The Great American Eclipse Part Two
I like that we haven't 'progressed' past appreciating the natural wonders of our universe.
The Little Green Men Days in Kelly was a cool experience. It was sort of typical in that they had a bounce house for kids, a hay and train ride, vendors, a stage with bands playing and camping available. It was sort of atypical in the merchandise for sale, the giant UFO in the middle of the grounds, and once the countdown to the eclipse started, all the wild things people were wearing. I would like to say the people were crazy nuts, and even though that's what I expected, I did not find that to be the case. Sure there were eccentrics, but everyone I spoke to seemed to have a grasp on reality… Hopefully this isn’t that look to the left, look to the right thing where I end up being the crazy one. There was a young boy that was going around selling random goods, unless that’s illegal… Then he wasn’t doing that. I swear he was the incarnation of Tom Sawyer. He seemed to have an affinity for economics. While petting Minnie and Lugnut he commented how I could breed them and make good money. I told him that they were both fixed, and I’ll never forget the confused face he turned up toward me asking ‘Why would you do that?’ At first I thought he was being funny, but he was truly perplexed.
Connie Willis, host of Blue Rock Talk and weekend host of Coast to Coast AM, was present at the festival . They brought her on stage where she delivered a short monologue. She had been on my radar since her incredible interview with Les Stroud, Survivorman, and as soon as she came down off the stage I struck up a conversation with her. She introduced me to her friends, the Kentucky Myth Chasers, who became my camping buddies for the night before the eclipse. She has a great outgoing personality, go figure… she's talks for a living, and following her around as we waited in anticipation for the eclipse to begin I got to meet many interesting people. There was a guy who had 2 drones he was shooting the eclipse with, and a couple with a van similar to Ruby that had a solar telescope. We were able to peak through just as the lunar disc was starting to blot out the sun. It was so detailed that you could see sunspots.
I like to make rough plans and let things fall into place or leave wiggle room to adjust on the fly. It usually works out in my favor… KNOCK ON WOOD. I think for eclipse photography though... When you have 2½ minutes to shoot and no second chances, a rock solid plan would've been a lot better. I'm happy with the pictures I got, but I'm not ecstatic. Part of the problem was with the eclipse being at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was so high in the sky it was difficult to do a good wide angle picture. To get foreground, or a scene, into the picture I had to turn the camera sideways to portrait. I did not even think about that ahead of time. Lesson learned, I'll be ready for 2024 when the eclipse will swoop right up past my hometown... In reality I'll probably make the same mistakes again, but I have 5 more years to believe that I'll make the necessary changes.
Before I even left the Little Green Men Days festival I had heard how bad the traffic was. The radio had reports of the traffic jams that we're happening all over. I have to believe a lot of people on their way to viewing the eclipse had to settle for watching it from the roadside in a traffic jam. I felt bad for these poor souls for a while. I tried to put myself into their shoes though. Here's how my imagination plays out the scene. Traffic backed up for miles, no movement whatsoever, everybody honking, yelling, frustration building and building... Until... A hush falls over the crowd and everyone exits their vehicles, just like that R.E.M. music video. All traffic concerns disappear and awe sweeps the crowd. The guy that just cut you off lends you his cardboard glasses so you can view the eclipse. Of course 2½ minutes later it's back to the blaring horns and cursing, but at least normal life could melt away for a few moments. I'm sure that's me looking through rose tinted glasses, but it's better than imagining those jammed up fools not enjoying the eclipse they no doubt traveled so far to see.
Even if that is a made up scenario, what I'm not making up is the signs on every business I entered before the eclipse that stated that they would be temporarily closing so the employees could take part in viewing the eclipse. Even McDonald's had the sign in their window. I can't think of anything else that would stop the world in its tracks like this. Maybe the O.J. verdict? I don’t know why that was the first thing that popped in my mind, but I’m leaving it. Even if it was only 2½ minutes, I like that we haven't 'progressed' past appreciating the natural wonders of our universe.
I hit the road within an hour of totality ending. I was held up by a butterfly that landed on me and had to wait for Connie to take a video of it. I kinda hoped to beat the traffic... And I did! Even though I drove passed jam after jam, it was always in the opposite direction I was going! I couldn't believe my luck. I headed directly west towards the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. They had a driving loop through some plains that promised to show me some elk and bison, but to no avail. I saw absolutely nothing. Onward I go!
As I exited the Rec. Area to the west I stopped by Land Between the Lakes Distillery. The sign said they had a museum. A moonshine museum. I thought it’d be a hokey tourist trap, but I was wrong. They had some very interesting history here. I led myself around the museum and as I was preparing to leave I was lucky enough to catch the owner there. Spencer Balentine was and older gentleman with a cowboy hat and sunglasses. He gave me a personal tour of the museum that far exceeded the one I had just given myself. He explained how his father used to run moonshine back when it was illegal. He told me a story of how his father almost got caught by the law one night. The police had the road blocked just past the bridge over the river that brackets the Land Between the Lakes to the east and had him dead to rights. His father whipped the car around and headed back for the bridge. He bailed out of the drivers door and ghost rode the car off the edge of the bridge and plunged the fully loaded car into the the river below. Pretty banged up he climbed over the edge of the bridge and hid below the deck for hours until the heat cooled off. Once he determined the coast was clear he started the long trek back home and made it through the door in time to interrupt breakfast. He said he still remembers his father limping in, clothes torn and dirtied, sitting down at the breakfast table and saying 'I'm done.' No one said a word, he said everyone understood what had happened and what he meant. He also relayed a more recent story of a still blowing up on a couple of his workers. This took place in 2015. Both workers, Jay Rogers and Kyle Rogers, sustained serious burns and one, Kyle, even succumb to the injuries and passed away. He seemed very tore up by this, I can't help but feel the same way when I think of the look on that old man's face. While we ended on the note of that still explosion, I picture him in my mind excitedly explaining to me how his father wore his watch a certain way, sewed extra hems in his pants, and many other tricks he used to be a successful moonshiner. We also touched on a recent sonar search that turned up hits that would be consistent with a car buried under the muck at the bottom of the lake. This search was documented on an episode of “Moonshiners”. When his father launched the car off the bridge it was a river. Now the river has been dammed to form a lake so the car lies in the deepest part of the lake. It would be very cool to see that car ripped from it's watery grace someday, and if that day comes I would love to be present in case some of the cargo is still intact!
Spencer in an ad photo from 2014
An interesting note here. Recent research has shown that while I met Spencer Balentine, he was going through auctioning off his business. Two months before I passed through he was quoted on the local new as saying, "It’s emotional for me every time I go in that museum,". Speaking about the incident that killed one and injured another he said, "It took my desire to put somebody else in front of a still." In hindsight, that makes the personal tour I received seem extra special and for sure much more somber. Also, unfortunately, the museum appears to be permanently closed.
Next stop is the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois.
https://www.bluerocktalk.com - Blue Rock Talk with Connie Willis
http://www.thebeastoflbl.com/the-beast/ - The Beast of Land Between the Lakes
http://www.kellyky.com - Kelly Little Green Men Days Festival