This thread really isn't about meeting up (annerj's post excluded). It's just about where you plan on going to watch the eclipse.

That said, Wyoming Parks Department is planning all sorts of Eclipse-related activities. I may try to snag a campsite at Glendo State Park.

http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/Press/SolarEclipse.aspx

Wherever I am I intend to be High

Interestingly the price increases for at least a couple of Nashville Marriotts I checked but only for Monday. I would have thought that it'd go up both days or something.

In any case, I reserved in Nashville for now. I can cancel and reserve elsewhere if something else firms up. ^

I would be happy to attend a do if the probability of reasonable weather was good. This seems like a nice excuse to visit a new place in the US. :) However I would prefer somewhere near an airport, not a campsite in the middle of nowhere. This is largely because I prefer not to drive for hours and hours unless I really have to.

I dimly remember watching the total eclipse in Cornwall in 1999, it was completely cloudy right up until a minute or so before totality.

I have a reservation in Nashville; hotel will get ~1 min 50 sec of total eclipse. I will also have a car as I plan to visit friends in the area before/after the eclipse.

FWIW I started a wiki with people mentioning vaguely specific plans, although I may have missed some.

From http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/weather/2017_clouds.htm it seems that BOI is the optimal place, with a ~ 50 % chance of being clear and a ~ 10% chance of being overcast.

Perhaps they missed some smaller settlement somewhere though.

What's missing is that Boise is not within the path of totality.

! What a fail

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

BOI proper, no...however it's within a very easy 60-90 minute drive of the path, in an area that is very likely to have good weather at this time of year

Where were you planning? We were thinking of flying into BOI as well, but I don't know Idaho well enough to decide where to actually stay.

Ontario, Oregon area

for the purposes of this thread i have a proposal. perhaps we should try to agree on "west" "midwest" and "east" locations for DO's. many people will probably be interested in getting together, but having a regional focus might start to bring order to the conversation.

As an option to thwart clouds, is anyone planning to rent a plane and just fly at 30,000 ft to observe the eclipse?

That's good if you just want to observe the eclipse, especially if you want to collect scientific data, but part of the magic is being on the ground. Particularly if there are birds around as they get quite confused.

Yes, but this is FlyerTalk not GroundTalk. ;)

I don't know how good the viewing would be out of typical airplane windows. The sun is going to fairly high up (anywhere over the US), and might get distorted through the double pane glass typically used on airplanes because of the angle. But how easy is it to rent a plane with panoramic overhead windows (like some trains have), given how rare the use of them in an airplane would be?

If you're going to rent an airplane, you want to do something which no one in staying on land anywhere can do: Catch the total eclipse within a few minutes after sunrise or within a few minutes before sunset, when it will be near horizon (and the only time it's fairly safe to glance at the transition between totality and partiality without eye protection). The issue is that both of those events will happen way out in the middle of the ocean far from anything, so only a boat or a plane would provide access to them.

I'm going to be a bit further south in FL

not a lot of discussion here, but see the link in post #3 therein ... probably not a trivial undertaking to arrange

We booked the HIX Ontario. Planning to go as of now.

hope you got better rates than the $681 referenced upthread :eek:

I booked for $140 today after seeing $681 on Friday and deciding to transfer in some UR instead. I used the mobile app, if that makes any difference.

I need to edit mine. We will be in Jackson, WY. (Staying in Afton, WY the night before and driving to Jackson, WY the morning of the eclipse.)

We are staying in Afton the night of the 20th. Driving into Jackson for the eclipse. After the event, we are headed to Provo then south to the Grand Canyon. Let us know (Will be four adults). Would be great fun!

Oh yes. The Four Seasons Jackson, WY. 5 night minimum-$1680/night that week. Idaho Falls hotels Sold out. I tried the Caspar Courtyard. They did reservations only by phone. $550/night-no thanks.

My house is on the edge of the zone of totality in Nashville. The school I work at will be directly in the line of totality for 2 minutes 20 seconds, so I suspect I will be busy trying to convince students not to stare directly at the sun...
When looking at hotels in the Nashville area, further east and north will be better. Mt Juliet, Lebanon, Gallatin, even Hendersonville will be in total eclipse. There are a lot of hotel rooms from Nashville airport and Opryland and suburbs on the east side that will be in totality if anyone is looking here. Clarksville TN is another town with quite a few hotels that will see totality, with Hopkinsville KY just up the road.

I'm in Dayton, OH so I'm still debating between hitting the easy button and planning for KY or TN, or heading to perhaps OR or ID in hopes of better weather odds. I also could make a small trip out of a stay in OR/ID and do some sightseeing in certain areas in the region prior to hitting a spot for the eclipse itself on the 21st. Definitely planning to go somewhere to see totality though.

