45 replies to this topic

[GoneGator95]

Hope you got some root beer at the Alto Pass Root Beer Saloon!

We used to catch Omega Centauri from the base of the Bald Knob Cross.

We actually were at the Von Jakob Winery. They allowed people to park in lot/field and use restrooms/etc. for free asking just to patronize the place. We got lunch and took some beverages for home. Really glad we found that spot (just driving by/around area) as it was ideal/scenic/nice people to share with.

[Thomas A Davis]

We had no issues going from Virginia to Plainfield, Indiana Sunday.  We left going back through Indiana losing well over an hour getting to just below Lexington, KY.  We got a nice tour of the Indiana countryside following the GPS traffic workarounds.

 

Tom

[Alex Swartzinski]

We left home (Southeast Michigan) very early to head to Northern Ohio. We made great time on US-23 heading south. There was hardly any traffic, even near Ann Arbor at 7:00 AM.

In rural Ohio, I didn't leave the right lane to pass anyone for a good 6-8 miles. It was empty and boring, but uneventful.

On the way back at 4:30, we set the GPS to avoid highways. It was actually lots of fun to weave through the county roads. Some of them were quite curvy and fun. Most of the time, we didn't have anyone in front of us. It only took an extra half hour compared to the way down, and we were doing 55-65 the whole time. It was a perfect way to end a fantastic day.

I-75 and US-23 were showing long backups past 9:00 PM. Backroads were a much more pleasant experience than crawling along..

[Jan-S]

Fostoria, Ohio to Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Normal time: 1h20
Time after the eclipse: just under 4h (plenty of time to book new flights, cancel others etc). I ended up staying the night in Detroit - another great experience.

Route traveled: parallel to I-75

Edited by Jan-S, 10 April 2024 - 01:35 AM.

[Tony Flanders]

My wife and I drove from Amherst, MA to Brandon, VT to watch the eclipse. Left a little before 8 am, took only 15 minutes longer than the nominal 3 hours.

 

Driving home took a smidge under 6 hours, much of that time going at 5-10 mph. The good news is that hybrids are ideally suited for driving at that speed, and if you have to be stuck in a traffic jam, it's hard to imagine a more beautiful place than I-91.

[RichNH]

It took us 3 hours to drive to Burlington, VT from Brookline, NH. That's a normal time.

We left Burlington, VT at 6PM. Traffic on Rt 89 was 5-10 mph. Waze detoured us to local roads. We arrived at the VT/NH border at 10:30 (4.5 hours later) and stayed overnight at a Comfort Inn. Finished the rest of the trip this morning, was home by 9:30AM.

Everyone at the Comfort Inn told the same story, curvy roads with many hairpin turns going up and down mountains, dirt roads across the mountain ridges and slow traffic.

 

But it was worth it. 

[Astronomigo]

My wife and I drove from Amherst, MA to Brandon, VT to watch the eclipse. Left a little before 8 am, took only 15 minutes longer than the nominal 3 hours.

 

Driving home took a smidge under 6 hours, much of that time going at 5-10 mph. The good news is that hybrids are ideally suited for driving at that speed, and if you have to be stuck in a traffic jam, it's hard to imagine a more beautiful place than I-91.

Brandon was not in the path of totality. Did you mean another place with a B? Burlington? 

[Bubbagumps]

I think the weather situation going down to the wire killed off a lot of travel plans for many areas. Across the path of totality, most local communities are reporting that turnout appears to be lower than anticipated. In some communities, there was a little disappointment in turnout as they were expecting more. A lot of areas were naturally hoping for a big revenue boost. 

 

The Indy Speedway reported that 50K visitors showed up to view the Eclipse from the stands and infield. Based on pre-event planning and surveys, they were expecting a crowd of around 100K. The facility has a capacity of around 250K and it usually gets close to full on race day for the Indy500. 

 

Authorities in Maine and Vermont where viewing conditions were anticipated to be the best reported manageable crowds and no issues. It didn't turn out to be another Woodstock as was feared might happen. No mass crowds camped out on the grass. 

 

It appears the only item of note was higher than normal traffic after the eclipse, but nothing worse than other events like local fairs or carnivals. 

Edited by Bubbagumps, 10 April 2024 - 08:09 AM.

[Dr.Ichie]

Long Island NY to Newport Vermont
Left 5am Monday and the going was smooth at 7.5 hours with one rest and a couple minor slow spots.

