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2024 Solar Eclipse - never too early to get ready


Wally Fairway

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Start making your plans - April 8, 2024

Texas is in the path of totality, don't miss it.

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Austin stats -

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My plans are to go somewhere closer, about 3.5 hours away in the middle of Ohio (almost 4 minutes of totality and I can drive around if it clouds up)

0uoTesi.jpg

 

I have to wait for phd(FrankieMacDonald) to tell me the best weather for viewing

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  • 4 years later...
Looks like it's going to miss Houston.  Guess I will wait around for another crack it next decade.  
On a serious question- what's so cool about it?

Like a Texas football national title. There’s a football national title every year but the chances of you seeing it in Texas are…rare.
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Looks like it's going to miss Houston.  Guess I will wait around for another crack it next decade.  
On a serious question- what's so cool about it?

Imagine the sun, but it’s black with a ring of light around it. The horizon looks like late evening, but all around, not just in one direction.
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25 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:


Imagine the sun, but it’s black with a ring of light around it. The horizon looks like late evening, but all around, not just in one direction.

Plus the temperature drop. 
 

so imagine going from day to night and back to day in 4 minutes. 
 

it fucks with the local fauna too. 

Edited by Pato del Muerto
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This map lets you zoom in to any spot and determine when it starts and stops, and how long the sun will be gone:

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html

If you are bothered by things like goalposts not lining up with letters, you really want to be on the middle blue line or it's going to drive you crazy.

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This map lets you zoom in to any spot and determine when it starts and stops, and how long the sun will be gone:
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html
If you are bothered by things like goalposts not lining up with letters, you really want to be on the middle blue line or it's going to drive you crazy.

That’s damn near perfect for me. That line is maybe 1000 feet from being directly over the lake house with nearly 4 1/2 minutes of total eclipse. I can’t wait.
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On 3/26/2018 at 5:07 PM, HOOKEM4 said:

My ranch is damn near dead center of the line of totality. If I am still roaming this earth I will he there with the family to experience the phenomenon. Pretty excited about it.

This!  Is how you do it fellas.

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My ranch is damn near dead center of the line of totality. If I am still roaming this earth I will he there with the family to experience the phenomenon. Pretty excited about it.

We are similar. Already have a camping trip on the place that weekend and staying for the eclipse in the calendar.
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11 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I was at 98% obscuration for the last one or so and it was pretty neat. Those that were compelled to drive a couple hours south into totality reported some really interesting stuff. 

Is there a major difference from 98% to 100%? What about 99 to 100%? Serious question here. My father in law is near China Grove in SA and I don’t want to hear his bitching for the rest of his life if it’s going to be a noticeable difference. 

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12 hours ago, MrBig said:

Is there a major difference from 98% to 100%? What about 99 to 100%? Serious question here. My father in law is near China Grove in SA and I don’t want to hear his bitching for the rest of his life if it’s going to be a noticeable difference. 

Yes. At 100 you can look right at the sun and it doesn’t get dark at less. 

Edited by Pato del Muerto
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12 hours ago, MrBig said:

Is there a major difference from 98% to 100%? What about 99 to 100%? Serious question here. My father in law is near China Grove in SA and I don’t want to hear his bitching for the rest of his life if it’s going to be a noticeable difference. 

What is your favorite way to enjoy a football game?

  • Sit inside the stadium and watch the game.
  • Hang out right outside the stadium and figure out how it's going by listening to crowd noise.

If you are "inside the stadium" person, you are going to want to have at least some time at 100%.  Prior to 100%, you mostly see a crescent sun through protective glasses or a pinhole camera.  Shadows look weird.  At 100%, you have some amount of time to take off your glasses and look right at it.  The closer you are to the middle of the ground track, the longer you have to look.

At the one I saw, I would have been really pissed off to be at the 99% mark and never got to see the real deal.  A rogue cloud can screw up the entire thing at the last minute, but you have to take your chances.

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22 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

This map lets you zoom in to any spot and determine when it starts and stops, and how long the sun will be gone:

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html

If you are bothered by things like goalposts not lining up with letters, you really want to be on the middle blue line or it's going to drive you crazy.

According to that map, the center of totality runs very close to Garner, Lost Maples, and Enchanted Rock.  I bet the campsites in those three get reserved quickly, once they start taking reservations for that weekend.  I'm going to see if I can get reservations at one of them and make a long weekend of it.  I haven't been to Garner in ages.

