There are a bunch of variables, but in 2017 we stayed in Louisville, KY and went to Franklin, KY for the eclipse. The drive there on Route 65 took two hours. The drive back took eight.
Hey, I’ll be in Dripping Springs! They’re having all sorts of festivities to celebrate the eclipse. Sounds like a cool little town!
I’ll be flying in to Houston on Friday, then driving down to Boca Chica to check out Starbase. Sunday night I have a room in Carrizo Springs. Plan is to make my way up through Uvalde and then west on US 90 or TX 55 to get closer to the centerline. Or even north on US 83.
Any advise for the area? Good food (I like BBQ)? Looks like there’s a border patrol checkpoint on US 90 --anything else I should watch out for along these lines?
Weather is the real question. The odds are in my favor, but you never know. Probably safer the further south I get. So I may go for US 90 initially, and move only if things are looking bad. I hope cell service is adequate out there…
My Airbnb host wanted to have family stay in the rental space I had rented for the day after the eclipse, so she offered me a full refund plus $200 if I’d let her cancel. I found another place, gave her the OK, and it all went through perfectly. I’m not sure if she wasn’t allowed to just cancel on me, or if she was just being a decent and fair person.
I haven’t seen the place in… um… I guess about 25 years, now. I remember it as just a speedbump on the way to Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock (but I did have an absolutely fantastic chicken-fried steak at a small restaurant there, back then).
Man, I would love to see the eclipse from Enchanted Rock. That place is going to be packed.
Really!
It’s called gear staging. I have a spare bedroom and my gear is being staged on that bed.
Only 30 days and a wake-up away!
You should find good BBQ there. It’s Texas, right? Me, I’ll be going to the Salt Lick in Driftwood TX. A favorite spot of mine.
I’ll be passing through Uvalde on my way to Austin. In Uvalde I’ll stop in to pay my respects to the victims of the school shooting less than 2 years ago.
And then also at UT Austin, for that school shooting. That was in 1966.
If she canceled your entire stay with her, that was probably a con. I suspect there is no family; they just realized they could have rented the place for a lot more than you paid, so conjured up a sob story to get you to leave happily enough to not complain to airBnB about them violating the rules, and their place is now re-rented to somebody else for double what you would have paid.
Lotta that going on all over the country as the news there’s an eclipse is filtering out to the huge fraction of Americans who pay no attention to anything besides their little lives.
Yeah, maybe, although I easily found another place for less than half of what I was paying for her place, plus I got the additional $200. I sort of do believe her sob story, only because when I first reserved the place for April 7 (I already had a different place booked for the 8th), she reached out and said she was happy to host me, but wanted to make sure I was aware that the eclipse was the following day.
Oops, I was staying at her place the day after the eclipse, not the day before.
Close enough. It appears my cynical suspicion was misplaced. Good on ya for finding an honest host.
Yeah really!
My understanding is that if a HOST cancels, it’s a big deal.
The first place I had booked went through automatically, and the host contacted me within a few hours asking me to cancel (as supposedly the place had been left available to rent by mistake).
I keep checking my reservation to make sure they haven’t pulled the rug out from under my feet (as of this morning, they have not). The property we rented was the first time it had been listed (though the host had other listings) which may be why it was still available (back in October). Other places I looked at, closer to Burlington, were either unavailable, or going for 600+ a night. I’m assuming our hosts either didn’t realize about the eclipse, or didn’t care.
I’m hoping that AirBNB doesn’t bollix things up when the final payment goes through, as the initial reservation was on a card that we had to report lost. I’ve added the replacement card to my account; just concerned that this may not automatically get used for the balance. I guess I’ll check on April 1 (the day the remainder goes through).
Also hoping that Budget doesn’t bollix up the SUV I reserved: I looked back in October, and the cheapest vehicle was a larger SUV; a compact was 300 dollars more - this is NOT the normal pricing differential!!!. We wanted either a larger car (that could hold all 6 or 7 of us), or just a second vehicle to give us more options; at the moment, we’re leaning toward taking both that car and our own.
Be advised…
I’m still shopping for binoculars filters. It’s late in the game, but it’s not critical I have them.
On this page ➜ Suppliers of Safe Solar Viewers & Filters | Solar Eclipse Across America, what it says is notable:
Important: We do not recommend searching for eclipse glasses on Amazon, eBay, Temu, or any other online marketplace and buying from whichever vendor offers the lowest price. Before you buy a solar viewer or filter online, we recommend that you make sure that (1) the seller is identified on the site and (2) the seller is listed on this page.
I bought these: DayStar Filters ULF50 50mm Binocular White-Light Universal Solar Lens Filter, 50-69mm OD, 2-Pack.
I haven’t tested them out yet, and the reviews aren’t all great, but they looked like they’d work for my purposes.
I saw a “Chances of Clear Skies” map, so I’m driving to southeastern Illinois, but I got a hotel room in central Illinois the night before, so I’ll have half of my drive on Sunday morning, then only have a two hour drive on Monday morning. Hopefully, that’ll help me avoid some traffic.
You’re aware that Carbondale IL is (was) in totality for both eclipses, Aug 2017 and Apr 2024?
Thanks for the tip. I got these.
I just tried out mine, and they seem fine.
You have to fold and interlock eight flaps to create the open cylinder shape, and the tabs that lock into the adjoining flap are not so strong as to bear repeated assembly and disassembly. So I don’t think I’ll keep these around for the next eclipse in 20 years. 
ETA: Today is my cake day! If my SDMB membership were a person, it could vote today.
That map looks less dismal for where we’ll be than I had feared - we’re in the 60-80% chance of clear skies, based on the nearest spot.
It doesn’t have info for the Canadian side of things, which is a pity, as that would be an option for us (our rental is less than 15 miles from a border crossing).
Our gear staging will start next week. We’ve held off until now because we were having flooring put in our living room - 4 very noisy days later and 2 rooms, a hallway and a stair are now hardwood versus rather scary 28 year old carpet. So anyway, we can now find the floor!!
We have a few more things to put away in that room, then the piles begin.