Eclipse 2017

[moonshadow]

Well I guess if nobody else is going to start the eclipse 2017 thread Immagonnahafta.....

Curious, anyone doing any traveling to the event? (for those who don't already live in the path)

As I was working today I drove interstate 81 south towards Tennessee to a service call, I noticed a lot of New England drivers heading south, not extremely busy, but more cars than usual. Lots of people from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, quite a few from Connecticut, etc...

As for me, even if I stay home we'll still see 90%, however I want to see totality. So I requested the day off from work tomorrow and I'm going to make my way towards Cookeville Tennessee. All reports seem to indicate that I can expect mad traffic jams and an general unpleasant ride through Knoxville towards my destination...

So I've decided to roll the dice and take a different route. We're going to make a day of it and take the byways of Kentucky and Tennessee to our destination. Hopefully we will be close enough to the "totality" line before the event takes place. Challenges will include not only possible traffic as we get closer, additionally... finding a place to park!

The most direct route to Cookeville is to follow interstate 81 to where it runs in with interstate 40 west bound, and just follow that through Knoxville towards Nashville and Cookeville is about half way. All that being said, Knoxville is a clusterf__k of traffic even on a good day. I suspect with the eclipse traffic it will be a downright nightmare. So we're going to completely avoid it, and hopefully get some shots of the Kentucky/Tennessee country side along the way! Stay tuned for photos!

My outfit will be either a skirt or dress, I haven't decided yet. But you all should know by now I certainly won't waste such a rare once in a lifetime opportunity wearing trousers!

We will however be going through some pretty backwood areas, so it's always good to leave an idea among friends where we're headed and our route. I have given this information to a few of my coworkers and my boss in addition to explaining to him that cell service may be checkered as we will be in dead spots along the way, and what few towers we do encounter may be overloaded with increased eclipse traffic... all that being said, here is our route:

From Lebanon Virginia:
US19 to Hansonville VA, take right on US58 Alternate towards Norton VA.
At Norton get on US23 south towards Duffield VA, then take US58 towards Cumberland Gap.
At Pennington Gap take right on US421 towards Harlan Kentucky
At Harlan KY take US119 towards Pineville
At Pineville KY follow US25E north just a few miles to Kentucky state route 92
Follow KY state route 92 to US27
Take US27 south to Oneida Tennessee, then take Tennessee state route 297 to Tennessee state route 154 (south)
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at this point we should be getting mighty darn close to the path of totality
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Follow TN state route 154 to Jamestown Tennessee then get on TN state route 52 west towards Livingston
Once at Livingston take TN state route 111 towards Cookeville, begin scoping out a place to park and set up

The eclipse will be in the one o'clock hour (local time), when it's complete we will head straight home probably taking the same route we came down on.

We will bring packed lunches and snacks, and there should be enough sandwiches to carry us into dinner should the need arise.

I have told Jenn we will endeavor to not let the fuel tank fall below 1/2 as the possibility exist for fuel stations to run out of fuel with the increased traffic.

I will not be able to take photos of the actual eclipse as I don't have the proper filter for my camera, however we do have the glasses, and I plan to take some photos of the horizon during totality and through the partial.

My boss said I should return with some interesting stories. He thinks I'm going to run into all type of crazy stuff... I just might, but I'm looking forward to it all the same...

This will be my last post until I get back, though I may key up my tablet and post a little once we arrive and get settled. I will also bring a book to read incase do manage to arrive hours ahead of schedule.

Google says my route under normal conditions is about 5 hours. I plan to leave about 330-4AM my time, and understand once I arrive I will be in central time, still yet, that will give me close to 10 hours to arrive, doubling my window... surely to God I can make it by then! We'll see!

To be continued...

[Freedomforall]

Our little town of 12k is expecting 100k people here. The grocery stores are running low and people renting their driveways for as much as $100 a night. It's pretty crazy.

