The Eclipse Apocalypse is Upon Us!

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I'm at my daughter's in Carbondale IL, close to the longest totality. Yesterday traffic and activity was pretty normal. This morning...it took 15 minutes to get a cup of coffee at McD's at 5:30 AM. Parking lots were already filling up. Think I'll stay in this air-conditioned house til about 1:15 pm.

The wife and other daughter work at Land Between the Lakes in western KY, also in the path of totality. Normal daily activity at the welcome station is about 300 visitors or so. Saturday was at least 1500. Yesterday they quit counting at 1700, and couldn't answer the phone because of the number of visitors asking questions ("NO, there are no more campsites"). Today... they left an hour early and took sleeping bags and food with them because they expect to spend the night due to heavy traffic.

Best,
Terry
 
Billboard on highway leading to Savannah...............


Welcome.....WATCH the eclipse. STAY for the Triffids! :y:
 
We got 97% in Huntsville, and corporate sent boxes of Moonpies, Sun Drops, and Starbursts to the sites for those of us that were here. (there were certainly a bunch "Out of Office" today...)
 
Here's how it looked at the peak from Fredericksburg VA. This was taken with my DSLR and 140mm lens shooting through a solar filter.

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Savannah in the 97% zone, unfortunately it thunder/lightening and heavy rain for duration of eclipse, so I watched it on TV.
 
Were I in the totality, I would launch a big honking sparky (M2200 anyone?) directly at the sun at peak darkness (right were the most people can see). Something like out of Star Trek - Generations. That ought to send a few looser screws over the edge.


...speaking of loose screws...the X and her mother were convinced the N Koreans were going to attack the US with nuke missiles coming in under the cover of the eclipse...it took me a while to convince them that this couldn't happen, The NK missileers are not very good at it, yet. The ONLY place that's US territory in range, sort of, is Guam. That the nearest they might reach. Now, Japan on the other hand, has much to worry about. First, there's ancient feuds, they have been fighting each other for centuries. The wounds from WW2 haven't healed either.

Any way, I did manage to mollify them, somewhat....I would like to know where they got that idea...
 
Hardly any traffic in the outskirts of Wilsonville OR. Was another amazing experience. (I saw the 1991 eclipse as well). Heading down the I-5 here shortly back to California. We figure the night time traffic will be a little less.
 
We didn't get any pictures of totality (needed to remove the filter--Ugh!). But here are the moments before and after it, taken with my phone through my daughter's $50 telescope with a sun filter. The quality of the pics isn't great, but the experience was incredible. The cicadas started singing and we could see two stars during totality.

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1503352190.877267.jpg
ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1503352223.635814.jpg
 
We had 77.7% here. Light clouds, more like a haze. Took the dog out for her duties at the peak. Couldn't look at the sun...to bright (didn't get glasses, still broke)...neighbors all out trying to get a selfie with the at the back of their head. Didn't notice any noticeable difference in daylight. I did watch it several times on the Weather Channel. Poor Can Man. During the 2:40 of totality it was covered with clouds. Clouds broke just as the diamond peeped out. Stephanie Abrahams cried on TV. Maria was HOT as ever, Jen was a noticeably cooler self off set.
All in all, nothing great for me here in Mid Lower Michigan...:eyeroll:
 
We had 77.7% here. Light clouds, more like a haze. Took the dog out for her duties at the peak. Couldn't look at the sun...to bright (didn't get glasses, still broke)...neighbors all out trying to get a selfie with the at the back of their head. Didn't notice any noticeable difference in daylight. I did watch it several times on the Weather Channel. Poor Can Man. During the 2:40 of totality it was covered with clouds. Clouds broke just as the diamond peeped out. Stephanie Abrahams cried on TV. Maria was HOT as ever, Jen was a noticeably cooler self off set.
All in all, nothing great for me here in Mid Lower Michigan...:eyeroll:

It would be cool to see it where its 100% blackout. Someone described it as the sky being a dark purple and being able to see the stars while on the horizon it was reds and oranges
 
You can call me Back roads Brainstormin’ Billy Bob, BOO YAH!! I couldn’t have planned it better. Granted, it took 45 minutes to an hour longer to get there, but I avoided every scrap of event traffic. Coming home was different since I opted to take the interstates. That was grand also. Nowhere near as busy as all those morning folks racing to beat the clock.

Woodruff SC was well into the path of totality, and I’m pretty certain most or all the folks there were locals. The city park just wasn’t that crowded. Prolly 500 or so, best guess. Nice folks too. I asked one of the event coordinators if I could set my canopy next to the vendors at the sidewalk near the shelter and got the OK. What a spot! And I thought I’d have to set up in some remote area like so many already did.

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These folks waiting in line for free glasses.

