Our initial Waze (and Apple Maps and Google maps) estimate at leaving Clarksville TN to Chicago was 10:30 - 11:00 p.m. We arrived at 6:30 a.m. We left at 3 p.m. and just got nailed on I-57, just past an exit where it was too late to go over to US 45. One stretch of road took us about an hour and a half to go seven miles (just south of Paxton where preparation for construction had two lanes down to one.)
We live in northern Alabama, so went to a small town in Tennessee (Smithville) near the center of the eclipse path, which we could get to without using any interstates. There was no eclipse traffic to speak of. We actually drove close to the area the night before, but that was totally unnecessary. Other people drove up that day and reported normal traffic.
We observed from a Walmart parking lot, which seemed to be the largest semi-public place in town. The parking lot was maybe 15% full, including a fair number of out-of-state cars.
I drove from northeastern Mississippi to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, and I didn’t notice any traffic to speak of (though finding parking at the recreation area itself was a challenge).
A relative of mine is reporting a traffic jam on I-5 south of Yreka … construction zone apparently …
N bound traffic in S IL was as bad as I’ve ever experienced. We were staying in Mt Vernon, an easy 1 hr drive south took us to the viewing site. Coing home, the expressway (I57) was jammed. Maybe 10 MPH. The parallel state road (37) was nearly as bad. I took us further east, to two-lanes and even gravel roads. Were able to move. Made it back to our hotel in 3.25 hrs.
at 9 p.m., I57 was still a parking lot.
One member of my party had to get back Monday night, so we had no choice but hit the road. It took 13 hours to drive from our site in WY back to the Denver area. It would normally take under 3 hours.
ETA: that does include a couple of stops to rest along the way
I think the main issue with Interstates was traffic running into construction. Remove a lane from a moderately busy two-lane interstate and you’ll get a parking lot most days, eclipse or no. :mad:
Traffic was a breeze coming back to Ohio from south of St. Louis. The only real congestion was where I-70 briefly merges with I-57 near Effingham, but that can be an issue without the eclipse, and based on the Google Maps traffic I was looking at, we made it through before the bulk of the Carbondale traffic got there.
Getting there was rough, but tolerable. Coming home was total hell! SC was predicted to see 2,000,000 visitors, and I’d swear every one was on I-81 North coming home! Hotels were ALL books, people sleeping in cars at jam-packed rest stops, and the truckers lining the shoulders - crowded out of their usual sleeping arrangements. We left at 4pm on Monday and drove ALL NIGHT (and only one driver) to arrive home at 10am Tues! We thought we could get a hotel along the way, but WHEW! Everyone was coming back at the exact same time!
scr4, you were in the exact parking lot that was our Plan A. Our Plan B probably worked out better anyway, though.
Driving back from Madras to CA was nuts. Left at 1 pm yesterday; arrived at 8:40 am today (just in time for Bay Area traffic). Just me driving.
Was worth it nevertheless. Probably the most impressive natural spectacle I’ve ever seen. Got some nice photos of the corona, too.
Great shot !!!
Thanks! I was surprised at the detail in the corona. I had been taking shots with a filter and wasn’t super-prepared at capturing the corona, but with some fast adjustments it turned out ok (also, I wanted to spend most of the time watching it with my real eyeballs). I think you can see some solar flares at 1 o’clock and 3 o’clock, too (the pink smudge at the edges).
Now I need to learn where the streakiness comes from…
I ended up going to Fulton, MO., which was near the peak of totality and about 20 miles south of Mexico. Traffic on the way there wasn’t at jam-level, but it was very noticeable that SOMETHING 
was going on, because there were probably 20 cars headed south for every car headed north.
There’s a 4-lane road between Fulton and I-70; traffic was way backed up because at Kingdom City, which I-70 passes through, there are stoplights. I decided to go to St. Louis, and there were a few slow spots (<40mph) but that’s not abnormal based on prior experiences I’ve had in that area.
And the eclipse was spectacular and I’m glad I went. 
I assume an autocorrect has gone awry here, but I can’t figure this out.
There is a city named Mexico in Missouri.
I wondered about the traffic out of Madras. We were, I dunno, 50 miles north in Shaniko. Which meant 93 seconds of totality, and almost zero traffic when we heading north 15 minutes later. Clear sailing for us back to the Washington side of the border campsite, and today might have had an extra 5 minutes tacked on to our trip owing to Solar related traffic.
If you’d been just a bit further east it would have been a mess. An accident closed the northbound side of the bridge over the Columbia near Umatilla, with stop and go traffic for several hours on the alternate route around to Pasco.
Ohhh, you’re right. That was an alternative route. We just did 97 and all was good. Dodge a moonbeam on that one. 
I live in Salt Lake City, and spend these last few days in Pocatello. I drove about 40 minutes north-ish to watch the eclipse near Idaho Falls. A friend of mine was in a similar situation- like me, she lives here in SLC, and she went to roughly the same area as I did to watch it.
She left for home immediately afterwards- and what would normally be a roughly three-hour drive took her over ten hours.
I stayed an extra day, and made it home in three hours.