I was thinking worst-case scenario would be 8-9 hours to get home. It took us TWELVE hours to get home last night (just after 1am). I-25 was an absolute parking lot starting about 20 miles north of Glendo State Park all the way to Wheatland. We then averaged about 20mph for the next 80 miles to Cheyenne, where there was another parking lot through the city (fortunately Google told us to take some side roads). For reference, on Saturday, we drove from Cheyenne to Casper in 2h30m. Yesterday, it took 9h30m to go the opposite way. I was finally able to go the speed limit once I hit Loveland, CO.

Every gas station and restaurant along the highway were jammed packed. I was actually surprised that none ran out of gas (or food).

I didn't see a single wreck, and just a handful of broken down cars (mainly flat tires). There were many people who stopped on the side of the road just to relax or go to the bathroom.

Even with that, it was totally worth it to go to Casper to watch it. The city did an absolutely amazing job with crowd control and overall organization. The city park where we camped was well-marked, and they even emptied/cleaned the porta-potties every morning. My dad took my sister and I to see the eclipse in Hawaii in 1991; and to be able to take our kids (and my parents) to see this phenomena was a wonderful experience.

It took us 14 hours to get from Albany OR to Vancouver BC, A ~400mi drive.

The first 155mi took 10 hours, the I-5 between Albany and pretty much all the way up to Chehalis/Olympia was a mess.

Got home at 2am.

Still worth. Sight of a lifetime, I'll never forget it. Absolutely amazing. Anyone who calls 99% "good enough" is EXTREMELY missing out, it's literally a night and day difference.

That's surprising. The traffic completely disappeared about 20 miles south of Portland around 12:30pm. We didn't drive beyond Portland however.

It took us about 5h to get from Albany to Wilsonville, that was by far the worst part. Then there was a jam between Portland and Vancouver WA. And then multiple jams and accidents between Vancouver WA and Chehalis. It was a mess. I should've driven West and driven up the coast to Portland, but oh well.

I was at the airport on top of the parking garage. We had a giant cloud right beforehand, which may be the one that ended up covering downtown. With minutes to go, the thick part of the cloud moved and the remainder literally dissolved in front of our eyes as the temperature dropped, leaving a perfect view.

And then it took 5+ hours to get back out of the airport as the entire airspace went over-capacity. :rolleyes:

This.

Every person I've talked to who complained that it was a non-event and over-hyped did not see the true 100%. And everyone that DID see totality was awestruck, myself included. I did manage to convince a few friends to make the trek from almost-totality and they all agree it was well worth the effort.

And I might add, I love that for one glorious day, everyone embraced SCIENCE.

Sorry to hear that. We spent the night in Albany and drove up north to Salem that morning. Waze put us on random roads to beat the traffic after the event. It was cool seeing the cherries and hops farms.

Absolutely! Even a split second before totality, right as you could tell it was going to happen and I could take off the glasses...mind blown

We were in Nashville, and spent the morning at J Percy Priest Reservoir, and then watched totality with the other folks at the beach. Clear skies, and it was awesome!

While I wasn't there THIS is what I got from folk who were, whether it was on telly or FTers texting me real-time their experiences.

While I totally regret that circumstances didn't allow me to attend this one in person, I truly hope to be there for 2024.

Cheers.

Some of us are already talking DFW.

I'm thinking more in terms of using AUS as a base and investigating viewing locations an hour or so west

In any case, Texas is probably better overall than some of the other possible locations in terms of weather. (I lucked out with the actual 2017 eclipse but ended up missing my connecting flight because of weather delays out of BNA today. :()

I saw the total eclipse of the sun in South Carolina — almost exactly in the middle of the path of totality. That location was literally a last-minute decision — otherwise, I would have posted my intentions in this discussion.

Despite all of the angst I went through — many hours of traffic and pouring rain — I would do it all over again without hesitation.

I wished I could tell those who only saw a partial solar eclipse that they were not missing anything — but I would be blatantly lying to them.

If you have the opportunity to see a total solar eclipse, accept no less than 100 percent totality — lest you be disappointed.

Chile on July 2, 2019, anyone?

I'm already planning for it!

Eclipse chasing is also extremely compatible with FlyerTalk: Got to see the eclipse with perfect weather and looking at 12,880 air miles to get there and back home (and drove about 900 car miles).

I was practically on the centerline near Oregon/Idaho border area based on high chance of good weather, flying to/from SLC as this was a bit last moment, booked only 2 weeks before.

The traffic jams SLC-Oregon were less than I expected (none to get up there the day before, pretty bad, but not horrible, in a few spots driving back down to SLC, about doubling the driving time).

Agree with everyone about totality being totally worth even quite serious travel effort, partial is meh.

It took us 2.5 hours to make it from Fort Collins to the rest stop just south of Glendo. We left Ft Collins at 5:30am. On the way back we left about 5 mins after totality completed and made it back to Fort Collins in 2 hours.

With the quick flow of traffic leaving that quickly I can tell you that three or four semi trucks going 65-70 created some slow down, but the biggest slow down came from the highway patrol in the median of the interstate. As soon as people could see the patrol cars they would slow down way below the speed limit. Once you hit Colorado it seemed there was a patrol car every mile.

After seeing the eclipse from just NE of Nashville, TN, it took ~3 hrs. to drive to my hotel just south of SDF for my flight home the next day.

Watched the eclipse in Columbia SC- on Lake Murray in a pontoon boat. We were planning to head to Lexington/Columbia anyway as it is just a 50 mile drive. Then a last minute invite from my cousin put us in an incredible spot in the middle of the lake with hundreds of other boaters. I was absolutely awestruck! We were rooting for the folks in Charleston where it seemed most of the rain was!

This eclipse now goes on my Top Ten Life Experiences list!

I am definitely considering Chile for 2019!!!

Watched it on a rural farm in Cerulean (~15min west of Hopkinsville). The only thing that could have been better would be more animals - want to see their reaction! Otherwise, what a glorious day. Hardly a cloud in sight.

On the way back to Indy, delay added 30% to the drive. Thank God for Google Maps rerouting to save time.

Cat1 Marriott redemption 1.5hr from greatest duration = good deal!

Indy gets 4 whole minutes in 2024!!

Curious, how did you pick your viewing spot? Did you pay?

FTer hosted an event at their place.

Nope.

I chose my viewing spot because it was:

• Closest to where I am based
• Conveniently located off of a major Interstate highway
• In the parking lot of a hotel property, which did not cost me anything — and that decision was literally at the last second as I drove up to it

Seeing you again would be my honor and pleasure.

My driveway was almost on the center line of the totality band, so I had a few folks over for BBQ and sun. :)

We left the north end of Salem at about 1025am. Rental car return time was 1204pm. The first several miles were quick, and then stop/go until just before the 5/205 split, and then it moved at full speed again. The rental car return was eerie because it was almost completely empty, with a large crew of people awaiting the onslaught.

The good news is that your rental car company seems to have planned ahead.

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.

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.