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[Bruce]

Having traveled a few hours to watch the 2017 eclipse in Oregon, I'm eager to see totality again. Probably heading to Texas for a better chance of good conditions.

[Rothman]

Having traveled a few hours to watch the 2017 eclipse in Oregon, I'm eager to see totality again. Probably heading to Texas for a better chance of good conditions.

I drove through the night, fueled by Mountain Dew, to TN from upstate NY.  Spent what night hours remained in the car in Oak Ridge.  Stopped at the Manhattan Project museum (whatever the real name is) and then over to the Obed River.  Finally headed south of Crossville to get into the totality stripe, saw the eclipse, and then headed up to Winchester, KY to spend the night at my aunt's place.

2024, Texas.

[1995hoo]

You guys are giving me the very interesting idea of going to Texas a few days early to see where I was born (I have not been back since 1974) and then to watch the eclipse from there.

[CtrlAltDel]

Having traveled a few hours to watch the 2017 eclipse in Oregon, I'm eager to see totality again. Probably heading to Texas for a better chance of good conditions.

I drove through the night, fueled by Mountain Dew, to TN from upstate NY.  Spent what night hours remained in the car in Oak Ridge.  Stopped at the Manhattan Project museum (whatever the real name is) and then over to the Obed River.  Finally headed south of Crossville to get into the totality stripe, saw the eclipse, and then headed up to Winchester, KY to spend the night at my aunt's place.

2024, Texas.

I wasn't too far from there, having spent the eclipse in Athens.

[roadwaywiz95]

Can we please get through the 2022 Meet Calendar before we start speculating about meets in 2024?!

[oscar]

Can we please get through the 2022 Meet Calendar before we start speculating about meets in 2024?!

The 2024 eclipse is less than two years away. Not too soon for people to start at least the early stages of planning, as IIRC some people did well ahead of the 2017 eclipse (especially the ones lining up prime Oregon viewing sites).

[webny99]

However, it wouldn't hurt to split the non-meet related eclipse discussion to a separate thread. (I thought we already had a general 2024 eclipse thread, but now I can't find it...)

[hbelkins]

Can we please get through the 2022 Meet Calendar before we start speculating about meets in 2024?!

The 2024 eclipse is less than two years away. Not too soon for people to start at least the early stages of planning, as IIRC some people did well ahead of the 2017 eclipse (especially the ones lining up prime Oregon viewing sites).

And lodging. Might be a good idea to lock in rates now before the hotels realize what's going on and jack up the prices like many of them did in 2017.

As for me, I'm probably going to view it with my brother again. He lives in Owen County, which isn't far from the path of totality, so he's proposed that we go to some casino parking lot in Indiana to watch it and then lose a few $$$ afterwards.

We saw the 2017 eclipse from a boat ramp directly across the river (lake) from the Watts Bar nuke plant in Tennessee. I met him in London, Ky., and we headed on down, and actually spent the night at a decent Motel 6 in Kingston, Tenn., that didn't raise its rates for the special event. Discovered a regional chain, Buddy's BBQ, which was tasty.

[baugh17]

Path of totality goes right over my house.  I'll be enjoying it from my patio (weather permitting)...

I'll have to drive about an hour north or west to get into good totality, depending what kind of mood I'm in.   Currently thinking of heading toward Tug Hill.   Maybe use it as an excuse to finish off Jefferson County if I haven't done so by then.

[vdeane]

The idea of traveling long distance to see an eclipse that's also visible nearby gives me pause because of the off chance that there's poor weather there and clear weather at home.

It's upstate NY.  The weather WILL be lousy.  I guarantee it.

Let's hope not, because this is the only time in my life that a solar eclipse will happen somewhere that is practical for me to view it.  I can barely even contemplate the logistics of multi-day roadtrips as in (and every one not tied to a roadmeet or family gathering has blown up in my face, so I think I'm cursed to never go on one), and that's before adding in the additional difficulties of eclipse traffic and weather forecasts not being known until a few days in advance, if that (I'm the type to plan things out to the hour weeks/months in advance).

[oscar]

However, it wouldn't hurt to split the non-meet related eclipse discussion to a separate thread. (I thought we already had a general 2024 eclipse thread, but now I can't find it...)

Not sure I disagree. But the 2017 total eclipse discussion is in Road Enthusiasts Meetings. Even though there were no specific plans discussed early in the thread, there was at least one informal eclipse-watching non-meet gathering.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky did a lot of planning for the 2017 eclipse from a road standpoint. That included putting a whole lot of signage on a bunch of rural roads directing traffic to I-24 and I-69.

[Rothman]

Kentucky did a lot of planning for the 2017 eclipse from a road standpoint. That included putting a whole lot of signage on a bunch of rural roads directing traffic to I-24 and I-69.

