Just an out of curiosity survey, how many forum folks are planning on viewing the eclipse next Monday, how many are planning on travelling to see it, and how far will those people be traveling?
I’m staying local. I think we are getting 97% where we are and that is good enough for me. I did order the eclipse glasses which should arrive later this week.
Western NC is expecting a ridiculous amount of traffic next week and hotel rooms are booked solid. What is interesting is I booked a hotel starting on Tuesday at the beginning of the year for a work related trip. No issues at all then.
arranged a quick flight Friday to judge/drink at Beer&Sweat, travelling through KC so I could visit Amanda and Amy and see the eclipse upon my return. Gotta make the most of those vacation days. Just driving slightly north of town. Unless it looks like we’re screwed by weather or traffic - this is important to me, but not sit-in-gridlock-for-10-hours important.
Let me just say that if you’re within a couple hours driving of totality and have the ability to get off work, and the weather looks good, I’d take the opportunity. 99% and shadows will change a bit. 99.9% and you’re still seeing something like 1000x as much light as the full moon. There are plenty of cool effects in the edge region of totality in that <30 seconds.
Back in 1999 I saw the one that traversed Europe. I was working in Germany at the time. We lucked out and the clouds dissipated about 5 minutes before the diamond ring. It was one of the most awe inspiring and fantastic natural phenomena I have seen. Traffic afterwards was a nightmare.
So we can’t miss another. My wife decided we should go to eastern Wyoming, high plains, low precipitation. We will meet friends from CO in Cheyenne. Drive up to a ranch that has a field set aside for 300. It is off the interstates, so hopefully the secondary roads will not be a problem. We are going to relax afterwards, and visit. Once traffic has thinned, we can drive back to Cheyenne for the night.
I’m heading to Mecca Grade Estate Malt in Madras in eastern Oregon. They’re having an event with 400 mostly industry folk, catered food, bands, and free beer and whiskey. We do a time share with our neighbors on a small RV so that’s what I’m using. Heading over on Sat. and back on Tues. It’s about 185 mi. each way.
We’re camping in Western NC. Hoping that the more populated areas to the west and east draw more of those traveling, the area we’ll be trying to view from is rural.
I won’t be terribly disappointed if it’s cloudy either, I just want to see it get dark during the middle of the day.
I read an article today that said WyDOT and the HyPo’s think the State’s population could double over the event, Casper’s population could triple. My house is less than 15 miles from centerline of the totality, so if traffic is crazy I don’t really need to go anywhere to watch it, unless I feel a need to partake a dose of Bedlam.
The wife said that estimates were that 600k would be going from the Froint Range to WY and NE.
We plan on treating the day like our Indy 500 days. Get up and hit the road really early. Get in place. Hang out. Watch the show. Hang out. Drive back to the accommodation. The big difference will be instead of a 3 hour race, it will be more like the Kentucky Derby in duration.
Casper has an astronomers convention. Prices were sky high 6 months ago.
I recommend that you try and see as much as you can. We are at about 130 seconds at the ranch. I might see what a walk will get us in added time. There are apps for that.
What is the closest “town” to the ranch where you will be? Be aware that 25 will be buried in green license plates heading south for several hours after the eclipse, perhaps until well after dark-thirty. It wouldn’t hurt to have a back-up plan involving hunkering down for an impromptu camp-out.
Casper’s C of C has been aware of and working towards this event for more than 2 years, out here in BFE we’re not quite that organized.
I personally doubt that we’ll see quite as many visitors as the experts are planning for, but the civil authorities job is to be ready for the worst case scenario, so I commend them this time for being prepared.
One word of caution for visitors who are normally dependent on techno devices - if your GPS tells you to turn off the highway onto a 2 track because that’s the highway you want - don’t believe the machine. If you don’t know how to navigate off of a paper map, ask directions from a human. Leave your devices in the trunk.
I’ll be at work, but I’ll try to step out and see it. Mostly interested in the few minutes before and after totality, as someone mentioned above, when it gets dark during the day. Why did they have to schedule the damn thing for 10:30 in the morning on a Monday? (I kid I kid…)
I guess they good news is they actually shut the brewery down for the day. They expect traffic to be so bad that incoming and outgoing shipments won’t make it. I’ll be there by myself that day.
99% totality here in Portland OR is good enough for me. I don’t even know the predicted numbers, but I guess Oregon is such a big state that it will be “total” here for a long time (as it sweeps across at 1800MPH) so they are expecting pretty much everyone from the West coast to be here. They are telling people to stay home, pack water, fill your car with gas, as if it were in ice storm. That’s a little crazy.
I believe we have a state of emergency already declared in 8 Western NC counties.
After the comments here I am contemplating heading to SC to some of the lesser developed areas. The only problem is without traffic that is a 3-4 hour trek and I have to head to Asheville the next day which is another 4 hour drive.
