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Posted on 08/23/2017 5:43:07 PM PDT by DuncanWaring
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> Now, I’m considering a couple trips to Chile in 2019 and 2020. ¿Dónde está el eclipse solar?
:-)
I know what you mean.
I ended up about 30 miles NE of Prineville. Spectacular, well worth the traffic. Took us 12 hours to get back down to Asheville and the smoke was incredible down that way, dusting of ash on the truck in the morning.
I took 9 gallons of extra gas, 6 gallons of water (plus the washer water which I keep only potable) and there’s always a few days of eats in the truck in a pinch.
That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve read on here in the last month or so...
I submitted my vacation request for it today :-)
I wouldn't travel to a spot several states away just to see my second total eclipse, but now that I know what one is like I would do that for my first one.
> I saw it in MO also but drove 3 hours - the people who stayed put and saw the 99% or whatever, you CANNOT convince them of what the difference is! Oh well.
Yes, I’d seen a partial eclipse before, and wasn’t impressed. A small amount of sun makes a big difference. There’s no comparison.
I don’t understand. Could someone please explain why so many people are willing to drive for many hours and sit in traffic for hours just to basically see the moon cover up the sun for 2 minutes? I mean, it would be cool sure, I’d drive up to an hour away if I didn’t have work that day, but....
I saw totality in Mexico on July 11, 1991. It was great. That one lasted 6.5 minutes, too. I was on an eclipse tour, and one of the people I was with let me look at it through her binoculars briefly, right before it ended. I saw the end through the binoculars. Through the binoculars, the first bit of sunlight was like white-hot molten silver pouring over the edge of the moon.
If I’m still in Maryland then, I’ll see another good partial, just like I did this past Monday.
You both mention a bridge down to one lane, so are you close to each other? It’s easy to miss making friends online.
I love lightnin’ bugs! I’ll plan to be somewhere they are in 7 yrs. Our birds were singing like it was sunset. I really want to see the stars because the dang streetlights won’t be on!
You’re seeing an event that any individual person has a very low chance of just happening over them in a lifetime. The event has had great significance throughout human history. It allows you to see solar phenomenon that cannot otherwise be observed without expensive equipment and/or spacecraft.
In the past people waited significant portions of their lives to see this, mounted expeditions to observe it and failed. To know one is going to occur nearby and have the privilege to live in a time and place where with minor difficulty you can travel and see it and NOT do so is a disservice to humanity. It’s like another poster said upthread, the difference between 99% and totality is the difference between kissing someone and sex.
“Me too. I think if I go to see an eclipse, I’ll stay an extra day.”
We stayed an extra day in Casper, WY and had a fine drive back to Montana on Tuesday.
It is a 'spiritual happening', which teaches us exactly how puny we earthlings really are.
It is like trying to explain God and the universe in one sentence - it can't be done.
Because you are there in the shadow, it is a personal thing, almost a religious experience.
You realize how powerful and magnificent the forces of nature are, by something so totally out of your control
and,.. it brings you closer to appreciating your minuscule role in the natural and the supernatural world of both man and your God.
You can't explain it because words defy and limit the description, .. you can only experience it,
and is best enjoyed with others who are also experiencing it, simultaneously.
Took me four hours to get to Nashville (Gallatin) from lower Alabama.
We were in place at our veiwing spot at 10:30 AM and BARELY made it (last vehicle let into the lot--a state park boat ramp area).
Two minutes 40 seconds for the totality.
We left five minutes AFTER.
It took 10 hours to get home.
Still, it was worth it!
I live about halfway between Columbia and Millersburg. Mrs. Augie and I watched from our front porch. The view was great and we had zero traffic problems.
That is a good analogy!
Yikes! We were in TN between Chattanooga and Knoxville. It took us 2-1/2 hours to go about 45 miles, still shy of Chattanooga, where we stopped and had a nice meal. Then it took us about 2-1/2 hours to get to ATL, maybe a little less, so not bad at all, compared to many.
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