Solar eclipse craziness
- Thread starter mxz800
- Start date
I'm driving out east for this one, and flying 6 high altitude weather balloons during the eclipse to do some data collection 
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In 2017, in the town I grew up in (225 population), saw a massive influx of people for that eclipse event. The next nearest populated town (5k) is 10 miles away. Chatting with old friends that still live there, the entire 10 mile stretch was a parking lot. Literally bumper to bumper.
I don’t envy those people. I saw totality from my back deck. Pretty cool.
Jay Em, WY.
We got there many hours early. I remember someone trying to charge an admission fee to sit in an open field in the middle of town after a few hundred had already arrived.
I agree but sometimes close enough is good enough. The area of Maine that will get 100% totality is going to be mobbed. Last time this occurred there were massed traffic snags. People ran out of gas, got stuck in rural dirt roads, It is the beginning of the thaw / mud season up here. There are some towns/areas that have only one decent road coming in and out.
Going to grab a set of lens maybe a welding helmet (need to do some googling) and my boys will just drive up one of the local mountains.
Close enough means you only get a dimming sky and none of the interesting phenomena.
My good friend Beau lived in Jay Em
I also spent a week at the church there for a high school football camp doing football things in the hard, woody, weedy field. It was not the best camp. I think we finished the season 1-7.
I live almost smack-dab in the middle of the totality zone. This will be my first total eclipse, and I'm excited. A former co-worker of mine is now an engineer at NASA's Goddard facility, and he and his wife are coming to view it at our place. When I was in grade school, we had a partial eclipse, and that event was a pivotal one for my journey into the sciences. I can actually trace that back to being a big reason why I became an engineer! Yesterday, one of the ladies in our accounting department was upset because the school district that her kids attend is not closing down school. I told her that it's unfortunate she feels that way because my elementary school teachers turned an eclipse into a very immersive learning experience that put my on the path to the big corner office I'm currently sitting in. She said she didn't trust the teachers to be so opportunistic and was also worried about traffic during pick-up time. Times change, I guess. My teachers were focused on the three Rs, not the unlimited genders. And I walked to school...
mudhog55
Member
I was dove hunting in W Texas during the partial eclipse and at the peak (do not know if it was coincidence or not) but deer just started running everywhere,
Doves all took off across the field. This year we have a small family ranch that is right in the middle of total darkness that we will be at to watch the event.
This place is 17 miles to the nearest town that is small. On any clear night you can see the milky way and satellites zooming by with your bare eyes so it should be spectacular. We don't get off work, but I got it scheduled for vacation. Just hope it's not cloudy. BTW my kids at T A&M are skipping class to come witness.
Doves all took off across the field. This year we have a small family ranch that is right in the middle of total darkness that we will be at to watch the event.
This place is 17 miles to the nearest town that is small. On any clear night you can see the milky way and satellites zooming by with your bare eyes so it should be spectacular. We don't get off work, but I got it scheduled for vacation. Just hope it's not cloudy. BTW my kids at T A&M are skipping class to come witness.
Erie County, Pennsylvania has roughly 300,000 residents. Since Erie County is the only county in Pennsylvania that is experiencing totality, PEMA is estimating approximately 250,000 tourists for Monday at the least, or a 3 day weekend. We're planning on picking up a significant "cushion" from the grocery store, gassing up all vehicles (even though that will be a near zero traveling weekend for us) and containers and making sure we have extra water that isn't our regular municipal. My theory: groups of people don't drive well together and tempers flare here, even on the best of days. We prepare as insurance against the unknown. I think this qualifies. I'm an independent contractor and I'm not planning on working that Monday, mostly because of the traffic
OP
Do you still have the tin foil hats from Y2K?
That's so 20+ year old thinking. We've moved beyond that. You need a ballistic helmet now.
I wouldn't expect any kind of utility disruptions or violence, well, outside isolated road rage incidents. However, food and gas might be depleted quickly if it gets that busy. When the gas pipeline was shut down here a few years ago and no resupply was happening, our stations were dry within 36 hours.
That's so 20+ year old thinking. We've moved beyond that. You need a ballistic helmet now.
View attachment 510761
Needs more NODs
The difference between 99% vs 100% is total (pun intended). It is absolutely worth it. The center of the path will be like .5 miles from my grandma's house in Ohio. We are rolling this in to our spring break trip and the kids will miss an extra day of school to catch it. It's also a good excuse for a mini family reunion.