Photo credit: WTHR Indianapolis
Lots of folks have asked me why I took the road trip by myself to see the eclipse in Indianapolis. Easy peasey – so I could do just what I wanted every single minute and not have to have anyone else’s agenda pushing up against mine. Same reason I go to Opening Day at the State Fair by myself.
So if that means I overestimate how many insane folks will want to park in the White River State Park ramp and go WAY too early to nab my spot, it’s OK. If I walk up and down the long row of food trucks (24 of them) twice before I decide what I want, it’s OK. And if I talk to strangers, it’s OK (this is something in particular that drives YA crazy.)
Here are just a few of the interesting folks I met on eclipse day:
A guy from Kentucky with a very cute corgi. He was sitting on a bench, apparently waiting for his wife – he wasn’t sure where she can gone off to. They had decided just a couple of weeks before to make the trip; they had managed to find a room but it was about an hour out of the city. He was also sporting an eclipse jacket and baseball cap. Like me, he got his online.
David was one of the first food truck owners to get his truck in place; he wanted a really good view of the river on each side of the bridge from his spot. He’s been running his food truck (assorted health food kinds of items including a vegetarian walking taco) for 20 years but he’s thinking about quitting because he want to focus more on his music and getting it published.
Two gals assembling a University of Indiana tent – turns out that the university has a new “global and local event planning” program and part of the semester was putting together the event in the park. When I told them I was a retired planner, we commiserated for a bit and laughed at what non-planners think is involved. Then one of the gals said “we’re not supposed to give this out until later, but I like you…” and gave me a cake pop with white and red icing (U of Indy colors). It was yummy.
Three cops on bikes. I’ve never seen police on bikes before and they were willing to take a few minutes to talk to me. The officers on bikes program has been around for almost 20 years now and has been called an unqualified success. The bikers patrol the downtown area (which includes White River Park) as well as a couple of suburbs that ring the downtown. The officers in the program like it a lot; they say they can get around more easily that in a car and have been able to establish better relations with the community. As the pedaled off, they all three went down a fairly long set of stairs – without a wobble!
Of course, I talked to many more people, especially folks with dogs. Since I parked early and set out my chair about six hours ahead of time, I had a lot of leisure to connect with others. Eclipse apparel was also a good discussion point and because of matching t-shirts I met a couple (their t-shirts matched mine) who had been in the same parking lot as me in St. Joseph, Missouri for the 2017 eclipse. Amazing how you can connect just by talking to people!
Do you talk to strangers when you’re out and about? Any favorite topics?