The Midwest LTV Travelers Club members gathered for our 2024 spring rally for the solar eclipse (April 2 – 9, 2024) at Lake Wappapello State Park Campground near Poplar Bluff, Missouri in the Ozarks. Poplar Bluff is a city in southeastern Missouri right on the line of the total solar eclipse. Poplar Bluff had many activities planned for the attendees of the solar eclipse, including concerts and educational events, and even Jeff Foxworthy came to town. People from all 50 states and 22 countries came to the Poplar Bluff, Missouri area to see and experience the total solar eclipse.
What do you call a person who chases eclipses? A person who chases an eclipse is known as an umbraphile, meaning shadow lover. Umbraphiles often travel for eclipses and use various tools to help view the Sun, including solar viewers, also known as eclipse glasses, telescopes, and cameras with special filters. Many of the group members were able to see the 2017 total eclipse and now the 2024 total eclipse.
We planned far in advance and found that Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was an ideal viewing site. The sky and day were perfect.
We had a total of 19 LTVs, for a total of 38 people that attended the Solar Eclipse rally. There were many familiar faces, and for some of the group, it was their first Midwest LTV rally. The Spring weather was windy and cool in the mornings and warmed up by the afternoon. We did not have a group shelter for the rally, so we were out in the weather for the meals and activities. This was a long rally of 7 nights, as we prepared for the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8.
We started each rally day with breakfast treats, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, tea, and coffee. A few mornings, we even had pancakes, sausages, and more options. At the morning meetings, we shared LTV modifications, solutions, and information, including show-and-tell, rally updates, the daily schedule, and announcements. Because it was a smaller group, we had plenty of time to talk about our favorite LTV topic, question, or travel location.
Every day, we played a variety of games, played bean bags, and chatted about our travels and plans. On Thursday, April 4, a representative from SkyMed attended our rally and provided box lunches and a presentation on their business and services.
The evening meals included grilled brats, hamburgers, chicken burrito bowls, Hawaiian Sliders of various types, and more. There was plenty of food at the rally!
On Sunday evening, we held a Midwest LTV Club Meeting to provide the LTV owners with information and updates about the club. We also held a drawing so the LTV owners could receive gifts donated by LTV, other vendors, and Midwest LTV members.
We were so fortunate to have a great group of volunteers who helped when needed with grilling, organizing the food tables, serving food, cleaning up, and anything else we needed help with.
On Monday, April 8, Solar Eclipse Day, the weather was great, and we started the day with a big breakfast of pancakes, sausages, fruit, treats, and more. If you have never seen a solar eclipse, you need to add it to your bucket list–it was amazing! It was great to see and experience it with a group of LTV friends.
Our “LTV family” grows at each rally. It was a great time with these LTV owners. We hope that others will consider joining us at a future Midwest LTV rally!
Written by: Kelly Westphal
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