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ECLIPSE CHASING!!!!


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I saw posts last night from people still stuck in traffic in Vermont, when I had already gotten back to Long Island hours before, taking the scenic route, stopping multiple places along the way. I encountered zero traffic heading back down. Southbound I-89 in NH was Covid lockdown empty, which when coupled with the growing dimness from the eclipse became kind of eerie.

Heading up I saw license plates from all over the east coast. None of them could’ve made it.

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6 minutes ago, Cfa said:

I saw posts last night from people still stuck in traffic in Vermont, when I had already gotten back to Long Island hours before, taking the scenic route, stopping multiple places along the way. I encountered zero traffic heading back down. Southbound I-89 in NH was Covid lockdown empty, which when coupled with the growing dimness from the eclipse became kind of eerie.

I know taking I-91 S there was a bad accident S of Brattleboro, but Waze routed us around it, once past that it was smooth sailing until Cross Island Pkwy got knocked down to 1 lane for paving around 10pm.  Should have taken Clearview to LIE instead of listening to Waze at that point but was exhausted from driving up that morning and back that evening/night.

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25 minutes ago, Big Jims Videos said:

8 hours from Plattsburgh to Point Pleasant Beach in a drive that usually takes 5.  Worth every minute.  

1019 miles in 24 hrs. left MON at 1:00am for Buffalo, left Buffalo at 9:30am for Painesville, OH, left Painesville at 4:30pm & got home exactly at 1:00am this morning.

3 mins 48 secs of totality was more than worth it, spectacular event.

 

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4 hours ago, BxEngine said:

Firs 2:45 of my drive home last night. 8 hrs total.

IMG_5733.jpeg

Exactly..  I kept ignoring Waze until i saw situation as nearing hopeless and  all it did was take me through deep Adirondack route - most with zero cell  service. I expected bad but this is truly a legend of bad traffic.  

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5 hours ago, Cfa said:

I saw posts last night from people still stuck in traffic in Vermont, when I had already gotten back to Long Island hours before, taking the scenic route, stopping multiple places along the way. I encountered zero traffic heading back down. Southbound I-89 in NH was Covid lockdown empty, which when coupled with the growing dimness from the eclipse became kind of eerie.

Heading up I saw license plates from all over the east coast. None of them could’ve made it.

Left NJ about 12:30 a.m. Monday.  Hardly a car on the road the entire trip.  Made it up to Newport, VT near the Canadian border in NE Vermont in just over 6 hours.  Lots of time to kill prior to event but it was a party atmosphere, tailgating, campers. 

Trip home was a horror show.  Better than 12 hours in total and 91 south in Vermont was a near parking  Was like a badly executed hurricane evacuation.  Eventually cut over to I87 near Troy/Albany and continued south from there.

Well worth the trip. 

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18 minutes ago, MANDA said:

Left NJ about 12:30 a.m. Monday.  Hardly a car on the road the entire trip.  Made it up to Newport, VT near the Canadian border in NE Vermont in just over 6 hours.  Lots of time to kill priWor to event but it was a party atmosphere, tailgating, campers. 

Trip home was a horror show.  Better than 12 hours in total and 91 south in Vermont was a near parking  Was like a badly executed hurricane evacuation.  Eventually cut over to I87 near Troy/Albany and continued south from there.

Well worth the trip. 

Went to Albany Sunday and from there planned to go to Plattsburgh. Do to the cloud forecast ended up in Newport Vt. also. The trip from Plattsburgh to Newport was great, little traffic and lots of snow. The eclipse was great, my second total. So worth seeing at least once. The trip back home from Newport was possibly the worse I have ever seen. Vermont cannot handle that volume of traffic. Route 91 leaves few alternative routes and not to many exits. The first 45 miles took 31/2 hours. Got home 13 hours later, close to 5a.m.

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11 minutes ago, lee59 said:

Went to Albany Sunday and from there planned to go to Plattsburgh. Do to the cloud forecast ended up in Newport Vt. also. The trip from Plattsburgh to Newport was great, little traffic and lots of snow. The eclipse was great, my second total. So worth seeing at least once. The trip back home from Newport was possibly the worse I have ever seen. Vermont cannot handle that volume of traffic. Route 91 leaves few alternative routes and not to many exits. The first 45 miles took 31/2 hours. Got home 13 hours later, close to 5a.m.

Ouch, glad I left Woodstock, VT at 5:30pm to head home after seeing eclipse and getting late lunch.  13 hours is brutal.

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26 minutes ago, lee59 said:

Went to Albany Sunday and from there planned to go to Plattsburgh. Do to the cloud forecast ended up in Newport Vt. also. The trip from Plattsburgh to Newport was great, little traffic and lots of snow. The eclipse was great, my second total. So worth seeing at least once. The trip back home from Newport was possibly the worse I have ever seen. Vermont cannot handle that volume of traffic. Route 91 leaves few alternative routes and not to many exits. The first 45 miles took 31/2 hours. Got home 13 hours later, close to 5a.m.

Where where you in Newport?  I was in the Walmart parking lot.  Walmart was great to allow their parking lot to be turned into a festival atmosphere. 

