Courtesy photo Escanaba resident Ralph Blaiser has turned to painting the eclipses that he witnesses. Above is Blaiser’s illustration of Monday’s eclipse as viewed from Nebraska.

ESCANABA — For many, Monday’s solar eclipse was a once-in-a-lifetime event, but for Escnaba’s Ralph Blasier and his wife Mary Gail Blaiser, who traveled to Nebraska to see the astronomical event, chasing eclipses is a way of life.

“(On) Monday, we observed… ‘America’s Eclipse’ from southeast Nebraska, near the town of York,” Blasier wrote in an e-mail interview. This region was in the eclipse’s “path of totality,” or the path in which the sun was completely blocked by the moon. In the Upper Peninsula, the eclipse only blocked about 75 percent of the sun.

Blasier stated his view of the eclipse was almost destroyed by clouds. Cloud cover was present in the area’s skies until just five minutes before “second contact” — the moment when totality begins.

“The clouds parted just in time,” he wrote.

According to Blasier, this is far from the first total solar eclipse he and his wife have watched — in fact, they have been “eclipse chasers” for decades. Blasier has travelled to see eclipses in locations as far away as Siberia, Easter Island, Chile, Australia, Turkey, and Aruba, along with many others.

“One of the first dates I took my now-wife to was to see a total solar eclipse in an airliner at 41,000 feet along the border between Finland and the Soviet Union,” he wrote. “That eclipse was wonderful, and I think that is why she selected me to marry.”

Monday’s eclipse was an easier one to travel to than most, Blasier noted. Not only was he able to stay within the country, he was able to view the eclipse at the home of his grandson’s maternal grandparents.

Blasier stated, while he used to photograph total solar eclipses, he now focuses on living in the moment while watching these astronomical events. Instead, he makes paintings to preserve his memories.

“Minutes after it is finished, I paint what I remember what I saw,” he wrote.

While his hobby can be expensive and time-consuming, Blasier stated viewing eclipses in person makes it all worthwhile.

“A total solar eclipse is one of the most spiritually-moving sights a person can see,” he wrote. “I have seen grown adults reduced to tears by the vision.”