Day 1: December 20, 2024 Sunless in Paducah Comment via blog

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I set out early and it was still dark with steady rain when I passed through downtown Cincinnati. A possible "wintry mix" was predicted. There were a few flakes of snow mixed in with the raindrops as I entered Kentucky but the rain was becoming intermittent as I approached Louisville. It was light and spotty by the time I picked up the Western Kentucky Parkway and had pretty much stopped as I crossed the Tennessee River. About a dozen miles outside of Wickliffe, the sun peeked through the clouds.

But it was a brief peek. By the time I reached Wickliffe Mounds State Park, the clouds had closed again. The announcement that brought me to Wickliffe had said "Museum open 10 am to 4 pm. Viewing sunset starts at 4:00 pm and park gates close at 6:00 pm." The gate to the mounds was open and there were a couple of cars parked in the lot but the museum and welcome center were both closed. I walked around the mounds, took a shot of the closed museum through a window, and headed off to kill some time. I did take a couple of pictures inside the museum when I visited way back in 2004.

Things looked about the same when I returned around 4:30. As I climbed the ceremonial mound to take this photo of the hidden sun, I heard a voice behind me. Two ladies who had been working in the locked Welcome Center were preparing to leave and wanted to avoid locking me in. When I explained why I was there, I was told the even had been canceled, seemingly for reasons unrelated to the clouds, and an effort had been made to make people aware of that. It apparently had been almost completely successful.

The longest night of the year was underway by the time I reached my lodging in Paducah so I'll report on that tomorrow. When I told the manager that I planned on heading to Parker's Drive-In for dinner, he told me they have a really good fish sandwich. He was right.

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