Full Frontal Coast to Coast Tour

[SolarEclipse]

Yep. Picture postcard perfect Chamber of Commerce weather more typical of late September than August today. You just couldn't wait another couple days, could you.....?

lb13

I could but then those poor schmucks that paid $1,000 to stay at the Motel 6 in Sydney, NE would get PO'd and we'd have a hell of a mess. My lawyers told me to stay on schedule.

[Chicken Little]

Where did Chicken Little watch the eclipse? I would have expected to hear from him by now.

There were rumors of ritual voodoo sacrifice, so I stayed under my bed

[littlebeast13]

Yep. Picture postcard perfect Chamber of Commerce weather more typical of late September than August today. You just couldn't wait another couple days, could you.....?

lb13

I could but then those poor schmucks that paid $1,000 to stay at the Motel 6 in Sydney, NE would get PO'd and we'd have a hell of a mess. My lawyers told me to stay on schedule.

Eh, what's another couple thousand dollars when you have all of scenic Nebraska at your feet. Besides, only lawyers with the Michigan Bar Association would ever try to sue a solar eclipse, and I don't think you have much to worry about there...

lb13

[TheConfessor]

We decided against Hodgenville because of all the hype it had received.

Good decision, since Hodgenville didn't have a total eclipse. You probably mean Hopkinsville, which was getting all the hype. My sister was there, as were several friends. Everyone I've heard talk about Hopkinsville had a very positive experience, other than the horrible traffic on the way home.

As for me, I saw it in Niota, Tennessee with MarryMeFlyFree. It was a great day, and good practice for 2024, when a 4+ minute eclipse passes just west of Austin.

[BackInTex]

,,, good practice for 2024, when a 4+ minute eclipse passes just west of Austin.

Practice is important. I found myself too involved in the picture taking and not enough in the enjoyment of the event. Next time I will have multiple cameras, each with a specific purpose and setting so they are ready to shoot (and if not I'll just let it pass).

My aunt's farm just outside Valley Mills is pretty much dead center of the 2024 eclipse. Weather permitting we should experience totality for 4 minutes and 24 seconds.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

,,, good practice for 2024, when a 4+ minute eclipse passes just west of Austin.

Practice is important. I found myself too involved in the picture taking and not enough in the enjoyment of the event. Next time I will have multiple cameras, each with a specific purpose and setting so they are ready to shoot (and if not I'll just let it pass).

My aunt's farm just outside Valley Mills is pretty much dead center of the 2024 eclipse. Weather permitting we should experience totality for 4 minutes and 24 seconds.

Now just imagine the vanity of a Bride who schedules a wedding during the eclipse. How are the quests even gonna she her through those glasses.

[silverscreenselect]

Weather permitting we should experience totality for 4 minutes and 24 seconds.

If you're in the right spot, you will experience totality regardless of the weather conditions. Whether you can actually see the totality is a different story.

[SportsFan68]

For Georgia? I'm back Aug. 12th, 2045. Just getting the far southwest corner, though. But from your wheelchair at the old, old, old folks home you probably won't notice that you're only getting 94% coverage.

I was thinking about something a bit sooner. Do you think you could work it out for, say, Monday the 28th? That would work better for me.

No can do. By the 28th I'll be deep in planning for my next Full Frontal show in Chile and Argentina. It takes a lot of show prep.

I told my friends in Wyoming that if I won the $700+ million, I would pay for all of them to go to Chile AND Argentina. Apparently they weren't sending enough positive vibes. I think I won $3.

[SportsFan68]

LB>> I loved hearing the locusts rattling off at 1 in the afternoon...<<<

Weid thing happened yesterday (the day before the eclipse). The Spocklette and I were picking the biggest, bestest wild plums ever. We found these trees 3 years ago and they are the biggest, bestest wild plums ever.

Anyway, it was about 1PM and the frickin coyotes were going nuts, I have never heard them in the daytime like that.

I was the only human for miles when I heard a full coyote chorus lasting about a half a minute in full daylight. It was frightening. My guess is, it was about a mile north of my location and about an additional 1,000 feet in elevation.

[SportsFan68]

Cicadas have been colloquially called locusts around these parts since before you were born, at least. Yes, they're entirely different critters, but there is some reasoning behind the confusion.

And friends, Evansville, IN is one of the cities in the 2024 totality tour. So friends, if I'm still around, and still living in Eville, come on down!

SteelersFan's brother lives in Cleveland, right on the center line. SteelersFan has instructions to pick us out a camping spot in the back yard when he's there this Thanksgiving.

[SportsFan68]

Driving up to Dillard, GA, wasn't too bad. It's normally a two-hour drive, interstate and four-lane bypass highway and it wound up taking three. The only time traffic got heavy was at the handful of stop lights along the way, when it would back up a half mile or so. Much of the rest of the time it was practically weekend traffic with only a handful of cars.

We parked at a place called the Dillard House, which is a lodge/restaurant/craft area that had a lot of parking and restroom facilities (paid $10). Some places wanted as much as $50 a car by the side of the road. There were also places we might have parked for free or $5, but I didn't want to stop anywhere without restroom facilities.

Totality was at 2:35 where we were, but around 2:15 some heavy clouds rolled over. A couple of cars actually left early but then about 2-3 minutes before totality, there was a gap in the clouds that lasted nearly 10 minutes, so we had a great view of the actual totality, corona and all.

Unfortunately, by the time we left (actually before a lot of people at 3:00 or so), traffic headed south was a nightmare (I later heard a 15 mile backup). They had actually blocked the side street we were on so we couldn't turn south when we got to the main highway (an hour delay right there), so I decided we would go for a ride in the mountains for a bit and go around the block. Bad mistake. It wound up taking us almost eight hours. The big problem was that I-85 was stop and go from the South Carolina border some 60 miles to where it expanded from four to six lanes. The spot where it expands is also where I-985 fed eclipse traffic, and the road is under construction, so it's a very narrow two southbound lanes for about five mile right before that, so traffic backed up and stayed backed up for hours.

Unless the next eclipse proves to be a bit more accommodating and agrees to a side trip our way, I think we'll pass.

I know that Denver isn't nearly the megalopolis of New York, Boston, and on and on, but I was very grateful for its superb automobile moving infrastructure on August 21. Glendo to Fort Collins took seven hours. Fort Collins to Denver took one hour.

[Bob Juch]

I was thinking about something a bit sooner. Do you think you could work it out for, say, Monday the 28th? That would work better for me.

No can do. By the 28th I'll be deep in planning for my next Full Frontal show in Chile and Argentina. It takes a lot of show prep.

I told my friends in Wyoming that if I won the $700+ million, I would pay for all of them to go to Chile AND Argentina. Apparently they weren't sending enough positive vibes. I think I won $3.

You could have sent everyone in Wyoming.