They’re not telling people to stock up on toilet paper? Have we learned nothing from Covid?!
Seriously, this same thing happened just 7 years ago. Do people really not remember it?
Just FYI, the next one visible in the US is in 2044.
Like I’ve said before in this thread and probably will again before all is said and done, eclipse travelers are going to be the type who will bring everything they need with them, and pack it all out a few hours or a day or two later. That said, much of this track is in very sparsely populated areas, so I think they’re wanting to have a “better safe than sorry” attitude.
August 23, 2044, but only over a bit of the north-central US. It’s going to be a real treat for Albertans, though, and also points north.
Among other things, I’ve ordered some of those those piss-in-a-pouch portable toilet things. Best be prepared if I’m in the middle of nowhere! But I’m also flying, and hope it doesn’t prove difficult to buy flats of water bottles or the like when I get there. I think it’ll be ok, though.
Dude. We are men. Every shrub is a bathroom. And every tree.
There was some of that in August 2017: stock up on supplies, etc. A lady in a small Idaho town in the totality path, I met her on a different forum, was getting a little scared. Her husband had just passed away one year to the day before that eclipse, so that contributed to her feeling a little vulnerable. Her small town’s police department was warning their citizens that there’d be a rush on supplies, and their town would be swamped and inundated by strangers.
I ended up calling her and we talked on the phone, to help put her at ease. We had a nice conversation and she ended up inviting my wife and me, and a friend of mine, over to her house so she’d have some company and feel a little more, protected if I can use that word but it wasn’t that extreme. Comforted is probably a better word.
We watched the eclipse from her back yard and we’ve been friends ever since. I called her two weeks ago just to catch up. Anyway it was a nice result of that eclipse. She’s in the picture link I shared upthread.
It was a little bizarre that she invited total strangers over to her house. I think I was more concerned for her than she was for herself. In the end it was very nice.
But yeah, no panic buying ensued back then.
ETA: yes she’s in this imgur post from years ago. She’s with my wife about 7 or 8 pics in ➜ The 2017 total solar eclipse back on August 21, 2017. We were in Midvale, Idaho. - Album on Imgur. She is the older lady.
ETA2: we were not planning to be in her town, but we were going to be nearby. I changed my plans after talking with her on the phone. We didn’t meet in person until 2 days before the eclipse when we passed through her town to get to my friend’s town further north.
Anyway it is a nice heart warming story. I like meeting random people, and even moreso when it turns out like this.
Have you seen Texas? They barely have trees! Maybe a Bush or two…
Out west, no trees. You pee beside your SUV.
On the A&M campus I’ve been to his presidential library and museum. They’re buried there but I wouldn’t relieve myself there or I’d be in jail. Gotta find another solution.
At the SMU campus is his son’s library and museum. But I haven’t been there yet.
If I get hauled in will you bail me out?
In the hill country, LOTS of trees.
Unless you’re going some place where the water is not safe to drink, just bring a refillable water bottle (I may well have missed a statement that you’re going to Mexico, in which case that might not be safe advice).
I’m not, but I am headed down to Starbase a couple of days beforehand. It’s pretty far out of the way and has zero amenities. I’m treating it like a day-hike, which means I prefer to have a few liters of water. Maybe overkill, but I like to be prepared. Plus I like to fly with minimal baggage–I’d prefer not to bring a bottle. Given the general out-of-the-way-ness of the whole trip (I’ll be pretty far south the whole time), I feel like a 12-pack of water bottles is cheap insurance.
We are going to Mexico, and travel advice states that the tap water should be avoided. Bottled water only and no ice in drinks.
Dr Strangelove, my partner will be so envious that you are going to Starbase. He follows all the SpaceX launches avidly!
in phila we will be at 90 something percent. i toyed with the idea of going to erie. long range forcast is cloudy with showers. decided to stay in phila. the franklin institute will have a watch party with solar tents, that could be fun.
This is probably a dumb question - but the only difference in experience between the edges of the totality path and the center is the total time it lasts, right? I’m driving from the Boston area to VT on the morning of, and figured I’d stop in Waterbury instead of fighting my way up to Burlington.
I’m glad you asked that because I’ve been wondering the same thing!
So to answer my own question, I found this animation, which certainly seems to indicate that if you’re in the path, you do get the full experience.
Yeah, as long as you’re inside the path of totality, you’ll get totality; the only difference is how long it lasts.
But here’s the thing: you don’t need to be that far inside the path to get most of the benefit in terms of time of totality. Say the path of totality is 120 miles wide, and if you’re smack in the middle, 60 miles from either edge, you get 4 minutes of totality.
But even if you’re just halfway (30 miles) from the edge to the center line of the totality path, you get 86.6% of the maximum totality time, which would be 3 minutes and 28 seconds of totality. Even if you’re just 1/3 (20 miles) of the way in, you’d get just a few seconds shy of 3 minutes of totality. Even 10% (6 miles) in, you’d get 1 minute 45 seconds of totality. So depending on how crowded it gets towards the center of the totality zone, there’s a matter of diminishing returns.
That’s what I’m going to suggest to my NW Ohio friends: that we should drive in from the edge of the totality zone until we see enough people and cars that it might be crowded getting out. But since we’d already be starting at Defiance College, which is far enough inside the totality zone to get maybe a minute of totality, it shouldn’t take but a few miles to double that. After that, we can see how it goes.
It should be interesting! There won’t be a launch or anything, but the whole place is a hive of activity, and right next to a public highway, so it’s easy to just park across the road and check things out. They’re building things at a prodigious rate and it’s mostly visible from the outside.
I’ll be heading to NASA Johnson in Houston later in the trip for a more classic approach to space.
Sounds like you’ve got a fantastic trip planned!
I’m hoping! Figured that as long as I was traveling, I wanted to max out the length of totality, not to mention the odds of having clear weather. That meant South Texas. Figured I should catch a few other attractions while I was in the state, and having a space theme seemed appropriate. And I have some friends on Austin. So I’ll be circling from Houston->Brownsville->Carrizo Springs->eclipse???->Austin->Houston.
Keeping a lot of it flexible. Still don’t know exactly where I’ll catch totality–it’s going to depend a bit on the weather. Heck, Mexico may not be out of the picture.
There is going to be a lot of driving on this trip…