Going home? Worst driving experience of my life.
Left Newport at 5:30pm Monday, got home at 6:45am.

Should have stayed over.

Similar.....Lancaster, PA to Newport VT.  Took 7.5 hours up (drove overnight Sunday.....leaving at 10:45pm and arriving at 6:15am.  Took an hour nap, couldn't sleep longer because of noise.

Left Newport shortly after 4pm and it took me 9-10 hours just go get out of Vermont.  A single-lane bridge on I-91 caused the longest of the backlogs.  At Springfield, Mass there was more construction where they shut down 2 out of 3 lanes.  After that, it was smooth and I pulled into my driveway at 7am.  Took a shower, then a 90min nap because I had to be on 6hr of calls for work.

 

If I had a time-machine and I knew what I know now, I would have went to Lima, Ohio or spent the night up in Newport.  I also would have tried for a place in northern NH or NW Maine to avoid those cirrus clouds.

[Chris K]

Similar.....Lancaster, PA to Newport VT. Took 7.5 hours up (drove overnight Sunday.....leaving at 10:45pm and arriving at 6:15am. Took an hour nap, couldn't sleep longer because of noise.

Left Newport shortly after 4pm and it took me 9-10 hours just go get out of Vermont. A single-lane bridge on I-91 caused the longest of the backlogs. At Springfield, Mass there was more construction where they shut down 2 out of 3 lanes. After that, it was smooth and I pulled into my driveway at 7am. Took a shower, then a 90min nap because I had to be on 6hr of calls for work.

If I had a time-machine and I knew what I know now, I would have went to Lima, Ohio or spent the night up in Newport. I also would have tried for a place in northern NH or NW Maine to avoid those cirrus clouds.

Our first crawl out of Vermont was over an hour due to everyone slowing down to see the waterfall coming down the rock wall. Also in Vermont in the dark was a stalled tractor trailer in the right lane. Then all the other fun you described.

[WadeH237]

I was at the TSP event in Aquilla, TX, and wanted to get to Tucson afterward to visit a friend.

 

I left about an hour after totality and drove as far as Big Springs, TX.  I was able to get a room in Big Springs with no reservation for $117 (I don't know if that's there normal rate or not, but the room was noticeably better than the typical road side motel).

 

I ran into a couple of construction delays, but nothing I could attribute to eclipse traffic (I did see some gatherings along the roadway, since I was on the road between 3rd and 4th contact).  It was smooth sailing all the way to Tucson.  I was on cruise control most of the way.

 

To the credit of the folks in Texas, it looked like all of the construction zones were idle on Monday, and the above construction delays were yesterday.

[jrussell]

I didn't time it, but going back home from Arkansas I actually had far less traffic than I expected. I suppose because it was late afternoon/early evening so maybe most of the eclipse traffic had already passed through. I was kind of expecting it to be fairly heavy from Sulphur Springs through Dallas, but if anything traffic seemed lighter than usual.

[JimV]

WadeH237, how were clouds during eclipse at TSP?  I had paid for a bunk but flew elsewhere last minute.

It was a lot of trouble and expense.

[ninelives]

Had a buddy that went from northern NH down to his home in central NH, a trip that would normally take about 2 and a half hours. It took about 8 hours after the eclipse, they didn't get home until 12:30 AM. He sent us multiple pictures along the way of bumper-to-bumper traffic at a dead stop.

[NickLandis2023]

Similar.....Lancaster, PA to Newport VT.  Took 7.5 hours up (drove overnight Sunday.....leaving at 10:45pm and arriving at 6:15am.  Took an hour nap, couldn't sleep longer because of noise.

Left Newport shortly after 4pm and it took me 9-10 hours just go get out of Vermont.  A single-lane bridge on I-91 caused the longest of the backlogs.  At Springfield, Mass there was more construction where they shut down 2 out of 3 lanes.  After that, it was smooth and I pulled into my driveway at 7am.  Took a shower, then a 90min nap because I had to be on 6hr of calls for work.

 

If I had a time-machine and I knew what I know now, I would have went to Lima, Ohio or spent the night up in Newport.  I also would have tried for a place in northern NH or NW Maine to avoid those cirrus clouds.

Wow, I did Lancaster, PA to Newport, VT as well. Though I grabbed a hotel in Albany to split the drive up…

 

I saw someone in Newport with a Lancaster Barnstormers hat, but they weren’t actually from the area…

[WadeH237]

WadeH237, how were clouds during eclipse at TSP?  I had paid for a bunk but flew elsewhere last minute.

