I stayed in Spearfish, got going first thing in the morning, drove to Sundance and then south to get as close to Lusk as I could. Traffic was no big deal till I got past Newcastle
2024 solar eclipse
- Thread starter Isualum13
- Start date
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It was so incredible being able to look up in the night sky and see that spaceship hiding comet. Shoot, we had units in school built around comets, making comets, studying the tail. I was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade but remember it so well.
We're extremely excited. We're on the center line of the total eclipse. The whole town is throwing a 3 day party beginning Saturday Apr 6. They've already cancelled school for Monday as well. The Cleveland area is expecting 250,000 - 300,000 people showing up.
Got a hotel room south of STL, in Farmington, MO. Will probably attempt to head towards Cape Girardeau but Farmington is in the path to totality so might just stay there.
we went to Mexico, Missouri last time.
It was cloudy so packed the kids in the car and started driving south and then east on I-70.
When it cleared up we pulled over on a random empty exit and it was perfect. We were pretty much dead center of the path.
Gonna keep the options open again and a full tank of gas on the ready. Wherever the weather is best.
So cool. Must see.
It was cloudy so packed the kids in the car and started driving south and then east on I-70.
When it cleared up we pulled over on a random empty exit and it was perfect. We were pretty much dead center of the path.
Gonna keep the options open again and a full tank of gas on the ready. Wherever the weather is best.
So cool. Must see.
Absolutely doing this, will be staying with my girlfriend's family in Waco that weekend. Hopefully there's not a massive deck of clouds over Texas. I'd like to drive out away from the bigger towns/cities a bit and find an open field without anyone else around. That might be hard without trespassing... so I'll probably look for a state park or something similar that has a lot of land so I can walk out away from other people.
We were in northern Kansas and it was overcast. We kind of caught a sliver, but I was pretty bummed.
Fortunately, my wife knew someone who knew someone who was having an eclipse pool party and at that point in the day I was feeling no pain.
I think that's basically what my parents did. They had nothing but clouds but suddenly had a clearing about 15 minutes before totality.
My wife, kids, and I had just visited them in central Iowa and were on our way to Florida. We spent the night before the eclipse in north central Mo and realized we needed to move eastward to get away from the clouds -- our next hotel was near Nashville, so it worked out nicely. We ended up at Paul Ice Recreation Area near Carbondale, IL to view the actual eclipse. It was incredible and eerie, and I knew we'd have to watch the 2024 one as well.
We currently have two motels booked for the night before: south of us near Effingham, IL and east of us near Ft Wayne, IN. We'll pick one and cancel the other depending on the forecast.
We live in DFW area and are to have 3 minutes 20 seconds of totality. Also supposed to be cloudy with chance of rain so hoping for the best. How many other Fanatics are in the totality path?
We booked a place in Branson but will drive somewhere monday to view. Find a church or school parking lot, maybe mark twain forest. Any suggestions?
I'm heading to Dallas from Minnesota for the eclipse. The weather is not looking good...hope the forecast changes before then.
How insane is it going to be in the area? We're hoping to see some sights, find some good restaurants, etc. but are worried it will be a madhouse everywhere. Any tips?
I was in southern IL a few years back for the eclipse. It was a mad house. Hours of traffic to go short distances. Luckily we had the hotel booked for a work trip and didn't have to go far. Same with dinner...reservations made several months in advance. Not sure I'd do it again other than the actual viewing.
Go early or you won’t get there. Last time (‘17?) around traffic in rural Missouri was the most bonkers I have ever experienced.
In 2017 we went to a smallntown in Kansas ended up viewing from a tractor dealership. This year I'm headed to a small town in SE missouri. I called the city hall a few weeks ago and they gave me the contact of a gentleman that owns a long term rv lot. He said I could park there for the Sunday night. I'm taking extra glasses to share with any locals that might want them. Weather is looking pretty good at this point but I have some back up plans in Arkansas and Illinois.
If your going to try and drive the morning of to the path of totality give yourself way more time than you think you'll need like three or four times. You'll hate yourself if you get stuck in traffic and miss totality. Try and find back roads too as main higways will be packed. It's why I'm headed partway Saturday and plan on arriving at my destination Sunday afternoon. Then I'll return partway Monday and get back Tuesday.
I'm taking my short tailgating bus that I have converted into a very minimalistic rv.
We live in Central AR, right in the middle of the prime viewing area. They've been telling us for over a year that we're expected to have 1.5-2M (and maybe as many as 4M) MORE people concentrated in a small band width of the state (a state with a total population of 3M) plus many of our in-state population from the east and west outside of prime viewing area coming in. Roads will be blocked, gas and grocery shortages, cell phone service will be unavailable. Pretty much like apocalyptic type of situation for 3-4+ days. People have been renting property, campsites, houses at ridiculous prices and there's people from all over the world. This isn't just coming from news outlets or chamber of commerce BS. This is from city, county and state EMS departments. All for 5 minutes.
Im doing a 4 day river float right in totality path. Gonna be tits. For my best friends bachelor party.