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Unusual solar glasses modification. (kids in the center)
Hey guys, you look weird and your mama dresses you funny!


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My canopy cleverly disguised as a vendor. The T shirt lady and I daisy chained.

Corona.jpg
Best corona shot I got and not very good. And BTW, with the naked eye, it looks more like what they're showing on the news than what you see in that elaborate photo in post #30.

Crescent.jpg
And a half azzed crescent pic. I forgot to zoom. Those solar glasses over the camera lens helps a lot.

All in all, it was a spectacular show. FINALLY! A celestial event that wasn’t shrouded by overcast. Seems like I never get to see lunar events or meteor showers anymore. Got a really good break this time around. Well worth the time and the trip.
 
Went to Orangeburg. No clouds +- 20 min either side of totality Got a couple pics a little better than Gary's in the previous post, might be able to do a little editing to bring out detail.

Beautiful!and worth the trip. Brought my 88 year old mother.
 
It would be cool to see it where its 100% blackout. Someone described it as the sky being a dark purple and being able to see the stars while on the horizon it was reds and oranges

That's a fair description of how it was. We were more into just experiencing it...though we set my iPhone on a stand on top of the car and I took a sort of selfie video starting about one minute before totality while I just watched - and tried and failed to get a corona shot in the middle of totality. In the video you can see the phone's auto-exposure change to compensate for the darkening as it progressed and there was enough light from that glorious corona to make the video look like it was late evening, but not dark. The 360 degree sunset was pretty amazing especially since there was smoke in the air which led to thin clouds here in Madras. (And some idiot set off a fairly large firework in the middle of totality - you can see it bursting in the sky behind me in the video. Talk about a mood-breaker with that noise....!)

It was a little dismaying that about two minutes after totality was over the exodus from the campground next to the airport began. I think it took some people three or four hours just to get out of the immediate area. As I noted before my wife and I are simply staying until tomorrow sometime. The folks leaving now are getting at least off the airport much more readily and only a small number are left out at this end of the makeshift campground. No more banging sani-can doors at all hours of the night, and the family with the small children who were up WAY past their bedtime last night and let everyone nearby know it just left.....so it should be a much more restful night.

We may go over to the Erickson Collection air museum before we leave town. They put on a real show yesterday evening by flying FIVE WWII airplanes - a P-38, P-47, P-51, Corsair and one I thought was a Yak-3 (but might not be) around and over us a couple of times.

Added much later: It wasn't a Yak-3, it was an Oscar. The Erickson Collection doesn't have any Russian aircraft.

Also, the nearby New Basin Distilling Company is pretty cool, too..... :)
 
Went to Orangeburg. No clouds +- 20 min either side of totality Got a couple pics a little better than Gary's in the previous post, might be able to do a little editing to bring out detail.

Beautiful!and worth the trip. Brought my 88 year old mother.

I'll send you every thing I have if you think you can find a couple good ones to work with.
 
What stunned me was just how different the totality experience was from the moments just before. When everyone took their glasses off there were audible gasps and laughter. It was just a crazy feeling.

We're adding a couple days of hiking in Ozark National Forest, but I'll post a few of my pics of totality when we get home.
 
What stunned me was just how different the totality experience was from the moments just before. When everyone took their glasses off there were audible gasps and laughter. It was just a crazy feeling.

That matches what I've heard. Didn't get to witness totality this time but am gonna try in 2024.

Seeing partial is weird and cool in its own right though (saw 50-some percent here in Montreal).
 
My other hobby is astrophotography. The sky was perfect in Cookeville, Tn, where I took this with a 1000 mm telescope.DSC_0095c.jpg
 
I'm gonna start saving my pennies for the next one. If I live that long. Shortest distance for me would be Indianapolis. Never been there. I know people there. Might make for a great round trip flight for me, my daughter, Jake and my grand baby. My daughter got to see a 98% today. Not nearly the experience of the total. Gonna need a better camera though.

And what you said Doktor Merkwuerdigliebe. From the moment the diamond ring went away and the corona bloomed, the whole crowd was totally in awe. It was like a rush or something. A sense of joy blanketed everybody.
 
Proflaser

Very nice, best pic I have seen yet, could I talk you into a high resolution copy?
 
Lots of small towns are setting up their fairgrounds, football fields, & city park spaces into temporary camping for the weekend. Many of them are charging $100-$200/night to park an RV or even set up a tent. Again, that's pretty outrageous, but I get it and don't begrudge them too much. But.....the catch is you have to book a three or even four night minimum. I'm sorry but this too just pushes over the line into greed.

s6

I'm sure some were excessive. Ours was $100 for up to four nights (not each night, all four). I heard that it made $26k for the local small town high school. That $100 included shower/restroom privlidges at the HS gym, which made it way worth it.
 
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