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Posted on 08/23/2017 5:43:07 PM PDT by DuncanWaring
My daughter and I drove up to Andersen, SC for the eclipse, leaving Sunday early in the morning and hanging out there Sunday afternoon and evening.
Let me first put an accolade out to the Hilton Garden Inn -- great people, and very accommodating. We wound up having to run-n-gun at the last minute as one nasty cloud threatened to obliterate our shots of the totality, but that gamble paid big; we were able to get into the clear with time remaining, and were set up and "on-point" about 3-4 minutes before totality was achieved.
The totality itself was surreal. Photographs, no matter how good, do not do it justice. I get it why people chase these things all over the world now.
The return trip home was something else. There was literally no movement over 25mph from Andersen SC southbound until we hit the 85/985 junction north of Atlanta and plenty of time spent at walking speed or less. You probably could have bicycled faster. Worse, attempting to re-route around it manually was pointless; all the state highways and similar were also jammed solid and worthless to try to use as alternative routes. During this time there was no congestion of any sort evident in any of the northbound lanes.
The mapping apps all said there were wrecks everywhere although we never saw one; by the time we got to wherever it had been flagged the wreck was long-gone but the impact remained for the entire rest of the day and evening. Cellular data was worthless or extremely spotty until, once again, we hit Atlanta metro. Voice calls and text messages were fine, but not data; the networks were simply slammed well beyond capacity.
This is very important information folks because while I've certainly seen chain-reaction events like this in some places to see them over a wide scale and large area was sobering.
If some jackass had hit us at that moment in time if you didn't have a go bag good for 3 days or so in the back of your car and be able to bail and get away from the highway you would be DEAD. Not maybe dead, CERTAINLY DEAD.
Let me further remind you that it was nearly 100F out on that highway too with zero cloud cover for most of the journey. My Mazda has an excellent AC system and while it was keeping up it wasn't digging it. What's in your go-bag? There better be drinkable water in there and a means to purify more of it, because at that temperature you're going to go through a hell of a lot of it in a really big hurry. Oh, let me remind you that water weighs 8lbs/gallon and I'm willing to bet that had we needed to bail a gallon per person would have likely been consumed in a few hours. In terms of water demand it probably would get close to (if not exceed) what I experienced while hiking out in the Grand Canyon on Kaibab South - brutal, in other words.
Next, consider what happens if someone else didn't have water and you do? Got anything effective to defend that water supply with and are you willing to use it?
Finally, how are you physically? Could you get out of that car, get away from the highway by a good quarter-mile or more and actually make time on foot, even if slowly, in that situation, toward somewhere safe? Oh, and where is "somewhere safe" in relationship to where you are?
Better have "yes" answers to the above because if not you would be a corpse.
Right near the GA/SC border we pulled into the Love's travel stop. It was mobbed. Cars parked on the grass, 30+ minute lines for fuel (I had filled the night before, anticipating possible shortages, and didn't need any) and a roughly 30 minute line to use the woman's room. The men's bathroom was far more-friendly in that men can******faster than women and were, but someone didn't make it -- there was a badly-soiled set of underwear in there. It would suck to be the dude with the bathroom cleaning responsibility yesterday and whoever previously owned that set of whitey-tighties obviously had a really bad day and rest-of-trip...
I'm sure that Love's made a fortune and "loved" the business; they were in the right place at the right time and I'd happily take the bet that yesterday was their highest grossing day ever in their history and will hold that record until the place finally is razed, whenever that is. This was a friendly crowd that was just looking for gas and something to eat and drink while 150ish miles of interstate was a parking lot. If it had been under less-friendly circumstances pulling in there would have been akin to walking into a massive bar-fight full of 2+ ton weapons and an unlimited supply of gasoline for people with truly nasty intentions, never mind the dozens of OTR trucks.
Again, this was a friendly incident folks and yet it appears that many people on one stretch of road which didn't even include the totality once you got to the GA border failed to manage to drive a car without wrecking. Now contemplate what a handful of intentional wrecks would have done by "someone" with malevolent intent and you start to sober up -- fast.
You got a freebie lesson in this regard if you ran into even a fringe of it, in terms of exactly how under-capacity our so-called "infrastructure" is in response to even relatively minor loads and under friendly terms. In short our so-called "civilization" is nothing more than a thin veneer over a really ugly reality, protected by nothing more than the fact that over the last 150 years it has never been challenged on the ground by heavy load during an ugly natural or man-made incident over any sort of materially-wide area.
Think Katrina times 100 and you might be getting close.
If it ever is challenged that infrastructure will collapse instantly and trap you.
Our ~150 year run in this regard may hold, but if it doesn't you cannot say you weren't warned. You got an object lesson in it on Monday, in spades and over a very wide swath of the nation. As such if you get caught with your pants down if and when the flag goes up you've intentionally ignored the warning you were gifted under friendly circumstances post-eclipse.
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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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