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We arrived at PDX at 23:30 on Friday thanks to weather at DFW and pick up at National was fairly quiet with a lot of cars available. Traffic down to Eugene was no problem! Driving up to Albany on Monday took 45 minutes and we arrived about 8:00. We had a second breakfast at Applebees, which was open especially for the eclipse, and ending up watching from the parking lot along with the Applebees employees (management had provided glasses for them) and some locals. The lights came on, which did spoil the effect a little, but we had a clear view. We then made the mistake of heading north to a winery for refreshment. The trip back took three hours but we got to see a lot of nice countryside in great detail!
Driving up to PDX on Tuesday morning was pretty slow once we got about 30 miles south of Portland but I'm not sure that eclipse traffic had much to do with it. It took about an hour longer than normal but we had plenty of padding. The car return was very quiet and quick. According to the FA quite a lot of people had missed flights on Monday due to traffic delays. Interestingly our rental car had 40,000 miles on it, which is unusual for National, and left me wondering if they had hung on to some extras for the event. Added: the sky was much less clear on Tuesday, possibly in part because farmers were stirring up huge dust clouds. |
Originally Posted by jrl767
(Post 28718889)
the ~60-mi drive from BOI to Smiths Ferry ID took about an hour and a half ... it took about the same amount of time to get out of the parking area afterwards, and then close to four hours to get back to the hotel
but the event was outstandingly spectacular I wound up at Smith's Ferry as well. The skies and location there were perfect. I left about 10 minutes after totality and didn't have any issues getting out. Only took about 2 hours to get back to boi and clear driving all the way back to California. Can't wait for 2024! |
Flew to TYS, stayed in Oak Ridge, which only had 30 secs of totality so we drove to the center line in Madisonville, TN. HAd clear blue skies and 2min. 32 secs. Of totality. Free parking at a town park with food trucks, souvenirs, games for kids, moon walking contests and free moon pies. No traffic getting there and took about 30 mins longer to get back to Oak Ridge. All back roads and very scenic.
Combined the eclipse with a trip to GSM Natl. Park and AVL. Dined on amazing BBQ 6/7 nights. Great trip and I put it together two weeks before the event. |
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