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9 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:

According to that map, the center of totality runs very close to Garner, Lost Maples, and Enchanted Rock.  I bet the campsites in those three get reserved quickly, once they start taking reservations for that weekend.  I'm going to see if I can get reservations at one of them and make a long weekend of it.  I haven't been to Garner in ages.

Will you bump this late next year for me?

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I drove to Nebraska for the last one. Watched it from the side of the road by a corn field. Well worth it.

One reason I picked Nebraska was the lack of people and good grid of rural highways. Came in handy, because about two hours before go-time, some clouds started rolling in. I drove 30-40 miles west and north to find sunny skies that were also right on the center line.

Get as close yo the center line as possible. I promise you that once it starts, you will want it to last MUCH longer.

I do not think Texas will be neatly prepared for the migration of people from Houston and CenTex regions towards the path of totality; or even Austinites moving toward the center line. Prepare for a shit show of epic proportion.

Bernard

Edited by Bernard
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3 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

What is your favorite way to enjoy a football game?

  • Sit inside the stadium and watch the game.
  • Hang out right outside the stadium and figure out how it's going by listening to crowd noise.

If you are "inside the stadium" person, you are going to want to have at least some time at 100%.  Prior to 100%, you mostly see a crescent sun through protective glasses or a pinhole camera.  Shadows look weird.  At 100%, you have some amount of time to take off your glasses and look right at it.  The closer you are to the middle of the ground track, the longer you have to look.

At the one I saw, I would have been really pissed off to be at the 99% mark and never got to see the real deal.  A rogue cloud can screw up the entire thing at the last minute, but you have to take your chances.

I’m in 99.999% totality. Right on the line for the totality border boundary. If I drove down to the community mailbox I would be in the 100% zone. Does it make a difference moving about 400 yards to see it? I know this question sounds so incredibly stupid but I’m preparing myself for all the stupid questions my family will be asking me because I mentioned this eclipse to them a decade ago and now they think I’m part of NASA. 

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3 minutes ago, MrBig said:

I’m in 99.999% totality. Right on the line for the totality border boundary. If I drove down to the community mailbox I would be in the 100% zone. Does it make a difference moving about 400 yards to see it? I know this question sounds so incredibly stupid but I’m preparing myself for all the stupid questions my family will be asking me because I mentioned this eclipse to them a decade ago and now they think I’m part of NASA. 

Yes. 

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I set an alarm on my phone a couple of weeks ago to remind me to make reservations for this. Can only make them a year in advance, so hopefully it doesn't fill up too quickly.

State parks are 5 months in advance right now and and are available 8 am.
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I drove to Nebraska for the last one. Watched it from the side of the road by a corn field. Well worth it.
One reason I picked Nebraska was the lack of people and good grid of rural highways. Came in handy, because about two hours before go-time, some clouds started rolling in. I drove 30-40 miles west and north to find sunny skies that were also right on the center line.
Get as close yo the center line as possible. I promise you that once it starts, you will want it to last MUCH longer.
I do not think Texas will be neatly prepared for the migration of people from Houston and CenTex regions towards the path of totality; or even Austinites moving toward the center line. Prepare for a shit show of epic proportion.
Bernard

I did Wyoming … up on a little plateau overlooking an Indian reservation … amazing viewing spot… highways sucked… the whole state was a traffic jam for at least a day after.


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1 hour ago, VinyVango said:


I did Wyoming … up on a little plateau overlooking an Indian reservation … amazing viewing spot… highways sucked… the whole state was a traffic jam for at least a day after.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Buddy of mine and his daughter were high up on a mountain near Jackson. The had some cool video of the shade approaching from far away.

Bernard

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On 4/29/2022 at 2:15 PM, Texas Jeff said:

This map lets you zoom in to any spot and determine when it starts and stops, and how long the sun will be gone:

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html

If you are bothered by things like goalposts not lining up with letters, you really want to be on the middle blue line or it's going to drive you crazy.

Looks like it's going to be about 100 miles south of The South 40.

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18 hours ago, Bernard said:

do not think Texas will be neatly prepared for the migration of people from Houston and CenTex regions towards the path of totality; or even Austinites moving toward the center line. Prepare for a shit show of epic proportion.

Bernard

so the perhaps the best idea to reserve a place to stay west of the center line and drive east the day of? I also figure that people will be lazy by going to a spot nearest to them. It might be good to go southwest. What's del rio like?

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