A Missing Diamond Ring and a Broken Bow

Set out early this morning from Omaha to Beatrice, Nebraska to view today's total eclipse. The omens weren't good for today as I watched forked lightning bolts shoot across the Omaha sky. Beatrice is a town of over 12,000 people. It was a very popular destination for eclipse-watchers and I wouldn't be surprised if the population tripled today. I got the pronunciation of the town name wrong. It's pronounced BEE-AH-TREECE.

I joined the crowds in the local park and an hour before the eclipse started the umbrellas came out as the rain came down. Fortunately the rain stopped shortly after although the sky remained cloudy.









The moon very slowly started biting into the sun. The clouds kept interfering with our view.





Now the sun is totally covered and you can see the suns outer corona, something you can't normally see because the sun's brightness obscures it. The pink fringes may be solar flares or it could be from the camera lens. Up until this point swifts had been flying continuously overhead. As soon as the sun disappeared so did the swifts probably back to their nests. At the same time a chorus of Cicadas filled the trees which, when I first heard them in Pennsylvania I had assumed were crickets. But I was informed that crickets live on the ground and are much quieter than the tree-living Cicadas.



This is the sun re-appearing. Unfortunately clouds obscured the 'diamond ring' effect when a burst of light appears when the moon starts to move.





Some keen eclipse watchers carried on viewing the last few remaining minutes of the eclipse.



I decided to explore Beatrice after seeing these long miles of traffic leaving town.





This is Beatrice Museum which is the former railway station.



And this is Beatrice's own version of the Statue of Liberty.





Beatrice's traffic cops were kept busy with all the visitors all wanting to leave at the same time (apart from me)



The owner of this computer repair store was outside as I walked past and after asking if I enjoyed the eclipse invited me in to see his collection of figures.







These Simpsons figures were life-size; I should have sat down next to Homer and had my picture taken.





He then invited me outside to see his Jurassic Park Humvee complete with dinosaur.





If I thought that my encounter with Beatrice's friendly citizens was now over I was very much mistaken. These three lovely ladies stopped me and offered me a goody bag of sweets, nuts and fruit and then told me about their establishment which was a former hotel where the Hollywood star, Robert Taylor once stayed in the room with the balcony in the top photo. Then they took me for a tour of the building which isn't a care home but a Senior Living Community. It wasn't what I would have expected and I am now going to ask my daughter, Anja to reserve me a place, which by the amount of times I have failed to contact her on this trip will probably be next week. You ladies have helped put Beatrice into the Top Town of All the Towns I Have Visited in the US so far. I didn't get the name of the lady on the left but thank you whoever you are and to Danielle and Sue. You'll be seeing me next week! By the way I would have loved one of your cool eclipse T-shirts.







Beatrice's hard-working traffic cops and their cool police cruiser.



Beatrice's businesses took the opportunity of the eclipse to advertise their product.



I finally found one of the old public telephone boxes. I hung around hoping that Clark Kent would pop in to get changed but he was probably stuck in traffic.





On the way back to pick up my car I came across Beatrice's Big Blue River and I wish I had seen it before all the mud got into the water.

I then travelled to Broken Bow in Nebraska to stay the night. Broken Bow was settled in the 1860's and was named from a broken bow found at a former Indian camping site.



Broken Bow has several banks around it's town centre. I wonder if Bonny and Clyde ever stopped here?



This bar and grill welcomes bikers.





While this hotel/restaurant/bar where I stayed and ate welcomes cowboys which I suppose makes me a cowboy. By the way anyone waiting for a postcard from me, they are in the blue mailbox outside the hotel.



This is Broken Bow's lovely town square.