The Great Eclipse of 2024 came perilously close to being a bust after careful planning and a lot of spending: we traveled to Texas with plans to enjoy totality in the Texas Hill Country, but forecasted clouds ruled that out. Looking at satellite forecasts, we decided to head north and slightly west of a storm front and ended up in Idabel, Oklahoma — a place I had never been to and quite frankly, wasn’t even sure I’d ever heard of. It was a good call, barely. Despite some cumulus clouds from time to time, we were able to enjoy most of the eclipse and all of totality. After this, the next total solar eclipse that can be seen from the contiguous United States will be on Aug. 23, 2044.