.

We'll be under the next one.