Not along the West coast. The event will be between 10:00 and 10:30 in Oregon.

at Newport (on the coast; the first contact of the shadow with land) the partial phase begins shortly after 0900PDT and totality begins at 1015PDT :cool:

info from Eclipse2017.org

(forehead smack) Right, UTC-7 not UTC-8. But the sun will still not be "fairly high up".

(NASA's map is the best I've found.)

Booked a placeholder trip for extended weekend staying in west yellowstone - will drive down mon morning to perhaps driggs or sonewhere nearby...

Going to be graduating college in May 2017, no clue where my job will take me/if I will be self sufficient with my business. Hopefully I get to go, but I can't book this far advance. The numbers will have to work, but being based in Chicago I can take an easy St Louis trip or even KC/BNA for flying.

Jackson WY
 

Hwy 89 crosses the center of the eclipse path. So is the airport, parking lot is just off center path of the eclipse. I might consider the Gros Ventre Rd as it will probably be less crowded. Will just be there a couple of days since I will be finishing off my 1K mileage run later that week by doing a 2 day trip to SIN. Will be at about 1.5 million miles on UA. Hope they have a Polaris seat on that 787 but I think it is only going on their triple 7's:D

I just read about this in the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...cc0_story.html

My first thought was also Jackson Hole, but summer accommodations are tight there in the best of times, and it seems basically impossible now for the eclipse (at least at any price I'd be willing to pay).

I then thought about Nashville, which I haven't visited in a few years, and was thinking of planning a visit anyway. Supposedly near the best viewing -- at least if it's not cloudy! Lots of hotel rooms near BNA, and they tend to be cheap. I was able to book the last award room at a HIX north of town (the best viewing is north of town), but I'm sure there are still other options. I wouldn't wait, though -- lots of hotels have figured this out, and already jacked their room rates "sky high". I'm still not 100% sure we'll go, but I think it probable. And no risk holding a cancelable reservation.

There is zero hotel availability in Casper, WY, except for a Super 8 charging over $1000/night.

The city of Casper is converting one of their parks into a campground. $125 for five nights in a 20x20 tent site. I was able to grab two sites today for my family and my sister's family.

They are also converting the town's arena's parking lot into a RV Park. $300 for five nights.

I'll either be near Beatrice, NE or Grand Island, NE for the eclipse. The weather forecast the night before will be the tiebreaker in terms of where I go.

Well, I'm heading to western NE. Actually staying in Sidney, but that is minor distraction. Wide open space, decent roads and can go east or west fairly easily if the weather changes. Madras, OR has the best % of clear skies but it is limited to 1 or 2 narrow lane roads if you and 50,000 of your closest friends decide to move at once.

I have been lucky seeing what I call 11 out of 12. The last 2 eclipses (China 2009 and Australia 2012) were only viewed for about 40% of the alloted time. The other 10 eclispse were clear skies. As for scattered or broken, I would not worry too much about that. It has been known that a broken sky is clear enough a few miles down the road.

For those who are younger, there is another total solar eclipse in the USA in 2024 as well as 2 good eclipses in Chile/Argentina in 2019 and 2020. So if you are nearby the path of totality in the Eastern USA, just wait and see the day before.

The best sources are Jay Anderson's site, http://eclipsophile.com/ and the NASA site ( http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogl...21Tgoogle.html).

Previous eclipse DO's -- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...ug-2008-a.html

Wow! I live in Charleston SC in the path of totality! Darn it, I was planning to attend the Edmonton Fringe Festival of Aug. 17--27, but this is more important--and at home.
Oh well, I suppose I can fly to YEG on Aug. 22 :) for the second half!

I'm going to try for this one, what a sight!

I've got two options I think: Get to Alliance, NE area, where I have family to visit too. I'm currently planning on visiting them in June, but might have to move this to August for the eclipse..

OR use my Companion Pass to get to Charleston, Greenville/Spartanburg, Kansas City, or Nashville on a quick WN roundtrip.

Leaning towards rescheduling my family visit, such a cool sight to see!

NPR Science Friday was talking about the eclipse recently, and advised the likeliest place for clear skies (for optimal viewing) is probably Wyoming. Plan accordingly! lol

My brother lives just north of Kansas City, MO, so I will probably be in that area on Aug 21st.

Another cool option would to be in a moving vehicle along the path, maintaining totality for a longer time. (Is that even possible?)

Nope, David, not possible! The umbra of totality will travel about 1000 mph/ 1600 km/h from the Pacific Coast of Oregon to the Atlantic Coast of South Carolina in about 2.5 hours! About the speed of a Concorde! Trying to chase it in a car or train @200 mph may add 30--40 seconds to the totality.