Throughout a career making documentaries, Mike Day has chased Mother Nature’s most impressive sites. This week, it’s a quest that carried him more than 900 miles from Minnesota to North Texas.
“This is the sixth time I have traveled to see a total eclipse of the sun, and it's the second time that I've done so in the USA. I've been to Canada. I've been to South America, and I've only been weathered out one of the five times I've chased a total eclipse of the sun,” said Mike Day.
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WATCH HEREThe retired IMAX documentary producer began scouting a location in Texas back in 2019.
In the final countdown to totality, he’s watching the cloudy forecast. Come Monday, he said his car will be his most valuable tool.
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SIGN UP “We're ready to run in case the clouds come in, to drive north, to drive south, to drive west, and stay inside or very near the moon’s shadow as we try and get into a good position to see it,” he said.
That go-with-the-flow mentality is the advice he gives to others seeking out the eclipse in a recently published memoir.
“The Marine Corps motto is Semper Fidelis, which means always faithful. And I always say when you're chasing eclipses, Semper Gumby, the Claymation figure… It means always flexible,” he wrote.
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Day came to Texas prepared with eclipse glasses, an eclipse atlas and a map in case cell lines jam amid the crowds.
He encourages packing light.
“People expect that when I show up at an eclipse that I'm going to have a film crew, telescopes, cameras. I have none of those things,” he said. “Just enjoy the experience. Don't waste a lot of time trying to take pictures. It's just such a total experience that you just want to witness it and it will be over in a matter of minutes, so enjoy it.”
