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Travel the path of the solar eclipse

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41–50 of 74 posts

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the other sites in your list but the Minidoka Internment Camp is 70 miles too far south to see the total eclipse.

My summary is oversimplified but if you look at the legend on the map it indicates that the prisoners at the camp were forced to build the Minidoka Irrigation Project which crosses the shadow path from the south where the Camp was located and extends north of it. So the Camp is tied into the shadow path which in the original vision would have been noted by a monument on the path. It was surprisingly easy (by going to…

Out of curiosity, is there a reason you've chosen to focus on "dark" events in the path? Is it because of the shadow metaphor? I'm sure there are plenty of good things that happened in the path too.

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#42
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We reserved an RV back in October with the intent of seeing the eclipse somewhere in your neck of the woods. We're picking it up a full 3 days ahead of time. We're going to overnight around Shasta, and arrive almost two full days before the eclipse. We will be 100% self sufficient in the RV. That's the plan at least. (: Here are some questions: how appropriate is it for us to park in 'some random place' for a couple…

> how appropriate is it for us to park in 'some random place' for a couple of days somewhere up there? Public lands have certain areas you can disperse camp. Other than that it is usually not ok to just random camp. These won't be ordinary times though. I'd _expect_ people will be looking the other way or be too busy to worry about running off RV's in parking lots. We are planning on find a spot in Idaho a week and a…

> Public lands have certain areas you can disperse camp. Other than that it is usually not ok to just random camp.

Definitely understood!

There is, apparently, quite a lot of public land in eastern Oregon. I was thinking about the Unity area, give or take.

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#44
post #43

No need to travel, watch the whole event live from the comfort of your own device: http://eclipse.stream.live/

Or you can just slowly blink and keep your eyes closed for two minutes, from the comfort of your chair.

It's really worth it to see this in person. There's nothing like it in the world.

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#45
post #31

They should have mentioned which of the listed places have an airport that is served by one or more major airlines. Those places provide the opportunity of simply flying in, hanging out at the airport until the eclipse and watching from there, and then flying home. I checked a few, looking for round trip flights from Seattle leaving Seattle the day before and returning the day of the eclipse. For some it may be possi…

St. Louis is a good hub near the eclipse track. You can rent a cheap car and head right into the New Madrid Seismic Zone to watch the eclipse from scenic Chester, IL!

http://www.idlewords.com/2015/07/confronting_new_madrid.htm

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#46
post #43

No need to travel, watch the whole event live from the comfort of your own device: http://eclipse.stream.live/

Or you can just slowly blink and keep your eyes closed for two minutes, from the comfort of your chair. It's really worth it to see this in person. There's nothing like it in the world.

Probably right, and I do intend on seeing it in person when it gets to SC. Sadly, not everyone will have that opportunity.

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#47
post #38
post #34

This is a nice opportunity for navigation software to set themselves apart: let the navigation along the given path be time-constrained. Thus, if the user is lagging behind, send them to a highway; if the user is ahead schedule, let them wait for a while.

Cars, and even planes are way too slow to track the moon's shadow across earth. The speed seems to vary from ~1500-3000 mph depending on how close you are to the equator. An SR-71 Blackbird would have a hard time keeping up with that.

The Concorde flew the path of totality in 1973, remaining in the shadow for 74 minutes.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8q8qwk/the-concor...

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#48
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Eastern Oregon, summer weather is either clear or thunderstorms; thunderstorms develop in the afternoon, while the eclipse is in the morning. You're exceptionally likely to get a clear day East of the Cascades. I leave in rural Eastern Oregon. The population here is expected to swell by a factor of 5-10x during the eclipse, and this is expected to overwhelm local services. If you're headed to rural Oregon -- or pr…

We reserved an RV back in October with the intent of seeing the eclipse somewhere in your neck of the woods. We're picking it up a full 3 days ahead of time. We're going to overnight around Shasta, and arrive almost two full days before the eclipse. We will be 100% self sufficient in the RV. That's the plan at least. (: Here are some questions: how appropriate is it for us to park in 'some random place' for a couple…

Pepper away! I love my little corner of the country and love talking about it :)

There is lots and lots of publicly owned land in Eastern Oregon. "Dispersed" camping means camping somewhere that isn't a developed campground. You can do that just about anywhere on National Forrest land (without a permit), and on lots of BLM land. Check with the forrest or BLM district in the area you're camping for the specifics. That said, lots of people are planning to do dispersed camping for the eclipse, so you might have to search around a bit for a good spot thats accessible to a class C or A motorhome.

You should stay off private ranch land. The forrest service and BLM can give you maps so you know what land is public and what is private.

If you're thinking shopping-center parking lots, the shopping centers in Grant, Harney and Lake (the area I'm familiar with) are small. Its not uncommon to see one or two RVs camping in some of the larger ones, but I suspect the eclipse crowd will be large enough that store managers will need to limit the number of RVs in their lots.

In addition, lots of people are renting out their land for RV and tent campers, so you may be able to find some of that available if you're willing to pay.

Finally, I should emphasize the degree to which the eclipse crowed will overrun local services. In Harney county, whose Northen border is near the Southern line of the path of totality, there are fewer than 10,000 people who live in more than 10,000 square miles. Estimates are that as many as 50,000 people will be in Harney county for the eclipse. In the path of totality, the ratio of visitors will be even larger. You should not rely on being able to buy gas or groceries, or dump your RV tanks in a timely fashion.

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#49
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> clear day That is not enough though. Since the temperature drops during any eclipse the air can suddenly hold a lot less water and you have fog ruining your view. So a place with lower humidity is the second thing to consider after the cloud cover itself.

Will less than three minutes of darkness actually cool the air very much?

"3/4 or 1/2 the maximum day-night temperature difference" says eclipse2017.nasa.gov[0], space.com has more details on that[1]. If this drop means the air cools below its current dew point you get fog. Seen and felt it twice with partial eclipses (both of which just happened to be where I was, so no loss).

[0] https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/typically-how-big-temperature-d... [1] https://www.space.com/37201-solar-eclipse-temperature-drop.h...

Re: Travel the path of the solar eclipse

#50
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Eastern Oregon, summer weather is either clear or thunderstorms; thunderstorms develop in the afternoon, while the eclipse is in the morning. You're exceptionally likely to get a clear day East of the Cascades. I leave in rural Eastern Oregon. The population here is expected to swell by a factor of 5-10x during the eclipse, and this is expected to overwhelm local services. If you're headed to rural Oregon -- or pr…

We reserved an RV back in October with the intent of seeing the eclipse somewhere in your neck of the woods. We're picking it up a full 3 days ahead of time. We're going to overnight around Shasta, and arrive almost two full days before the eclipse. We will be 100% self sufficient in the RV. That's the plan at least. (: Here are some questions: how appropriate is it for us to park in 'some random place' for a couple…

It is legal to camp on any Forest Service or BLM land. Sometimes this is restricted in very popular areas and should be signed (as one might expect, a lot of California public lands are so designated). I have not camped much in western Oregon, but eastern Oregon is mostly public lands where you can camp (unless they make special rules for the eclipse). Have fun.
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