It was a lot of trouble and expense.

It was partly cloudy.  Between 1st and 2nd contact, there was intermittent cloud coverage over the sun.  There were low clouds that were moving pretty quickly and dissipating.  I wasn't too worried about them, but there was a higher layer that could have been a problem.

 

Fortunately, a minute or so before totality, the sun cleared completely and we saw the full 4.5 minutes without obstruction.

 

We had a great view.  I hope that last minute change worked out, too.

[Exeligmos]

Route (City A to City B)              Road(s)       Ordinary Travel Time       Travel Time before 2024 Eclipse

Alton, IL to Jackson MO               I-255, I-55                 2.5 hours                                 3 hours

    The eclipse traffic was just starting to pick up outside of St. Louis. We were delayed 30 minutes.

Route (City A to City B)              Road(s)       Ordinary Travel Time       Travel Time after 2024 Eclipse

Jackson MO to Gladstone MO       I-55, I-70                   5 hours                                   11 hours

    As the Great I-55 Jam of '24 was commencing, we decided instead to work our way along the curvy roads through the heart of the Ozarks. Instead of a potential 11-hour trip, we made it home in 8 hours. As a bonus, we enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way.

 

-----

 

Route (City A to City B)               Road(s)       Ordinary Travel Time       Travel Time after 2017 Eclipse

Eddyville KY to Gladstone MO      I-70, I-64, I-57, I-24           7 hours                           7 hours

    There was just a brief jam out of Eddyville. FWIW, my excursion lasted from 11 PM Sunday evening to 8 PM Monday evening. I was running on adrenaline the whole time.

Edited by Exeligmos, 11 April 2024 - 03:32 AM.

[Phillip Creed]

Route:  Canal Fulton, OH, to Celina, OH

Normal traffic time:  3 hours
Post-eclipse traffic time:  3 hours

Reason--most of the journey was along US-30.  A big part of the traffic has to do with which major cities can use a road to funnel traffic towards the centerline.

I-75 and US-23 coming south from Michigan had very heavy PRE-eclipse traffic and very heavy POST-eclipse traffic.  US-33 had major traffic heading back to Columbus after totality.

US-30, though, could only draw from either Canton or Ft. Wayne, which was probably why heavy volume never materialized.

Clear Skies,

Phil

[Messierthanwhat]

We drove to Texas from Arizona on Saturday, and stayed in San Angelo, about two hours from the center of the totality path. We scouted around on Sunday, concentrating on San Saba and Llano. Llano became our choice because it a) was closest to the center line, b) had a large park overlooking the Llano River, and c) could be reached and exited without using any of the highways going from there to Waco, Austin or San Antonio.

 

That last feature was the timesaver. From the park we could see traffic on the Highway 16 bridge over the river - southbound, headed toward Austin or San Antonio - was moving at a snail's pace. But the route westbound back to San Angelo wasn't at all congested. On Sunday we'd had the roads almost to ourselves everywhere we went. Returning to San Angelo after the eclipse, we could sometimes see five or six other cars going our way on the straight stretches. The travel time back to our motel was same as the day before.

Edited by Messierthanwhat, 12 April 2024 - 09:32 AM.

[zjc26138]

We didn't experience anything in terms of traffic delays.

 

We live in Steubenville, Ohio, which is just west of Pittsburgh, PA.  I think all the Pittsburgh traffic took 79 to Erie.  Our journey took us to Lodi, Ohio, about 30 miles west of Akron.

 

We took US22 to US250 to I-77 to US224. It took a little over 2 hours, which is the typical time.

 

However our friend that was with us had to travel to Pittsburgh then to Harrisburg after the eclipse. She left about 10 minutes after totality. Took her almost 4 hours to get to Pittsburgh (should have been 2.5). Then another 4 plus to Harrisburg.  

[brentwood]

Drive from Kemptville ON to Husky Truck Stop  Hwy 44  via Freeway 416 , 38K 25 mins. On return, huge line up just to get back to 416, so we took 44 all the way back , 40k 36 mins. We crossed the 416 several times and could see it was  chocablock!  We had a 2min 19 sec totality, through high cloud, but could see the corona and the prominences. We could have gone farther south to get more time , but then we would have crossed the US border! 

Edited by brentwood, 12 April 2024 - 03:35 PM.