2017 solar eclipse live from Casper

Bice:
So, 25+ hours in the car, a couple hundred bucks for hotels, plus food
and gas...all for two and a half minutes of totality. It was totally
worth it.

David DeLaney:
Check! agreed.

Somebody got off cheap! We drove from Maryland to Hendersonville, Tenn.
for the event. "We" being my wife and I and our imaging partner, a
British friend who is serving with the RAF in Qatar. Add his airline
transport to the total cost. I had my Questar rehabbed and upgraded
beforehand and bought a Tri Stand. Add $6k. $3k+ for a RN to stay with
my 92 y.o. mother in law 24/7 in our absence. Hotel was cheap, as I
booked far in advance. Add food and fuel and various gear purchased for
the event--camping chairs, portable tables, and whatnot--and I reckon
the cost of our expedition for three was NLT $12,000. Worth every
penny. Already planning to for Texas in 2024.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Sun, 27 Aug 2017 01:43:40 -0500, David DeLaney
wrote:

On 2017-08-25, Bice wrote:
coast would all be trying to drive north on the same highway. It took
us over four hours just to get through the Knoxville, TN area.

... Huh. Carthage is a little ways north of I-40, but is much closer to
Nashville; were you trying to go back up I-75? Because yeah, that was gonna
be a tire fire from the start. Of course, so would I-65 have been;

Our plan was I-40 east to Knoxville and then I-81 north all the way
home (it goes right by Harrisburg, PA, which is just a few minutes
away from where we live).

That plan...failed.


you might've
done better, in hindsight, to take county/state routes north from Carthage
until you hit I-69.

We definitely would have been better off taking back roads. At one
point we got off the highway and on to...I'm thinking it was route 11
or something like that? Much lower speed limit, but at least it was
moving and headed in generally the right direction.

-- Bob

Bice:
Our plan was I-40 east to Knoxville and then I-81 north all the way
home (it goes right by Harrisburg, PA, which is just a few minutes
away from where we live).

That plan...failed.

We definitely would have been better off taking back roads. At one
point we got off the highway and on to...I'm thinking it was route 11
or something like that? Much lower speed limit, but at least it was
moving and headed in generally the right direction.

Was this on Tuesday? Heading from the Nashville area toward the
Annapolis, MD, area, we followed I-40E to I-81N. We subscribe to Lexus
Enform and were warned early of the fatal accident that closed 81N. We
took I-77 through Bluefield, WV to Beckley, WV, and then I-64E to
rejoin 81 north of the accident. We kept moving, but our 11-hour drive
required 16 hours. There are similar stories from all over the country.

Had it not been for the accident we would have reached the Capital
Beltway during rush hour. We planned to bypass Washington and follow
I-81N to its intersection with I-70 near Hagerstown and then take I-70E
toward Baltimore. It turned out we hit the Beltway well after rush
hour.

Still, the trip was unquestioningly worthwhile for my wife, our imaging
partner and myself
https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/c05ed6229289471daa0d1757176782db.
(The T-shirt is my own design, thank you.)

We've got it made for 2024, as we have a friend who lives in Texas near
the centerline. We'll Fedex the telescopes and mounts to him and fly
down.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Monday, August 28, 2017 at 2:18:05 PM UTC-7, Davoud wrote:
Bice:
Our plan was I-40 east to Knoxville and then I-81 north all the way
home (it goes right by Harrisburg, PA, which is just a few minutes
away from where we live).

That plan...failed.

We definitely would have been better off taking back roads. At one
point we got off the highway and on to...I'm thinking it was route 11
or something like that? Much lower speed limit, but at least it was
moving and headed in generally the right direction.

Was this on Tuesday? Heading from the Nashville area toward the
Annapolis, MD, area, we followed I-40E to I-81N. We subscribe to Lexus
Enform and were warned early of the fatal accident that closed 81N. We
took I-77 through Bluefield, WV to Beckley, WV, and then I-64E to
rejoin 81 north of the accident. We kept moving, but our 11-hour drive
required 16 hours. There are similar stories from all over the country.

Had it not been for the accident we would have reached the Capital
Beltway during rush hour. We planned to bypass Washington and follow
I-81N to its intersection with I-70 near Hagerstown and then take I-70E
toward Baltimore. It turned out we hit the Beltway well after rush
hour.

Still, the trip was unquestioningly worthwhile for my wife, our imaging
partner and myself
https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/c05ed6229289471daa0d1757176782db.
(The T-shirt is my own design, thank you.)

We've got it made for 2024, as we have a friend who lives in Texas near
the centerline. We'll Fedex the telescopes and mounts to him and fly
down.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

I was in Oregon in the mountains north of John Day, in a meadow off the a side road which was off another side road, off yet another side road, and we practically had the place to ourselves. we only saw a couple of cars from Saturday to Tuesday. We just stayed there an extra night and let all the traffic jams clear out. When we finally made it back to paved roads there was just a little bit of traffic, and that was just through Bend, Oregon. after that it was smooth sailing all the way back to San Diego.

For 2024 (should I live that long) I, too, have a friend in Texas, a reasonable distance from the center-line, near Ft. Davis, and he has a really nice 48" Dob which will keep us busy for the week preceding the eclipse (assuming *he* lives that long ;)

\Paul A

Davoud:
We've got it made for 2024, as we have a friend who lives in Texas near
the centerline. We'll Fedex the telescopes and mounts to him and fly
down.

palsing:
For 2024 (should I live that long) I, too, have a friend in Texas, a
reasonable distance from the center-line, near Ft. Davis, and he has a really
nice 48" Dob which will keep us busy for the week preceding the eclipse (assuming *he* lives that long ;)

In the interest of keeping this light and airy I wasn't going to touch
on that. I'll turn 80 in 2024‹if I live; my friend in Texas will turn
82‹if he lives.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Tuesday, 29 August 2017 03:53:29 UTC+2, Davoud wrote:
Davoud:
We've got it made for 2024, as we have a friend who lives in Texas near
the centerline. We'll Fedex the telescopes and mounts to him and fly
down.

palsing:
For 2024 (should I live that long) I, too, have a friend in Texas, a
reasonable distance from the center-line, near Ft. Davis, and he has a really
nice 48" Dob which will keep us busy for the week preceding the eclipse (assuming *he* lives that long ;)

In the interest of keeping this light and airy I wasn't going to touch
on that. I'll turn 80 in 2024å–«f I live; my friend in Texas will turn
82å–«f he lives.

