International Dark Sky Park #6
Middle Fork River Forest Preserve 🌟

Where once my couch housed my behind for a good portion of the week, today brought an old cemetery, an abandoned asylum and, in the evening, an astroshoot. Now if only of my vegan food leads would be successful (Damn Corona!), the day might have been the perfect combination of all the best stuff.

As I chillaxed in Illinois I checked out conditions at Middle Fork River Forest Preserve to make a plan. It would be a late night! But first I needed to check the park out in the day time. So I grabbed a prepared vegan meal at a local food co-op in Urbana and set up picnic in the secluded preserve to see the lay of the land.

After many fields of wind turbines…

This sky’ll do… minus all those clouds

Bon appetit! Me and the birds and bugs

Flash forward to the night. I was ready to go! When the moon started to set I saw what I was hoping for. A trace of the Milky Way in my camera screen. I could barely make it out with my naked eye.

The moon went down kicking and screaming with light. Plus there was a lot of fog, which also reflecting light about. And cloud cover. They weren’t perfect conditions, but I was so happy within them. The bull frogs groaned and the crickets chirped with an equivalent excitement.

Now that I see how pretty these shots with the water are I wish I had played around a bit more with its reflection.

The moon’s last hurrah

Another triumph was figuring out what the heck was going on with my newish camera. The two astroshoots I had done with it left me with meh results. But I completely overhauled the settings while waiting for true night… and it made a world of difference. Now I am very excited for August and the Great Western Starry Way.

Though the sky was getting more beautiful every minute, I worried about the drive back to the motel. I had had a long day. The Milky Way made it fine to call it a morning… and it would turn out I would need all my wits about me to avoid the many deer (and bunnies) darting across the road on the way back.

Goodnight, Illinois. I promise I’ll stay longer next time, but it would be back to Indiana later in the morning.

xov.v.

Oh and here are the noises… and the pitch black… My hobbies all have an element of danger and uncertainty. Let’s analyze this…