Totally agree with your thoughts about return trip.  Vermont not able to handle that kind of mass movement of traffic.  Found 91 to be a horrible road with like you said few exits and minimal if any services along the interstate itself.    The few parking lots along the route turned into a large public toilets.....in the woods.  Ok for us guys but felt sorry for some of the ladies.

Agree, worst traffic I have ever seen or been in.  Same here just over 12 hours to get home, really closer to 14 if I account for some naps I had to take once into NY state.  Same experience the first 3-4 hours were horrendous.

 

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4 minutes ago, MANDA said:

Where where you in Newport?  I was in the Walmart parking lot.  Walmart was great to allow their parking lot to be turned into a festival atmosphere. 

Totally agree with your thoughts about return trip.  Vermont not able to handle that kind of mass movement of traffic.  Found 91 to be a horrible road with like you said few exits and minimal if any services along the interstate itself.    The few parking lots along the route turned into a large public toilets.....in the woods.  Ok for us guys but felt sorry for some of the ladies.

Agree, worst traffic I have ever seen or been in.  Same here just over 12 hours to get home, really closer to 14 if I account for some naps I had to take once into NY state.  Same experience the first 3-4 hours were horrendous.

 

I was in downtown Newport area, near the high school. Nice park right on the lake. I was a little concerned about places like Walmart. I was concerned their lights would come on during totality. Hope that did not happen.

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27 minutes ago, uofmiami said:

Ouch, glad I left Woodstock, VT at 5:30pm to head home after seeing eclipse and getting late lunch.  13 hours is brutal.

It took me 2 hours to go about 5 miles from where we saw the eclipse to the highway. I figured it would take about 2 hours to get out. I did not figure the entire length of route 91 to be so bad with traffic.

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8 minutes ago, lee59 said:

I was in downtown Newport area, near the high school. Nice park right on the lake. I was a little concerned about places like Walmart. I was concerned their lights would come on during totality. Hope that did not happen.

They did not and I was told by an employee who was standing nearby that the store had made arrangements so that they would not.  So glad they arranged for that.  Honestly had not thought about that until I heard others talking about it in the hours just before it all started.  Was glad when the word spread that they would not come on.

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1 minute ago, MANDA said:

They did not and I was told by an employee who was standing nearby that the store had made arrangements so that they would not.  So glad they arranged for that.  Honestly had not thought about that until I heard others talking about it in the hours just before it all started.  Was glad when the word spread that they would not come on.

Glad to here that. The diamond ring, when the sun just made its return appearance, was phenomenal.

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On 4/8/2024 at 1:24 PM, MJO812 said:

The last few days with the earthquake and now the eclipse have been more exciting than the last 2 winters combined.

NYC hasn't had a good winter since 2015 - 2016.

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I went from Saratoga Monday morning to Westport NY on the shores of Lake Champlain 35 miles south of Plattsburgh. Was a last minute decision rather than go to Plattsburgh for an extra minute of totality and I couldn't have made a better one. It only took an hour 40 minutes to drive the 90 miles that morning. I left at 8:30 which helped. 
 
The town was well prepared. The local country club had free viewing from their golf course. A few cirrus clouds in the afternoon that had zero effect on eclipse viewing. An A+ experience.

The drive back to Saratoga Springs at 4:30 a little rougher. Three hours for 90 mile drive  but compared to what others on the back roads of Vermont went through not terrible either. 

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On 4/8/2024 at 7:59 PM, Nibor said:

The path of totality goes across Hornstrandir one of Iceland's most remote national parks. You can only get to it by boat. In the early stages of planning a trip there in 2026 with some backpacking friends. 

Wow, enjoy!!! Hornstrandir is unbelievably gorgeous and looks like you’re in Middle Earth. We go in winter pretty exclusively so Hornstrandir hasn’t been an option for us, but it’s a very committed trip to be sure. Be safe and have the very best time, I’m jealous!

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6 minutes ago, BxEngine said:

Some of the short term model cloud forecasts were god awful. Lucked out in the central and eastern adirondacks for sure. 

This is one aspect of modeling that still has ample room for improvement. I am glad that some of the areas that looked unfavorable on the guidance actually had good views of the solar eclipse. The National Blend of Models did quite well within 36 hours for some areas, but not all. The GFS might have done worst of all, though I didn't check it once I had departed for the eclipse.

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1 hour ago, BxEngine said:

Some of the short term model cloud forecasts were god awful. Lucked out in the central and eastern adirondacks for sure. 

i freaked out for days over nothing

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10 hours ago, CPcantmeasuresnow said:

I went from Saratoga Monday morning to Westport NY on the shores of Lake Champlain 35 miles south of Plattsburgh. Was a last minute decision rather than go to Plattsburgh for an extra minute of totality and I couldn't have made a better one. It only took an hour 40 minutes to drive the 90 miles that morning. I left at 8:30 which helped. 
 
The town was well prepared. The local country club had free viewing from their golf course. A few cirrus clouds in the afternoon that had zero effect on eclipse viewing. An A+ experience.

The drive back to Saratoga Springs at 4:30 a little rougher. Three hours for 90 mile drive  but compared to what others on the back roads of Vermont went through not terrible either. 

Good move. I was planning to do something like that but the cloud forecast had us change our plans

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