So, you all are saying that if I was hoping I could drive overnight the night before (coming from the Seattle area), I’m probably kidding myself, yes?
What if instead I could make it to Yakima the day before, and then take US-97 towards Madras? Does that seem more feasible?
I realize no one really knows what to expect, but I appreciate your opinions all the same.
OK, then, it sounds like it’s definitely plan B for my family.
It is. But, it’s also only 2% of the population of the Chicago metropolitan area (9.4 million people). Not to mention the couple of million people who live in the rest of Illinois, and the 5.7 million people in Wisconsin (for whom southern Illinois is also the closest point in the totality path).
I have a campsite reserved in Madras, OR (Oregon Solarfest). I’ll be driving there (from San Jose) on Friday. It’s almost exactly beneath the totality centerline.
Any dopers that want to join me are welcome, BUT you’ll have to arrange transportation: the campsite is only big enough for one car (mine). Should be plenty for a couple more tents, though. There should be bus and shuttle service going there from elsewhere, but I don’t know how packed it will be at this point.
There’s an eclipse festival in Madras so there should be enough to do over the weekend.
Oh my way home to Raleigh this evening, there was a warning on the overhead, electric, highway information signs. I saw it on 3 of them tonight.
“August 21st
Total Eclipse
Plan Ahead - Expect Delays” - Prepare for Doom
Okay, maybe not that last part. I’m in Raleigh NC… hundreds of miles from the path of totality.
Madras, Oregon has a population of 6,729 people. They have 6,000 campsites filled (up to 6 people per campsite), and 500 RV sites filled( up to 10 people per RV).
I’m driving down to Missouri (from Chicago) on Sunday to be ready for the eclipse on Monday. Is traffic supposed to be horrible then too or just the day of the eclipse?
Actually, only about 180 miles down the I-95. 
I will overnight in Butte, Montana, and am planning on driving down I-15 to the exit at Rexburg, ID. I’m planning on doing the driving in the wee hours of the morning. I’m hoping that the relative scarcity of population in that part of the country will insulate me from serious traffic woes.
In Upstate South Carolina the news reports say to prepare as if it was a hurricane or major winter storm coming. Traffic is anticipated to be more than double the normal number of cars on the road.
I-85 runs through the Upstate and we can expect heavy traffic flow from both directions. Northbound travelers from down in Atlanta and beyond will meet those from Charlotte and northward. Alternate routes like US 29 and US 23/123 may be packed as well. Look for off the off the beaten path roads.
I’m going to Silverton, a 2.5 hour drive under normal circumstances. My plan is to leave early on Sunday morning and stay until Tuesday.
I plan to watch it somewhere in the Midwest; exactly where will depend on what the weather report looks like the day before. I do plan to avoid southern Illinois, because I used to live there (in fact, that’s where I was living when I learned about it, and the 2024 eclipse, back in 2011 
) and it’s heavily forested and relatively sparsely populated, with lots of two-lane country roads. Missouri is much more wide open, and interestingly, the totality zone follows interstate highways from Idaho all the way to St. Louis, where it brushes the southern 'burbs.
I think a lot of this is going to be like Y2K, where the expected disasters didn’t take place because everyone prepared for it.
One of my friends is planning to borrow camping equipment, and she and her husband are planning to pack up their 4 sons, aged 3 to 18, and tent camp near Yellowstone. Never mind that none of them have ever tent-camped in their life and it’s really obvious that she has no idea what she might be doing. :smack: Yeah, I know, not my circus, not my monkeys.
I’m hearing that you may indeed have a hurricane in the region by then. :eek:
I do vaguely remember the 1979 eclipse, but truthfully, only hardcore eclipse nerds and astronomers would have gone to North Dakota or Manitoba, because it was in the dead of winter.
My plan has been to avoid interstates and US highways, generally, and also avoiding major state highways. I’m heading towards Smith’s Ferry, ID from just south of San Francisco. I’ll drive out on Thursday after work and plan to be in place by Sunday mid-afternoon. I’m looking at forest roads and Jeep trails in that area and plan to scout them out on Saturday.
One week from now it’ll all be over, hopefully, and the roads will be cleared. I head east after the eclipse for a bit of a road trip vacation.
ETA: Statistics — Great American Eclipse has some good crowd projections. Thanks, Pasta!
☾ 
Oregon is going to be a nightmare. And then some.
The governor has activated the National Guard. It’s predicted this eclipse will be the state’s greatest human [del]disaster[/del] event. Businesses that allow teleworking are being seriously encouraged to grant teleworking across the board. Even in Washington State.
Weather - Current long-range forecasts call for clouds and rain, with snow above 6,000 feet. The coast is predicted to have onshore maritime winds and normal morning fog. Woe be anyone staying at Depoe Bay and Lincoln City, thinking a Pacific Coast paradise stay and solar totality. It will get very dark but don’t expect to see the eclipse. If you think a quick morning check reveals terrible skies, then jumping into the car and racing east over the Coast Range could be a killer. The roads will be full of traffic or closed outright. If you get stuck in traffic and don’t have a full tank of gas, three days of food and water, you will be in trouble. Authorities will not be rescuing you.
