32 replies to this topic

[ed_turco]

After reading so much sturm and drang about this year's eclipse, I thought I'd try something different.

 

In 2024, I will be 79 years old, or not.  In the latter case, my troubles and cares will be over, about any eclipse, or anything at all.   In the former case, I've got plans!

 

I intend to view the eclipse. rain or shine, from Pleasant Pond, Maine.  Why this out of the way place and not Texas?

 

Does anyone remember the 1963 Total eclipse and Pleasant Pond being the Sky and Telescope headquarters for the eclipse?  Yup, I was all of 18 and I was there where I saw my first solar eclipse and walked away a changed man. I've often wanted to go back to that pleasant place to soak up some stars and reminisce.   I never got the opportunity and thought I had missed my chance.  Ten other eclipses passed over me and I saw every one.  Missing one at my age wouldn't matter quite so much as it might have been in 1963. 

 

Imagine my shock when I inspected the 2024 track and discovered that Pleasant Pond was within totality!  It's been a slam dunk to decide where I have to go for that eclipse, probably my last.  It hardly matters that totality is a sad two minute affair and the weather probably horrible.

 

Look at it this way -- I see the two Pleasant Pond eclipses as bookends in my life, the place where I saw my first eclipse and the place where I will see my last.  That will be enough for me.  I feel that there can be a certain poetry in one's life.  And this is mine. 

 

See you in 2024!

 

 

[AUricle]

Ed,

Look on the bright side! 

If you can hang in there until May 1, '79, it looks like you could get a third chance.....mabye not in Pleasant Pond, but it looks close......

I'll be 127......hope I see ya' there 

[charotarguy]

See you in 2024 for sure. Drinks are on me.

[bunyon]

Ed, that's really cool. Hope it's clear for you in 24 and...that other thing.

[Joe F Gafford]

  Probably at my Niece's house near Austin, TX. More than 3 minutes of totality at her location, 4 minutes, 23 seconds at  Lake Buchanan or Fredericksburg nearby. 1 minute, 48 seconds at the capitol. 

 

Joe

[mogur]

If I'm still around (probable) I'm hoping to see it at my sister's place in Hot Springs Village AR. It goes right over her house!

[trurl]

Haven't started making any specific plans for that one yet, but my family live in central Oklahoma a few hours away from the path. I hope to be there for my 2nd total eclipse, going to Casper for this one. I will be only 69 years young for that one in April 2024.

[APshooter]

I'm looking forward to it.  My observatory is in the path, for once!  The downside is April in Indiana is cloudy and rainy, so I may have to vacate to Texas.

[Zebenelgenubi]

I will be 76 years old and in Dallas.  Both my house and burial plot are in the path of totality so I will be there one way or the other

Edited by Zebenelgenubi, 30 July 2017 - 08:46 AM.

[Spacefreak1974]

I'll be at home in Indianapolis where we will be crazy eclipse central in 2024

[SteveRosenow]

Not sure yet. Time will tell, but I do hope to see that eclipse!

[chrysalis]

Planning that far ahead is not my strong suit, but I will NEED to be somewhere. I'll be turning 70 later that year. God willing, I'll see my FIRST total solar eclipse in OR on 8-21-17 (62 yo).

[StarmanDan]

My house is less than a mile from the center line for the 2024 eclipse. Hope for clear skies!

[Unknownastron]

This eclipse is honestly one of my main goals to live to age 72.  Not so old now days but with my bad heart certainly iffy.  My plan is to travel the 60 steps or so to CatsEye Observatory, the roll off I finished in 1991, just a few months before my view of the Baja Mexico eclipse.  I will plan to observe totality with the same C-8 I took to Mexico.  I will only get a minute of totality at my house and could almost triple that by travel to the centerline, but to see it from my own observatory is worth it.

Of course it will be  April in southern Oklahoma so it will almost certainly rain.  I will wait until the day before to decide to travel in that case.