Fat lot of good it did.  Still took my parents hours and hours to get from Hopkinsville to Winchester.

I passed through some dinky town in northern TN that was really excited something exciting was finally happening there.  Local police and their kids were out directing traffic and they made sure they all had walkie-talkies.  Pretty sure they loused things up worse than if they had just let traffic take its course.

[Bruce]

The sudden shift of traffic away from the path of totality in 2017 was something to behold. It took nearly 6 hours to get from Salem to Portland, most of which was spent trying to reach I-5 from city streets.

Can't be helped when cars are involved. If only Amtrak was able to run more trains.

[Rothman]

People were too beholden to Google Maps.  They just followed the suggested detour, which soon became as crowded as the usual fastest route.

Had my parents just taken a good look at the map, I bet they could have made the trip to Winchester in much less time.

[Jim]

In 2017, Eclipse day in Nebraska for my group (which needed 2 cars) started and ended at our friends' house in Papillion, with viewing in Grand Island.  We started the morning on I-80 toward Lincoln, which was packed but moving.  I was concerned about I-80 getting worse as we got into the main path of totality further west, so we switched to US 34 north of Lincoln and had a pleasant, traffic-free ride through several small towns.  Grand Island was busy but not so much that we couldn't get around to check out some possible viewing locations (considered a WalMart parking lot and a couple of parks before settling on a nice spot on the shore of a small lake in L.E. Ray Park).  Kind of like a sporting event, I was concerned that while people's arrivals are a little more staggered, everyone would want to move at about the same time after the eclipse. We did not rush out immediately after totality, waiting in the park and enjoying the weird crescent shadows as the sun became more exposed.  Once we left, I decided to take our time via US 30 up through Columbus and Fremont, while the other car in our group started that way and switched to what they hoped would be a faster and more direct route on Nebraska 92.  US 30 was great, some traffic that was probably much more than typical, but we had no significant issues until we got into Omaha metro and got into afternoon rush.  The Nebraska 92 group got delayed quite a bit at the bridge over the Platte (no delays shown when they chose the route, long delays by the time they got there), and arrived back in Papillion later.

Obviously it helped that we were in a wide-open part of the country with several good road options and far from huge population centers from which people would do an out-and-back.  It will be interesting to see what happens in 2024 with a lot of people from Boston to Washington likely to head north to the path.  Non-interstates through the Adirondack, Green, and White Mountains are quite a bit different from the non-interstates in the farm and ranch lands of Nebraska.

[webny99]

^ The path of totality in NY also creates an interesting dynamic. It's nearly split in two because of Lake Ontario, with the prime viewing areas closest to the center line being along the I-90 corridor from the PA line to Rochester, and then further north along the NY 3 corridor from Watertown to Plattsburgh. I could see Syracuse (which is right on the edge of totality) being hit from both directions with traffic heading further into/away from the path on both I-81 and I-90.

[hbelkins]

People were too beholden to Google Maps.  They just followed the suggested detour, which soon became as crowded as the usual fastest route.

Had my parents just taken a good look at the map, I bet they could have made the trip to Winchester in much less time.

One of the best viewing spots, said to be with the longest totality in the region, was near the community of Cerulean. It's northwest of Hopkinsville. I'm not sure where they viewed the eclipse, but if it was anywhere near Hoptown, they'd have been well advised to take US 68 east to Bowling Green, then I-65, the Cumberland Parkway, KY 80, KY 461, US 25, I-75, and KY 627 to Winchester. I'm guessing most of the traffic in that area used the WK Parkway.

[KCRoadFan]

Sadly, where I live (Kansas City) is NOT on the path of totality, so I was thinking about going down to Dallas, which is squarely within the path, for a "long weekend"-type trip (the eclipse itself is on Monday, April 8; based on what I've imagined, I would be driving down on Friday, April 5 and back to KC on Tuesday, April 9). While I'm there, I also plan on doing some other Dallas-area stuff (JFK museum, Reunion Tower, Epic Waters indoor waterpark in Grand Prairie, and see the Rangers, Mavericks, and/or Stars play if they have a home game - as well as find some bar at which to watch the Final Four, which happens to be the same weekend).

Regarding this proposed trip, one thing I'm trying to figure out is where to watch the eclipse itself. I've pictured myself doing it from the top of some parking garage in downtown Dallas, much like what I did in 2017 (at the time, I was in Columbia, MO, on the first day of my last semester at Mizzou, and I - along with many other fellow students - saw the eclipse from atop one of the many garages on campus). Anyway, what do you think would be some good eclipse viewing spots in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and what do you recommend in terms of other stuff to do in the area during my time there, aside from the stuff I've already mentioned? Thanks!