Fire - The Pacific Northwest is at Level Five, the highest fire danger and the worst place in the country. Almost 7,000 wildland firefighters in Oregon and Washington. If the clouds don’t kill your viewing, the smoke and haze will probably do it. The Warm Springs Reservation (Nena Fire) is gonna kill viewing for lots of people. Super viewing spots in the Cascade Range are already closed because of current fire and/or anticipated fire. (Whitewater Fire)
Roads - Thinking of last-minute travel? Unless you’re on the road now, forget it. If you think you can get up real early Monday morning and get to a good viewing spot, join thousands of others planning the same thing. And for the few who get to a prime spot, it was gone a week ago. News tonight says Seattle to Portland-Eugene on I5 will be a parking lot Monday morning. You won’t make it.
Roads around these parts are scare and far and few between. All of them will be a mess. In the central high desert, there is no shade. Any little town in totality will be a parking lot. Madras has 6,000 people. They expect 100,000+ on Monday. The two main highways through town are crap driving on a normal summer day. And expect ordinary food, water, gas tr be gone before you even get there.
Flying - Seattle and Portland airports will be a zoo starting Friday. You should already be here by now. Plus, travel from Seattle will be a mess, and Portland traffic a real mess. If you’re renting a vehicle, better double-check and triple-check your reservation. Rental agencies are overbooked and they are cancelling reservations. With the fires across both states, your “guaranteed” reservation might very well be gone, taken by fire fighters.
Accommodations - Gone. Don’t plan to camp by the side of the road, either. Forget trying to camp on all the endless open range, either. It’s restricted (if public land) or closed entirely (private ranch land).
Food and Water - Bring three, to five to seven days food and water. Oregon has been gearing up for a while but there will be scarcities. If you get stuck, you’re on your own. Also, bring your own sanitation buckets and toilet paper. Whatever port-a-potties available will be limited everywhere. Many were already taken by fire fighting contracts. And if you find one, it will be dirty. The anticipated traffic nightmare means port-a-potty owners will not be doing daily cleaning. Expect dirty, full and overflowing port-potties starting Friday thru Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday …?
What The Media Isn’t Reporting - I have friends in Central Oregon. Ranchers. Bend and Redmond Walmart parking lots are full of RV campers (been full for more than a week); the locals have to park on side streets and walk to Walmart. As ranchers they keep finding folks on their lands looking to pitch a tent or park an RV. Not happening. Working ranches have cattle and sheep, or trying to grow food for winter feed. But that’s not the real issue. It’s wildlife. Ranchers are armed all of the time because they really do have bears, mountain lions and coyotes all over the place. But the worst are the rattlesnakes. One told me last week they are killing three to five rattlesnakes a day on their ranch. The drought is bringing out aggressive snakes. Aggressive as in driving down a ranch road, stopping the truck and as they try to get out of the truck, the snakes are already there, looking for shade and water and food. Nobody even walks out of the ranch house without being armed, wearing heavy leather boots and snake chaps. Local hospitals have stocked up on anti-venom. But if you’re foolish to get bit, and it’s a journey to the hospital, the clogged roads may kill you before you make it to the ER. Seriously.
On the other hand, there’s a family that bought land in the path of totality a few years back. They built a home on it. They plan to watch the solar eclipse from their home. When it’s all over, they will put the house up for sale. Yup, the built a house only to watch the eclipse.
I’m an hour north of totality. Still it will be 99.xx percent total. I’ve got a tent sized camera obscura I will use to watch the eclipse. Or just enjoy the brief darkness if it’s cloudy. Then I’ll sit back and watch the chaos unfold on television.
Also in Oregon: baseball and the eclipse. The San Francisco Giants’ minor league affiliate, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, will start their game in the morning and then break during the eclipse – the first-ever “eclipse delay” in baseball.
http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?ymd=20160812&content_id=195178222&sid=t578&vkey=team3
I’ve been to Disney Land, Disney World, Cedar Point, The Ohio Renaissance Festival:eek: Rush hours in LA, NYC, Boston, PITTSBURG!, Nashville, San Diego, Dallas, and 42 County Fairs in my home town.
I think enduring traffic around Paducah, Kentucky will be no problem.
***RELAX. ***:smack:
LOL, Duckster, you’re making me look like an optimist. Really great information, though. I’d heard a lot of it, but nothing of the east side. The snake situation does sound grim!
Bullitt, that’s hilarious. Really, they should have rescheduled! Glad to hear your plans have come together. 
I’d worry more about fires. Especially new ones set by eclipse tourists.
They did reschedule. They rescheduled from later in the day just to claim the first eclipse delay.
I’m planning on bicycling down from the Beaverton area to Salem the morning of the eclipse. I did this a month ago and it took about 3.5 hours to get to my brother’s house in south Salem. I’m now getting a bit worried that it’ll take longer just because there are more cars. The route I’m taking is only partially a state highway and the part that isn’t doesn’t have a very wide shoulder. I guess I better allow an extra half hour or so.
Thanks! But part of me wants to be at that baseball game.
I work for TA/Petro in Troutdale. Gas prices in Multnomah County will be around $9.50/gallon the weekend preceding the eclipse.