Clear skies and clean glass,

Mike

[Bowmoreman]

Our current plan is to move to Texas hill country sometime in the next 2 years or so, God-Willing. In which case I'll hit 65 just about eclipse time, and I can watch from my back yard observatory on my 40+ acres as a "retirement present"...

 

[Phillip Creed]

My plans for April 8, 2024, depend on multiple things.  I live in the path of totality for 2024, BUT...it's NE Ohio.  I think I'll be eyeing Texas or Arkansas for that event, in all honesty.  I just don't have much faith in good weather in this part of the country, but I've been wrong before.  I had picture-perfect weather for the May 1994 annular eclipse from Ohio.

I think travel up and down the track to escape clouds will be a lot easier because there are sizable amount of large metropolitan areas already along the track and that track is much wider vs. the one later this month.  Additional "eclipse" traffic will probably be less next go around and there's a lot of infrastructure in place.  With the eclipse occurring in mid-afternoon around here, I might just leave the morning of the event if I've got any clear skies within 200-300 miles.

Clear Skies,

Phil

[BarrySimon615]

I will be in Dallas.....where the deer, the antelope and the grandchildren play!  The two that I have now will be 10 y.o. and 6 y.o. (he is only a month old now).  Maybe more by that time.  I will be 71. 

 

Barry Simon

[jwheel]

I may go somewhere in central TX to see it. The eclipse path also crosses through the backyard of my boyhood home in southern IN!

[Rooftop-Astro]

I'm less than an hour from the 2024 eclipse path. A friend of mine has a hunting camp just a few miles from the centerline - I'll probably see if I can commandeer it.

[Bill Griffith]

I will plan on being in the same spot for 2017 and 2024 as center line intersects south of Carbondale Il.

[Exeligmos]

Hey look, a 2024 eclipse thread....

 

----------------

 

Where will I be?

 

(Likely) starting from KC....

 

Plan A - Arkansas, if the weather fully cooperates. Day trip.

 

Plan B - Illinois-Indiana...Ohio, if the weather is somewhat favorable. Long day trip.

 

Plan C - Texas, more likely to be clear if the eastern Midwest is cloudy (I think and I hope....)

 

Plan D - As far as I have to go....

 

Plan E - Try to find spot with best chance of lucky holes..... not fun.

[Exeligmos]

Preliminary route options, assuming primarily interstate highway travel (I'll see what the navigator says close to eclipse day):

 

 2024-eclipse-Plan-A-&-B.jpg   345.1KB   2 downloads

 

It's never too soon to make plans.

[kfiscus]

Cruise ship off the west coast of Mexico.  Totality of a decent length and the ability to avoid clouds and traffic.  This will be near where my wife and I saw our first total in 1991.

[Jgoldader]

I'm thinking of flying this time; the 13.5 hour trip to SC just about killed me.  Vague plan as of now is flying into a major city near, but not in, the umbral path, and getting a rental car and room there.  The locations give me a few hundred miles of totality within a few hours' drive, so there's a chance to avoid bad weather.  Not sure about when to start getting serious, though.  I rented my room in SC over a year in advance, and it was one of the last in the area.

 

Also going to do some equipment changes, aiming for wider field next time.  I got such nice high-res images this time with my C5, I know that I'm unlikely to ever do as well again, so want to do something different so as to not be disappointed by comparison.  Starting to look at a short focal length refractor (460-ish mm) to go with what I hope will be a full-frame DSLR (it's 7 years away, plenty of time for prices to come down).  With the wide field, I won't need a guiding mount, so I can check my camera tripod and bring the telescope as carry-on.

 

But I'm really hoping some entrepreneurial tour company books eclipse bus tours; fly into a city, let somebody else do the driving to a clear spot.

[scoobysmak]

I have relatives near Dallas so that is my initial plans but weather could change all that.  April can be hit or miss in most locations.  I will be happier that it probably won’t be burning hot mid day August though.