Got up early Monday AM to head for peak totality line in srn IL or sw IN (pending satellite picture). Settled on the Mt. Carmel Municipal Airport (KAJG) just southwest of Lawrenceville, IL (38.61198077705763, -87.72500880706056). Pics were not the first goal for me...I just really wanted to experience totality (I ended up ruining most of them anyway due to a rookie mistake of leaving my storm chasing UV filter on). As we pulled into airport parking lot and started to settle in, another car pulls in next to us and also starts unpacking. We start to munch on cooler food for lunch and then I notice a very familiar face in the distance walking toward the vehicle that had parked next to us...it was Aaron Kennedy, who drove all the way from ND with his two daughters! I almost fell out of my chair. The universe seemed so small and so vast at the same time. The four min and six seconds of totality was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.
