Total eclipse - April 8, 2024

Been there, done that...built forms for a new patio instead. It was cloudy here anyways. It did cool off so that I but a jacket back on, other than that.....

 

We took the day and drove to Carbondale for it. Having seen it from our back yard in 2017 we wanted one more crack at it. Traffic coming back to Nashville was brutal. Took over 8 hours to make what should be a 3 hour trip. Still well worth the experience to me.

It was a bit of a gamble with the forecast being iffy about clouds but we ended up with reasonably clear skies for the big event.

 

Oh don’t get me started on the traffic…

We started rolling away at about 4:15. Got about 30 miles back towards civilization when *someone* complains of having to take a shit. Mind you, at that point we’d been stopped in place for probably 20 minutes. So we had to turn around and head BACK to where we were and beyond, figure we’ll get dinner and wait out the traffic.

Leave the restaurant at 7:15. Takes me over FOUR HOURS to get from Jackman, ME o Waterville so I can pick up the intahstate and start headed for home.

Still worth it.

 

Yeah those southern ILL farm roads were completely overwhelmed. I bet never in history has so many people wanted to be in Carbondale lol.

In Sparta I did see a Colorado license plate I think that won the distance award.

 

We were in NVT in a very private area. Total religious experience.
10 hours to drive home to Boston. Would do it again.

 

Rental hoopty has Illinois plates. While Hazel was “making a splash”, coupla townies were jaw jacking about the fucking tourists coming all the way from Illinois to muck up their quaint little Canuckistanian border town.

Set them fuckers right when I told ‘em I had native bona fides, and that we came all the way from Minneshitholia.

 

My next eclipse-centric trip is going to involve more than just roads.

Uluru, Ayer's Rock, Australia is a bucket list item for me.

Uluru under a total eclipse, I might just kick that bucket on the spot!

 

If the ticker doesn’t give out, the wildlife will gladly offer to help send you on your way to the great beyond.

 

As with others, the only downfall was the travel after the event. I only had a 95 mile drive, from south of Indy to NW of Indy. I elected to stop and eat, as well as go to a nearby Costco to kill some time. I65 was still at a near standstill, while US52 (?) was moving at a good clip. The normal 90 minute drive still took me about four hours. I can't imagine the pain those from Chicagoland had to deal with, having to drive an additional 125 miles or so.

Regardless, I'm still happy I made the trip. Probably my last one, and it was nice.

 

No shit! Everything will kill you in Oz!

 

Do this while dressed in full mad max gear driving a replica mad max car and Ill throw in $100

 

What's all this about an eclipse or something?

 

Go back to bed old man.

 

Speaking of old, I found a video tape of some Daytona stuff and other things that your Dad made for me decades ago. I'll send it to you if you want it.

 

I'm just disappointed the eclipse didn't trigger the apocalypse, as some predicted. We're overdue for a humanity reset.

 

We need a comet, Nikes and a bathtub fulla Kool-Aid.

 

This bigtime. We ended up with clear skies and I gotta say - it’s was truly impressive.

I was pleased to experience it with my wife and daughter.

Raina kept saying “Dad this is once in a lifetime event”.

 

Carbondale IL?

 

When you go to Costco to get away from traffic, you know the traffic is bad.

over here we didn't get totality, but it was still nice. The kids felt a little let down since it didn't get dark and the whole sun wasn't blocked, at least school did prepare them for that.

 

Caught it almost by accident in 2017, happened to be in KY/TN with the family on vacation then, everyone thought it was great and said "when can we do this again....!?"

Well, 2024 here we are. This time we drove down from Wisconsin. Was shooting for s/w of Indy, only made it as far as Lebanon area. Left plenty early I thought, but traffic in the CHI area, well yeah you can just imagine.

Found a fairly quiet industrial park and we just hung out there. Like last time, it is just a surreal experience in totality. Hard to describe. Except for some asshat who had his girlfriend filming him doing figure-8 burnouts on his Harley right when things got dark. I mean, that is cool and all, but shit really detracted from the experience. Downwind too so we got to enjoy his smoke....

It just gets so dark, and looking up at the black hole in the sky is really wild. Was expecting the aliens to come this time, but I guess they were busy again.

Driving home was surprisingly better than expected. Use the GPS to try and avoid the busiest roads, actually made it home faster than getting there.