You Are Invited…

In May 2022, Bonnie and I flew to Austin, Texas, got in a rental car and drove to Country Inn and Cottages, a mom and pop-type motel in Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg is one of the highly desirable locations for viewing the eclipse because it’s a hotspot for tourists and it’s very near the center line of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. I was on a factfinding mission. I wanted to know what the locals knew, if anything, about the then two-year-away total solar eclipse and how the hospitality industry was preparing for it. Perhaps of greatest interest was finding a location for me to set up to view the eclipse and maybe lead a group. See my post here for my report.

After making the rounds in Fredericksburg for a few days we decided to head to Kerrville, also near the center line, and see what we could find there. Well, if you know us, we like to travel back roads, given a choice. So we left Fredericksburg traveling Farm Roads as they are known in the state. After an hour or so, my dear spouse says, “I could use a cup of coffee.” Now we were in farm country with minimal cell service (“The middle of Nowhere.”) but she looked on our map app and found a place called Cafe At The Ridge. “They might have coffee. Let’s go see.” So we did.

It was a quaint looking place, so we went in and found they have a bakery along with the cafe. With our fresh coffee and pastry in hand, we sat at a table. Bonnie was facing a wall with a TV scrolling slides. We saw that they have live music certain days and host other events. That perked my attention. We finish up and head out back because our waitress told us that it is pretty and there are chickens. There we see a beautifully landscaped area with seating, shaded spots along with open areas. Up a gentle slope we see a stage and amphitheater. This is beginning to look promising as a place to view the eclipse. Added to that, the Cafe is a mere couple hundred yards off the center line of the eclipse path. One more piece of this nicely fitting puzzle is that the Marketplace is also in the path of the October 14, 2023 annular eclipse.

The long and the short of this tale is that on Monday, April 8, 2024 I will be leading the eclipse viewing portion of an event at The Ridge Marketplace which includes Cafe At The Ridge, the Wild Flour Bakery, and the Gardens at the Ridge. I will also be there on Saturday, October 14, 2023 to view the annular eclipse, a noteworthy, if less spectacular, event.

Oh, and it also turns out that the Marketplace is not in the middle of nowhere. It is a mere four miles off of Interstate Highway 10 at exit 505.

Logistics

Now the Marketplace does not have accommodations which means that you must either have friends or family in the area, or you will have to find a room, house, Airbnb, VRBO, or similar and come to the venue. The prices being charged for rooms in and near Kerrville for the days surrounding the total eclipse are very high. I am recommending that people coming from out of the area get a room in San Antonio, which is mostly outside the path of totality, and drive the hour up to Kerrville the morning of the eclipse.

The total eclipse is roughly from NOON to 3:00 PM on April 8, 2024 with totality between 1:32 and 1:37 PM. Come early and plan to spend the day, since traffic is likely to be very heavy. The cafe will be open serving good food and I will be there! Pray for clear skies.

Stay tuned for more details.