A CFMC “Out of this World” Event

CFMC Eclipse Event took place on August 21, 2017 at Hopsewee Plantation, South Carolina.

This was a first time occasion for most of us. We’ve seen lunar eclipses but few had experienced a solar eclipse. We had a great turnout with 15 members participating in eight cars (six were Miata’s).

We arrived at Hopsewee Plantation ahead of the first obscuration of the sun with time to get settled under the shade of a great live oak tree.

The skies were mostly clear with many views of the eclipse forming, up to two minutes before totality. We saw the gradual effects of the sun being shaded with less heat (solar) felt on us even though there was still sun shining. It got darker more rapidly at the last few minutes; crickets began chirping, it got noticeably cooler, then, oops, a cloud came in.

We all had our sun viewing glasses which were quite fashionable and allowed us to view the eclipse progressing.

Also several people had telescopes with special view screens. One guy was a real pro and provided us with the best technical info.

Everyone enjoyed the food provided by Hopsewee Plantation chefs. Rebecca and I sampled the low country platter and the chicken wings done many ways. It went down well with one of their local beers. They also provided a band and some of us were seen on the dance floor before the eclipse started.

We also brought eclipse cookies Rebecca made to provide our group with a special treat.

We had a great time and then departed for Conway for dinner. The traffic was a bit worse then what we saw traveling down and it took us three hours to reach the Crafty Rooster when it normally would have taken just one hour!

Our dinners included meals of buffalo chicken balls, quesadillas, and kick-in chili. Dave Moyer and I tried the chicken bog which I had never heard of. Dave, a self-proclaimed bog aficionado, says this was of the best he’d ever had. And I thoroughly enjoyed mine.

We all left for home, some individually and some in small groups. We had clear roadways all the way from this point and enjoyed top down driving all the way home.

Everyone enjoyed the day although the traffic at times was more than I hoped for. Next eclipse event we’ll plan a sleepover.

Attending were: the Panes, Wahl’s, Felice’s, Judson’s, Lee’s, Henion’s, Reinmann’s and Dave Moyer.