[crfriend]

I'm going to take my sextant to work tomorrow so I can watch the spectacle in time-honoured tradition. I'm sure I'll make quite the spectacle myself taking a sight in the middle of a parking-lot. (There is no local horizon, so there's no real point other than I happen to know that the filters are up to the task. I can get the lat/lon coordinates from Google if the need arises and i need to call in a missile strike -- which should have happened 30 years ago.)

[Jim]

We're heading about a 4 hour drive to southern Illinois, a small city named Rosebud. About the closest place to here, and not too near big population centers as St Louis has closer places in Missouri. We'll see how the traffic and all works out.

[r.m.anderson]

The Prime Point is Carbondale IL - supposed to be the center most view point of the eclipse with maximum time of 3 some minutes of dark time.

Rosebud is about 40 miles away to the east southeast in the south edge of the Shawnee National Forest closest other state is Indiana.
Close enough for a cigar launch !

Good Luck viewing and wear those safety glasses !

Weather permitting I will be able to muster 83% maximum.

[Kirbstone]

If I lived in the US I'd be doing 'a Moon', i.e. mapping my way by the back lanes to avoid the traffic if possible.

Have a good Eclipse, you guys. Wish I were there !

Tom

[Fred in Skirts]

I am staying home for the eclipse. I live in the 99% area so that's good enough for me and I don't have to worry about traffic and gas or strangers. i will be wearing a dress that I just received yesterday. I hope to take some pictures of the dress and maybe some of the darkness on my property.

Oh wow I just noticed I am going to pass the 1000 post point with the next two posts.

[moonshadow]

We have made it to Cookeville TN! We found a nice little park with a lake on the outskirts of town to enjoy the eclipse! It sure beats a parking lot!

We rolled into town about 8am EDT. (7 CDT)

No traffic at all on our route.

In a couple of hours we will be in a moon shadow!

[beachlion]

Now you have everything. A nice spot to watch the eclipse and a lake for skinny dipping.

Enjoy.

[Fred in Skirts]

Well the big event has come and gone at my house. Since I live on the outer edge of totality we only had about 12 seconds of total darkness. But the time leading up to it and the time coming from it were SPECTACULAR!
I did not have any of the glasses that were being sold for premium prices around here after the first free distribution. But I did have 4 pairs of 100% UV protection glasses on.
And I did not look at the sun for more than 2 or 3 seconds at a time. I sat in my car down in the lower 20 and watched as my automatic head lights came on as it got darker. Yes it was an event of the Century for me. I hope all of you who had the chance were able to enjoy the show.

Wow! What a time to make my 1000th post on SkirtCafe.

[beachlion]

The eclipse mania is over. I could follow it with binoculairs on a tripod. The image was projected on a piece of paper.

IMG_1198q.jpg

IMG_1190q.jpg

It was cloudy now and then so the picture is not very bright.

[crfriend]

I made good on my threat about bringing my sextant in, and it provided a grand view of the spectacle (what there was of it, only about 60% obscured) when it wasn't shrouded in cloud. I was shocked at how few folks actually recognised the tool I was using. This is not progress... (The thing also needs some serious adjustment...)

[Kirbstone]

Eclipse 2017 in Ireland !.jpg

This eclipse was no exception to what we usually get here in Ireland....Just 10% obscurity at about 7.30 this evening. Having had a rainy day it cleared to give us a decent evening and I just made a point of looking at that advised time. Not worth photographing, for sure. The mounted binos were a good idea and would have projected it all without danger, but our display wasn't worth even that.

Tom

[Elisabetta]

We've got an excellent picture of the Eclipse. Had an awesome time.

[skirtpettiman]

Unfortunately I was returning from the Eastbourne air show yesterday so missed the partial eclipse. But a friend projected the image coming though his lounge window onto the ceiling, hence the distortion, and emailed it to me. He said it was the first time he'd seen sunspots in two years. Location: Pelynt, Cornwall, England.

Partial eclipse by Nigel Brown.JPG