Brothers Maurice Parrish of Los Angeles, Patrick Parrish of Lexington, Kentucky, Robert Parrish of Hodgenville, Kentucky, and Eric Parrish of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, were among those who made the journey to Bloomington to experience the eclipse Monday in totality.
It was a trip I too made, not fully knowing what to expect. I had the opportunity to experience totality as a grade school student in Illinois in 1979, but the memory of the pinhole camera and standing with my classmates in the parking lot is all that remains
Wanting a chance to experience totality in the U.S. personally — at least once as an adult — brought me on the journey as well.
The Parrish brothers told me they made a similar trek in 2017, gathering in Kentucky to experience the phenomenon. The experience bonded them, and they knew it was worth getting together again for a repeat performance.
“These are not hard to get to,” Patrick Parrish said.
They stood in the shade of a tree on the lawn of Indiana University’s Memorial Stadium, watching the moon slowly cross in front the sun.
They joked with one another as they snapped photos with their smartphone cameras through their protective glasses and camera lenses.
When the brothers made plans to view totality, they were concerned cloudy skies would derail their viewing plans.
“We were worried,” Maurice Parrish said, as the weather looked better in Kentucky and they did not what to expect.
Still, they were glad to make the trip and spend time together as brothers.
“I’m really glad we did,” Robert Parrish said.
Kirk and Marietta Gruesbeck of Sellerburg in Southern Indiana returned to their alma mater Indiana University at Bloomington — the place they first met 52 years ago — to watch the eclipse.
Like the Parrish brothers, they too traveled to see totality in 2017, where they ended up in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
“We were very impressed. It was lovely,” Marietta Gruesbeck said.
They figure this will be their last chance to see totality until they choose to travel out of the country, as the next eclipse scheduled to be visible in parts of the U.S. won’t be until 2044.
They set up lawn chairs outside Memorial Stadium to tailgate for the event. They drove up early Monday morning and had a hotel room downtown so they could spend the night and leave Tuesday. The couple said they did not want a repeat of being stuck in traffic like they encountered on their last eclipse trip.
Their strategy worked, at least for the trip into Bloomington. The pair said they encountered no traffic on their way into Bloomington.
The couple were a little disappointed the lawn was not filled with people like the park they were at in 2017. Most of those who did attend the event IU paid the ticket price to enter the stadium for a performance by Janelle Monáe and an appearance by William Shatner.
“When we were in Hopkinsville, people were every place,” she said,
The Gruesbecks said they were a little excited that totality would be longer this year than in 2017, where it lasted for about 2 minutes and 40 seconds from their viewing spot in Kentucky. On Monday, totality lasted just over 4 minutes in Bloomington.
“This is a lot better,” he said.
IU was expecting as many as 300,000 people to flood the city to view the spectacle, but attendance was considerably lower. Parking lots were nowhere near capacity. Surrounding businesses and churches that hoped to reap the benefits of an influx of people selling food, glasses and parking spaces saw their lots empty and far fewer people walk by their wares.
As the moon tracked in front of the sun, people watched, chatted and moved about the grounds. Music from the stadium and the cheer of the crowd punctuated the afternoon. Shortly before totality, most people were firmly in place looking at the sun. A countdown to totality from within the stadium echoed with the roar of cheers when the moon fully covered the sun.
Automatic lights popped on in parking lots as the sky darkened.
The darkness was like a moonlit night an hour or two after sunset.
Just minutes after the sun dimmed, the countdown resumed within the stadium and cheers mounted as the moon’s shadow began to move away from the sun.
It was eerie and exciting.
The Gruesbecks and Parrish brothers were right — it was worth the effort to get to the path of totality, stand outside and look up.
Carrie Napoleon is a staff writer for the Post-Tribune.
