Yep, flying to Chattanooga, TN on Sunday night to meet the family, who will be driving from VA so we can see the eclipse in its totality at a place we've booked near Dayton, TN. Thanks for the heads-up on the reservation bumping scam (that's how I perceive it anyway, a low down dirty scam). I'll have to double check on those reservations, it seems...
Don't think the Wife will buy that as a reason to not get home.
I'll be sticking around Indianapolis on Eclipse day, since I'm local and it's back to w*rk for me on Monday. But it looks like we'll get a half decent view, even if we're not in the totality zone. My company has an office in Kansas City, which is in the totality zone, so I'm pretty envious of the people who work out of that office.
I ordered some Eclipse safe glasses from eclipse2017.org They are not what I expected. I expected sunglasses. These things leave you completely blind unless you are staring directly at the sun, in which case you see a mostly black background with a dark orangeish circle in the middle.
____________________________________________________ Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/25/16019892/solar-eclipse-2017-interactive-map
I thought a bit about taking my older son down to the festivities at Southern Illinois University, but every bit of housing is sold out, and the prices were $800 for a dorm room for the weekend! (Sounds like a certain event we all know and love.) Plus I figure it will be like Fury Road trying to leave town. (Like a different event in Indy in late May.)
I'll wait for the total eclipse of April 8, 2024. That one will go straight over Indy. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2024Apr08Tgoogle.html
I plan to step outside my house for 2.17 minutes of total darkness. I am one of the lucky people right in the path of totality. (btw, instead of going all the way down to Nashville - go to Hopskinville, KY - it has the LONGEST totality and it's a little further north to boot! :) (well, it has the 2nd longest totality - I think Carbondale, IL has the longest by a few seconds... I live just about smack dab in between the two. :)
Assuming clear weather, my carload is planning on heading west on I74/I72, staying Sunday night somewhere an hour or two north of the eclipse line, catching up on sleep [who ever sleeps enough at a con? :-) ] then making a leisurely drive to a good viewing spot by noonish. Totality will be around 1:10pm in that area. After the eclipse, we'll be driving on to the Dallas area.
Important point: get your eclipse safety glasses now. Some types are sold out already and delivery times might stretch out til after you leave home for GenCon. Go online to read about recommendations and details.
- patrick
We're driving down to Hopkinsville on Monday, we reserved a spot at a family farm/mini golf center.
Hotels in Paducah are sold out.
Fortunately I don't need one. :)
We'll be heading home Monday and will drive right through several spots that are in the path of totality. Trying my hardest to work it so we are somewhere we can pull off the hwy and enjoy the spectacle. Already have our eclipse glasses in the bag!
Just wanted to say that this event was a really great addition to the Convention experience. My group usually drives back to Minnesota on the Monday after Gen Con. This year, we detoured south to Carbondale, IL instead, arriving about 3 hours before the totality (didn't know what traffic to expect). Made for an extra long drive day, but all 6 participants were unequivocally agreed that it was great and completely worth it. We experienced good weather (cloud passed across for about 10 seconds of the 2 min 40 second or so totality). The eclipse was really unbelievably awesome.
I hate to be that guy, but 100% is in no way comparable to a partial eclipse (even 99%). In totality, you can take off your glasses, see the corona with your naked eye. The light is weird, there are ripples of light & dark leading into and out of the totality. The moon is a black hole in the sky. You really should go out of your way to experience 100%, if at all possible.
As most people know, there is another one coming in 2024 (hits Carbondale again, actually). Sadly, this is on is in April and doesn't line up with Gen Con.
It was an amazing experience. We lucked out with the weather in Tennessee. Totally clear for totality. Perfect day!
That was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen! I fortunately only have to wait 8 years to HOPEFULLY be able to see it again. Paducah is in the path of totality for the 2024 eclipse but since it's in April, the odds of clouds (or rain) are a lot higher.
Still, I agree with you Alec -- INCREDIBLE.
Bah. Stuck in an airplane on the runway, under cloud cover in Kansas City, because the flight was late taking off. We should have been above the clouds before the eclipse began.
Great customer service, Sol Invictus. . . . . . (okay, I should be blaming Southwest, but hey...)
Was also happy to have great weather in TN where I met up with my family to watch the total solar eclipse. The experience was well worth it, even considering the horrific traffic on the drive home!
I was still in Indianapolis for the eclipse, since I live here, so I only got the 91% partial experience. It was a MUCH brighter than I expected. The day was partly cloudy, but the overall event lasted for about an hour.
I had my eclipse safety glasses. For about 5 minutes around peak, a big cloud moved in front of the sun, which pissed me off. But at no point was it any dimmer than a normal day. If not for the extensive news coverage for the year, you would not have known an eclipse was happening. I was down on the street outside my office building with a bunch of other people looking upward. A pedestrian asked me what everyone was looking at and I explained the eclipse. I shared my glasses with her and several other passersby.
Although I'm sure totality would have been much cooler, it was an unforgettable sight nonetheless. Because when you look through the safety glasses you see this odd sort of orange crescent behind a big black disc. The safety glasses are strange; they filter out so much light that you are completely blind unless you look directly at the sun. The sun, on a normal day, looks like a dark orange disc through the glasses.
Overall still a great experience, because there was a certain togetherness of man, with strangers all enjoying this rare astronomical occurrence.
I plan to get in the path of totality for the 2024 eclipse, probably by travelling somewhere to upstate New York. I hope it's not cloudy then....
Ended camping out at bit of national forest near carbondale for free. Totality was awesome. Weather worked out plan on trying again in 2024. Glad I took a couple of extra days. Well worth it.