[Jim]

One thing I had no idea to expect in 2017 that I would have missed if I ended up in a parking lot or something like that instead of a park is the crescent shadows of leaves.

[Rothman]

^ The path of totality in NY also creates an interesting dynamic. It's nearly split in two because of Lake Ontario, with the prime viewing areas closest to the center line being along the I-90 corridor from the PA line to Rochester, and then further north along the NY 3 corridor from Watertown to Plattsburgh. I could see Syracuse (which is right on the edge of totality) being hit from both directions with traffic heading further into/away from the path on both I-81 and I-90.

Anyone staying in NY for the eclipse or, even sillier, heading north, is fooling themselves that they'll see anything but gray clouds.

[webny99]

^ The path of totality in NY also creates an interesting dynamic. It's nearly split in two because of Lake Ontario, with the prime viewing areas closest to the center line being along the I-90 corridor from the PA line to Rochester, and then further north along the NY 3 corridor from Watertown to Plattsburgh. I could see Syracuse (which is right on the edge of totality) being hit from both directions with traffic heading further into/away from the path on both I-81 and I-90.

Anyone staying in NY for the eclipse or, even sillier, heading north, is fooling themselves that they'll see anything but gray clouds.

If it was February or March, then yes. April is a more of a toss up, there's certainly a non-zero chance it will be clear or partially clear.

[SSOWorld]

One thing I had no idea to expect in 2017 that I would have missed if I ended up in a parking lot or something like that instead of a park is the crescent shadows of leaves.

I was outside the hotel I was staying at in Grand Island during the eclipse.  I drove in the day prior and left the day after - thus I didn't have to deal with the traffic.  However I had to deal with my health which prompted me to abandon a US-30 clinch in favor of getting the **** home.

[Rothman]

^ The path of totality in NY also creates an interesting dynamic. It's nearly split in two because of Lake Ontario, with the prime viewing areas closest to the center line being along the I-90 corridor from the PA line to Rochester, and then further north along the NY 3 corridor from Watertown to Plattsburgh. I could see Syracuse (which is right on the edge of totality) being hit from both directions with traffic heading further into/away from the path on both I-81 and I-90.

Anyone staying in NY for the eclipse or, even sillier, heading north, is fooling themselves that they'll see anything but gray clouds.

If it was February or March, then yes. April is a more of a toss up, there's certainly a non-zero chance it will be clear or partially clear.

Oh, come on.  Totality crosses the cloudiest areas of New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Tug Hill...We're talking April 8th.  Sure, a non-zero chance...but you're talking about areas of the country where even on the days of the greatest chance of being clear (during the summer), that chance is still less than 70%.  On April 8th, you're looking at the chance of it being cloudy as more than 50%.  Weatherspark merely states that in Watertown in April, cloud cover is constant.

Western and central Upstate NY is simply one of the cloudiest areas of the entire country.  Sure, if you can't get out of Dodge, you're stuck with the high likelihood that it will be cloudy.  But, staying in NY if you really want to see the eclipse and have the means to head off to better climes, is just foolhardy. 

[webny99]

...
Anyone staying in NY for the eclipse or, even sillier, heading north, is fooling themselves that they'll see anything but gray clouds.

If it was February or March, then yes. April is a more of a toss up, there's certainly a non-zero chance it will be clear or partially clear.

Oh, come on.  Totality crosses the cloudiest areas of New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Tug Hill...We're talking April 8th.  Sure, a non-zero chance...but you're talking about areas of the country where even on the days of the greatest chance of being clear (during the summer), that chance is still less than 70%.  On April 8th, you're looking at the chance of it being cloudy as more than 50%.  Weatherspark merely states that in Watertown in April, cloud cover is constant.

Western and central Upstate NY is simply one of the cloudiest areas of the entire country.  Sure, if you can't get out of Dodge, you're stuck with the high likelihood that it will be cloudy.  But, staying in NY if you really want to see the eclipse and have the means to head off to better climes, is just foolhardy.

The same Weatherspark says for Rochester, there's a 47% chance of being partly or mostly clear, 53% chance of partly or mostly cloudy. That's pretty much the definition of a toss up.

Taking another look at the graph that 7/8 posted in reply# 24, there's really not a huge difference between most of Texas and western NY. If you really want the greatest chance of clear weather, you have to go well into Mexico, and that's a whole different story. I also have anectodal experience of being in Texas in late March (San Antonio area, 1-2 weeks before the eclipse date) and it was cloudy when I arrived and at least partly cloudy for most of the stay until the final day, so that's not swaying me towards Texas either. No denying there is a greater chance of it being clear there, but for the big jump from around 50% down to almost 0%, you'd have to go to extreme western Texas or Mexico.