I’ve been looking forward to the Leonid Meteor Shower since I first heard about it. The predictions reported that it would be the most significant astronomical event of the 21st century. Who’d want to miss something like that? I had seen meteors and meteor showers before. When we lived in the country we were avid stargazers, but since moving to town, we haven’t had the opportunities.

My own most significant experience came one night many years ago. Janice and I had just gotten back from Baton Rouge, where we had applied for our first mortgage. We were practically newlyweds. Worried about the loan, I was lying awake in bed, with the window next to my head. Suddenly I saw light from outside, I turned in time to see a huge fireball in the sky. It had a long streaming tail that sparkled many colors. Hollywood would have rejected it as being too colorful to be believable. I was in awe! It was so big that it appeared to be moving in slow motion. Janice was facing the other direction with her eyes closed. The light was so bright that she could see it through her eyelids, while facing away from the window. This week’s meteor shower didn’t eclipse this event for me, but hell, how could it? I don’t really believe in omens, but I seem to have them on a regular basis, so I don’t ignore them. I knew we would get the loan.

This Saturday, I kept an eye on the forecasts. South Louisiana was right on the edge of the best viewing area. There was a chance we could have stayed home and gotten a great show, but it was not guaranteed. We didn’t want to take chances, so we decided to go farther east for clear skies. We had no sooner decided this, than Janice’s brother Glenn called to say he was coming over to return my riding mower he had been repairing for me (I missed that mower). When Janice told him our plans, he said he’d like to come along. Two hours later, Glenn, his wife Susan, and their teenage daughter Kim were at our house. We stopped to pack an ice chest and we were on the road.

Planning by the seat of our pants, we decided to go to McComb, Mississippi. In a couple of hours we were there, scoping out a good viewing spot. We drove into Percy Quin State Park and found a golf course, which was already vacant for the night. It was perfect except that it was west of McComb. There was light pollution to the east, where the meteors were predicted to be. Not satisfied, we decided to go east of McComb, but first a meal and sleep. We ate at a new Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant and got a hotel room. The alarm rang at 2:30 and we headed farther east. Since we hadn’t found a spot in advance, we had to try to find one in the dark, while missing the beginning of the meteor shower. As Glenn drove, I looked out the window and kept everyone posted on what they were missing. There were no ideal viewing spots to be found, so we pulled off the road and laid a blanket on an embankment on the side of the highway.

For the next two and a half hours we marveled at the show. We saw hundreds of shooting stars. Every time we saw one, we all said, “That was a good one”. There were no bad ones. The spot we found still had light pollution to the east. The golf course would have been just as good, or even better, but as Glenn said, “They can run you out of a golf course, they can’t run you out of the roadside.”

Some of the meteors were so bright that they lit up the sky like lightning. It seemed like they were always behind us. By the time we turned around, a dust trail was all that was left of them. All the brightest ones left a lingering trail in the sky. Eventually, some really bright ones did flash right in our field of vision. Luckily, all five of us were looking right at them every time.

As the hour grew late and the shower had passed its peak, the inevitable happened. I was expecting this; a Mississippi Highway Patrol car pulled up behind Glenn’s truck and turned on the flashing lights. As the senior member of the group, all eyes turned to Glenn to be our spokesman. Janice concealed our brandy bottle as Glenn walked down the incline to plead our case. The officer was very nice, and told Glenn that he assumed we were stargazing, but had to check it out. He was a little surprised that we had driven so far to sit on the side of his highway, but he was satisfied that we were harmless and went on his way. We watched a few dozen more meteors and headed back to the hotel room, where we crashed till checkout time.

In all, we saw hundreds of meteors and missed thousands. You can only see a small slice of the sky, and a small percentage of meteors. I suspect that wearing eyeglasses limits one’s field of vision as well. When we got back to South Louisiana, we learned that the skies had been perfectly clear, but we had no regrets. It was a fun trip, and a great experience.

another hasty insight by Jeff on 11/19/2001