Musings On The After-Eclipse

Market Ticker ^ | 23 August 2017 | Karl Denninger

[steve86]

Yeah, same bridge. Bill was on his way to Idaho, I think. I was almost home.

[DuncanWaring]

Chris Plant was talking about it this morning...

[MHGinTN]

Packets of ‘wet wipes’ for whore bathing should be included in a ‘go-bag’.

[Billthedrill]

Yeah, same bridge. Bill was on his way to Idaho, I think. I was almost home.

Yep. What a mess! I was headed up 395 to Spokane and then into The Deep Dark Woods Whence No One Emerges Unscathed. (I like being scathed. It tickles).

It's the sort of country where a Go bag is a very good idea year-round. If you have to wait for a tow truck it could be a while, and if you have to leg it, proper attire is a very good idea. High heels, for example, in case you run into a formal social occasion in Ritzville...

[stayathomemom]

My husband and I drove down from Metro Detroit to the St Louis area, Godfrey, IL to be exact, to visit his mother on Saturday. Monday morning we gave ourselves a couple of hours to get to our destination spot of Red Bud, IL. about 60 miles away. We got to within 2 miles of Red Bud, when were were stopped by backed up traffic. A right turn onto a country road and a couple of miles of driving brought us to a quiet spot along a field of soybeans with a nice wide grassy shoulder. We had bought plenty of water (temps in the 90s) and cheese, apples, and pretzels to eat. I also had packed a porta-potty, so we were good to go! Our position NW of Red Bud probably gave us about 2min and 20 secs of totality. It went by so quickly!
The farmer came by as we were packing up and advised us on how to avoid the traffic jam on the road we had come in on. As it was, the hour long trip back to Godfrey took about 2 hours. Every major intersection was backed up. All in all, we had a pretty ideal experience.
I took a couple of screen captures of the traffic across the US after the eclipse as shown on Google Maps. You don't have to be told where the eclipse path across the US was. It is obvious from the red traffic areas on the map. Pretty amazing!

[Scarpetta]

Drove 12 hours to Black Mountain, NC. Planned to watch the eclipse at Gorges State Park, about 90 minutes away in Sapphire, NC. Got there on eclipse day around 7:30 am. State Troopers waved us off; lot for 3,000 cars was already full. Drove on to Highlands, NC where we watched the eclipse under cloud cover.

Time to go home to the cabin. The traffic was crawling and wall to wall. Sometimes we sat at the same traffic light for numerous changes. Finally got moving a little when a sign showed an overturned semi about 20 miles from my destination. It took six hours to drive 90 miles.

Between the drive to NC (12 hours), the drive to and from the eclipse (10 hours), and the drive home to PA (11 hours), I got to watch 2:38 minutes of totality. What a let down.

[steve86]

“Our position NW of Red Bud probably gave us about 2min and 20 secs of totality. It went by so quickly!”

I had the odd experience of time flying by like you say but taking an eternity simultaneously. Lots of oxymoron there.

[GJones2]

> ...the first bit of sunlight was like white-hot molten silver pouring over the edge of the moon.

Poetic image. It gets intense fast, and I had to look away quickly.

[GJones2]

> I love lightnin’ bugs!

I’ve liked them since childhood, and for some reason they seem to like my backyard. It’s not easy to count them because as they fly their light is intermittent, but one evening I estimated there were over ten back there.

[huldah1776]

There are zero where I am now, but they like trees.

[politicianslie]

I don’t understand. Could someone please explain why so many people are willing to drive for many hours

I was a volunteer at a Wyoming State Park last weekend. On Monday AM while I was walking the dog before sunrise (and before I was supposed to report to parking), a state worker said they are jammed and >5000 cars had arrived before the gates opened at 4:30 am.

I got out on the street where cars were arriving and I gave what seemed like zillions of drivers their brief on where to park, slow down etc. MANY arrived without a clue, acting like they had just decided to do it at the last minute.

Questions like WHERE is breakfast, where is coffee were common. Keep in mind this is a Wyoming State Park near a town with a population on the sign of 205 people! If you didn't bring it, it was going to be hard to find it.

At sunset, 8 or 9 hours after the eclipse ended, cars were still crawling to stopped on the interstate with all roads in the park also jammed.

I think many of the people in the late traffic jams would say it was worth it and they are glad they came.

Mead telescopes was there along with Colorado State astronomy club and another University. The day before I went out, BEFORE sunset and I was looking at Jupiter in more detail than I'd ever seen. It was incredible the power and quality of the telescopes that were set up.

I didn't leave until two days after the eclipse as I'd been told that traffic even the next day would be heavy. It was nice for me to do this as part of an extended vacation to the west coast. I'm glad I didn't have to go to work in Denver the next day as many said they had to......

I penciled in 21 Aug last year during planning for this trip. In 2024, I will probably be somewhere on that totality line and I will get to my spot several days before April 8, 2017. Yes, my first total eclipse and next one will be about 4 minutes vs. the 2 min 30 sec I saw in Wyoming.