carla568

At the airport itself, the top 5th floor of a parking garage (E? A? B?) might be good. Easy to walk to. If you like watching planes land and if they are landing to the south, "Founder's Plaza" is a short drive.

Your rental car is a hot commodity. Lots of places are sold out. You might keep it and drive farther away if there are clouds.

Eastbay1K

If my PDX experience of a few years' back is any indication, don't wander far from the airport. It could be faster to walk back than to drive back.

jayer

There are dire predictions of tourist traffic gridlock but who knows.

Last time we flew to Wichita (outside the path of totality but closest available ticket we could get) to drive to Kansas City, to a spot with long duration not far from where I grew up. All in order to "see" the total eclipse I had been waiting for since I learned it was coming as a little kid. Was a great choice till it went full clouds with five minutes to go. Then we were in an absolute hoard of traffic getting back around Kansas City to head back to the return plane in Wichita. Then it started raining. Hard.

This time the estimate at the house in Fort Worth it is a bit under two minutes of totality. We could drive somewhere some distance away for double that. With a zillion other people. Think we're just going to wander out in the back yard this time.

If you check the duration map I think, but don't warrant, it is something a bit over two minutes total eclipse right over the airport just before noon. Just for doing nothing but getting outside where you can see. (Like walking to the top of a parking garage--or just out the door to the top of the low-rise parking at Terminal B). Max anywhere in Texas is maybe double that for what is likely to be a traffic-congested effort. (The in-between alternatives are taking the Tex-Rail towards Fort Worth out of Terminal B, but getting off at the forsaken middle of nowhere first stop commuter lot north of the airport (with no facilities but wide-open spaces). Or the second stop in Grapevine (a bit of standard old-downtown tourist spot that would be an interesting layover spot, but bound to be crowded and the view more obstructed).

Might get boring waiting for a flight after it is over. But other than that I would suggest saving the car rental money and staying at the airport. The eclipse is coming to the airport. You don't have to go to it.

saxman66

The small county I frequent is in the path and is expected complete gridlock after the eclipse is over. I would just stay at the airport honestly. That or take DART or TexRail a few stops away. The top of the parking garages would be good places to view.

notquiteaff

The OP has a rental car reservation

.

Maybe they are able to actually get a car.

I would stay at the airport. It’s important to be in the zone of totality, but for four minutes (vs two) I would not bother with a rental car and traffic. Source: I camped in the Cascades in the zone of totality for the OR eclipse and it was wonderful. No crowds, no traffic.

born sleepy

I'm flying in Sunday night and using an expiring Hyatt award at the Grand. I was going to rent a car to view it from a friend's property about 80mi east of DFW, but there were none available even months ago. So parking deck it is. Flying home a few hours later.

Fares were quite high but I managed to snag an award seat.

Hope it's a sunny day!

Exiled in Express

I did the eclipse apocalypse in western Kentucky in 2017, you do not want a rental car.

Assuming you can check most of your belongings I would get a ride share to White Rock Lake Park in Dallas, view the eclipse in "nature" for better effect and get DART back DFW. You do NOT want to be dependent on cars after the event.

Eastbay1K

I was on the north side of Salem for that one, we got in the car and headed north to PDX shortly after totality ended. It took an maybe an extra half hour than the ride down the prior day. Those who waited a bit longer had a 4 hour drive back to PDX. We hit every PP restaurant in the airport

AndyAA

This all may help me make my decision on whether I want to leave home and drive what normally would be about a 30 minute drive south in order to gain another minute of totality.

bobf

My last total eclipse was in Nova Scotia in 1972. (Anyone remember the Carly Simon song "You're So Vain" where the ex- is accused of flying his "Lear jet to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun." ) We took a VW bug, and went to Antigonish, and it clouded over near zero hour, but we drove 10 miles north and had clear sky. The obvious advantage of having wheels, and traffic in 1972 in rural Nova Scotia is different from Dallas in 2024. And its kind of cool to hear the birds start singing when the sun comes back out, which may not happen in the parking lot. But you have convinced me to stay away from cars. .

djp98374

i heard story from a good friend of mine. His wife’s brother lived in Portland. They went out for the eclipse stayed in a camping area on the east side of the cascades. A wild fire occurred forcing them to move the day of to get into clearer air.

there is a big difference in a wider eclipse if you are near the peak line vs being on the fringe in terms of darkness.

2017 width was around 61-72 miles
2024 width is 108-122 miles

thus more darkness near totality line. Time of totality will be a minute or more longer.

getting a rental car will not be fun. I’m sure we are going to hear stories of no rental. We also will hear stories of hotels/ house rental reservations not being honored.

going to to your spot will be easier than coming home. Many spread out their arrival times but everyone leaves right after totality thus causing about a 4x longer drive home. A key is avoiding interstates.

in west like in Wyoming you don’t have many routes. Heading out of jackson heading south or west you had one primary route that split, then it split again. Only after the second split did it open up in traffic.

buffalo airport is very close to the totality max line..within a mile. You can fly there and then walk out.

djp98374

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-syste...-2017-eclipse/

Starprincess

Unfortunately, my return on Tuesday fell through as the return flight I was going to take was not available at the time I needed it. I am now returning on Monday after the Eclipse. I am flying in and out of Dallas. I arrive in Dallas at 5:00 a.m. but cannot get the rental till 9:00 a.m. I was only able to get a car through Enterprise, which is 8 miles from the airport and does not open till 9:00 a.m. I will have to kill time at the airport until I can pick up the car.

After I rent the car, I am driving to Waco. After the Eclipse I have to drive back to Waco to return the car and catch my flight which leaves at 7:00 p.m.
It's not ideal, I hope to get on the road back to Dallas as soon as the Eclipse is over.

aztimm

For those who will be in the Austin area, or other areas where the bats come out at night...

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/wil...ksA2-jWtePUbs#

I've done the Congress bridge bats, from the lake, and it was pretty cool.
And purely by chance, I was waiting for a stoplight near the I-35 bridge over McNeal in Round Rock and witnessed that one too. This seemed much more impressive, perhaps because I wasn't expecting it.

There is no guarantee that the bats will be confused enough and come out, but who knows.

hobo13

We have DFW booked (arrive 8 AM, depart 430pm), IAH booked (with a drive to AUS / SAT -- bah), and CLE booked. All refundable. As long as the weather looks decent, my guess is that we'll go to DFW.

We should have a FT Eclipse DO on the top level of the parking garage!