Wyatt and I decided to take the White Whale south to see the eclipse in totality 1 week before the event was to take place. I made my preparations by building a platform on top of the truck bed that would fit my tent and filling up diesel. The night before I left I decided to head for Andrews North Carolina because it was in the center of the predicted zone that was to be cloud free, and was in the blue ridge mountains. If I did not see the eclipse then I would at least see some great mountains.

The location that I viewed the eclipse from was at the top of a national forestry trail just to the north of the small town of Andrews North Carolina. The Teyahalee Bald has the Tathare Lookout Tower located at the top. This mountain is located in the Snowbird mountains on the Nantahala Game Lands. 

The coordinates of this location are 35 degrees, 15 minutes, 27 seconds, north by 83 degrees, 47 minutes, 43 seconds, west. The altitude at the lookout was 4,716 feet above sea level. The town of Andrews is at an elevation of 1773 feet. This means that the truck climbed nearly 3,000 vertical feet above the town to see the eclipse better.

I wanted to see the eclipse from as high an altitude as possible for two reasons. Firstly I thought there would be a slightly smaller chance of fog or cloud cover. And secondly I wanted to try to get away from any kind of automatic lighting that would turn on during the eclipse.

When I showed up in the town of Andrews I stopped at the Andrews rest area, which by the way is the nicest rest area I have ever come across. I drank some water and made a couple of calls the sent searching for a nice spot to watch the eclipse. There was a celebration going on in the town square with food vendors and live music. I bought a pulled pork meal and listened to some live music.

We continued our search for a quieter place, when driving down US-129 I noticed some nice mountains to the north of Andrews. I found a forestry trail on a map and decided to check it out.

The drive up the trail was arduous and at times gave me some vertigo inducing overlooks. I found a pair of stuck travelers whose transmission has overheated during the pass over the mountain. I stopped to give them a pull up and over the last of the up and watched them slowly roll down the steep down hill toward Andrews. I continued driving up the mountain until I came across another traveler from Maryland. We talked a bit and said our well wishes. I continued to head up the trail. Finally we reached the end of the trail and there I found a motorhome with two nice gentlemen from Maryland as well. 

The last bit of the trail was blocked by a gate so I parked the truck and walked to the top. I surveyed the area and decided this was as good a place as any to watch the eclipse.

On my way back to my truck I was invited to hang out around the fire after dinner. I did so getting to know my mountain-top neighbors.

The morning of the event I woke at sunrise and talked up to the top of the hill and enjoyed the vista.

I waited until about 11AM before hauling up water, a folding chain and some snacks to to top to wait for the event to begin. 

There were about 25 people by the time the eclipse came and I would have to say that about all hooped and gasped when the moon eclipsed the sun for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

I did take one photograph during totality. It is of me and Wyatt. The video was taken with my DSLR on a tripod. It was out of focus but I think the audio is just as exciting as the video. I will be more careful next time in 2024.

I left the mountain about 1 hour after the eclipse and was immediately stuck in the worst traffic in US history. I did do my part to help the situation by pulling a motorist (1980 pickup truck with camper) blocking one lane of US-74 to the shoulder. I made it about 50 miles in 5 hours before I was tired and pulled over in a parking lot to sleep.

I woke the next day ready to make some good time but still found myself in very slow traffic for the rest of the day. I drove for 12 hours and finally made it home with the thought "it was worth it" fading.