Just remember to eat your [organic] greens and get lots of exercise.
You'll be carrying that 48" out onto the back lawn between you.

On Mon, 21 Aug 2017 05:07:01 +0000, D B Davis wrote:

People from around the world continue to converge in my hometown of
Casper Wyoming to experience the solar eclipse of 2017. Approximately
two hundred and fifty private aircraft will land at the airport tomorrow
to view the eclipse from the tarmac.

I live in Nashville, TN, which was slightly off-center in the totality
zone. We had about two minutes of totality. I helped put on a free
festival, organized by three non-profit groups, that had live music,
speakers, and poets. The weather was mostly clear, and there weren't any
clouds in the way at totality. Ironically, an expensive eclipse party at
a stadium about three miles away had a cloud overhead at totality, while
our free festival had clear viewing.

There was not as much traffic congestion within the city itself as I had
expected, but apparently all of the Interstates leading out of the city
turned into parking lots after you had left the eclipse zone. My sister
had come from Richmond, Virginia, to Nashville, to see the eclipse, and
chose to take back roads going home, rather than the Interstate. Even so,
a normally-10-hour trip took about 13 hours.

John F. Eldredge:
I live in Nashville, TN, which was slightly off-center in the totality
zone. We had about two minutes of totality. I helped put on a free
festival, organized by three non-profit groups, that had live music,
speakers, and poets. The weather was mostly clear, and there weren't any
clouds in the way at totality. Ironically, an expensive eclipse party at
a stadium about three miles away had a cloud overhead at totality, while
our free festival had clear viewing.

There was not as much traffic congestion within the city itself as I had
expected, but apparently all of the Interstates leading out of the city
turned into parking lots after you had left the eclipse zone. My sister
had come from Richmond, Virginia, to Nashville, to see the eclipse, and
chose to take back roads going home, rather than the Interstate. Even so,
a normally-10-hour trip took about 13 hours.

My wife, my imaging partner, and I drove from near Annapolis, MD, to
Hendersonville. (Very nice town, that!) Weather was gorgeous, with no
significant clouds until the very last seconds of the eclipse, but
boiling hot--though maybe worse in Nashville. The Hyatt House in
Hendersonville has a nice grassy area adjacent to the parking lot in
front where we set up our 'scopes and cameras near the SUV that
contained our gear.

We thought we were being smart by not driving home until Tuesday. I-40
in Tennessee was a fast track, but I-81 in Virginia is among the worst
of the worst. Thanks to Lexus Enform we avoided the huge backup behind
a fatal accident (truck hit cars from behind, as usual). We detoured
through WVa to avoid the accident. Our 11-hour drive required nearly 16
hours.

But worth it! Thanks, Tennessee!

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 17:18:01 -0400, Davoud wrote:

Bice:
Our plan was I-40 east to Knoxville and then I-81 north all the way
home (it goes right by Harrisburg, PA, which is just a few minutes
away from where we live).

That plan...failed.

Was this on Tuesday?

No, Monday immediately after the eclipse. We actually started driving
about 20 minutes after totality (so roughly 3pm eastern time) and gave
up and found a hotel room in southern Virginia around 11:30pm. Hit
the road again the next morning (Tue) around 7am and finally made it
back to the Harrisburg, PA area around 3pm.


We subscribe to Lexus Enform and were warned early of the fatal accident
that closed 81N.

That's probably what we got stuck in on Tuesday. We stoppped at a
rest stop in the late morning and when we got back on the road we
immediately got into standstill traffic. If we hadn't stopped, we
might have gotten through the area before the accident...or on the
other hand we might have been IN the accident.

Fortunately we were near an exit so when it became obvious that
nothing was moving we took the exit with the plan of going up rt. 11.
But that's where everyone else was going, so we just picked a random
back road to the east of I-81 that was going roughly north, followed
it for a while then wound our way back to 81 well north of the
accident. Things went (relatively) smoothly after that.

We planned to bypass Washington and follow
I-81N to its intersection with I-70 near Hagerstown

That's actually how we went south on Sunday, on our way to see the
eclipse. Down 81 into Maryland, then 70 west into Kentucky.


Still, the trip was unquestioningly worthwhile for my wife, our imaging
partner and myself
https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/c05ed6229289471daa0d1757176782db.

You got some really nice pictures. I saved a couple to my hard drive
because they look closer to what I actually saw than any of the other
images of the eclipse that I've found online.


(The T-shirt is my own design, thank you.)

Oh, I want one of those. Very nice. Got any extras?

This is the shirt they were selling in the town where my daughter and
I watched the eclipse:

http://eichler.byethost11.com/CarthageEclipseShirt.jpg

I just realized as I took that picture that that's the BACK of the
shirt. No wonder it didn't fit right when I tried it on right after
buying it.

We've got it made for 2024, as we have a friend who lives in Texas near
the centerline. We'll Fedex the telescopes and mounts to him and fly
down.

My tentative plan for 2024 is to go diagonally across PA and watch it
from the shore of lake Erie in the northeastern corner of the state.

-- Bob