Plans for the solar eclipse

[carvers4math]

Being that they were talking clouds in Nebraska I went across the border into Wyoming down highway 85 near Lusk. When I left it took me 3.5 hours to go the first 60 miles with the last 7 taking 1.5 hours. After that it was pretty smooth driving.

After Douglas, WY we went through Lusk because I-25 had been such a mess by Glendo on our way to Douglas. Sat on highway about an hour on way to Lusk, all we could figure out for the bottleneck were some guys trying to get people to go to their BBQ and blocking a lane. Then sat an hour in Torrington trying to go about four blocks because people refuse to merge down to one lane the correct way. Thought we had made a major mistake but saw someone say I-25 was even worse after eclipse, that what was usually a two hour drive took eight due to traffic and accidents.

I knew Wyoming would be a mess with a lot of MO and NE folks because of weather, but their lack of traffic control for the crowds was epic fail.

Douglas itself was really nice though. So many went to Casper or Glendo, the light crowds in Douglas made it so you could actually use real restrooms during the event without a line. We had driven to the rest area on I-25 on our way to Douglas, saw about 250 women waiting outside the building in line, and thought no way it was worth stopping. They should have put kybos at the rest area too.

 

[wxman1]

After Douglas, WY we went through Lusk because I-25 had been such a mess by Glendo on our way to Douglas. Sat on highway about an hour on way to Lusk, all we could figure out for the bottleneck were some guys trying to get people to go to their BBQ and blocking a lane. Then sat an hour in Torrington trying to go about four blocks because people refuse to merge down to one lane the correct way. Thought we had made a major mistake but saw someone say I-25 was even worse after eclipse, that what was usually a two hour drive took eight due to traffic and accidents.

I knew Wyoming would be a mess with a lot of MO and NE folks because of weather, but their lack of traffic control for the crowds was epic fail.

Douglas itself was really nice though. So many went to Casper or Glendo, the light crowds in Douglas made it so you could actually use real restrooms during the event without a line. We had driven to the rest area on I-25 on our way to Douglas, saw about 250 women waiting outside the building in line, and thought no way it was worth stopping. They should have put kybos at the rest area too.

Kybos?

 

[carvers4math]

Kybos?

Porta potties?

 

[BCClone]

We were in Hamilton, Mo by the high school. It was cloudy and rained terribly for a while, but we hung on just in case and had no where else better to go.

We ended up having about 70% clouds, so we could see the sun at times as it moved in and out. Not bad considering we thought it was going to be a total washout.

Sometimes between my sunglasses and cloud it was easily visible, but the special glasses were too much combined with clouds when they were there. We did get a clear view of totality. It was a heck of a thing, it did get dark and kinda spooky for a while. Definitely saw some stars, esp Venus was very bright. Dog was chill, no problems there. Took some lousy pics with my phone thru the glasses, attached one below.

The coolest thing to me, was as the moon moved off totality, it also came into a little less cloud, and it got very bright very fast as that happened simultaneously. Difference between 99% and 100% is HUGE in terms of amount of light/dark.

You live there? Wife's best friend lives there.

 

[BCClone]

Porta potties?

Not any corn fields around?

 

[wxman1]

Porta potties?

Never heard them called that before.

 

[carvers4math]

Not any corn fields around?

In Wyoming? Uh . . . no. I didn't have to go anyway, we were going to go as precaution. In Douglas, you could use park restrooms Really nice little town.

 

[carvers4math]

Never heard them called that before.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kybo

The Boy Scouts seem to always call them that.

 

[wxman1]

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kybo

The Boy Scouts seem to always call them that.

Interesting. When I was in scouts we just called it a latrine.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

You don't remember this poll from last year?
https://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/threads/poll-do-you-know-what-a-kybo-is.223654/

 

[ImJustKCClone]

A friend who teaches elementary school posted this on facebook. I thought some of you might be interested:


What are you going to do with those cheap eclipse glasses? You could donate them to Astronomers Without Borders for kids in other countries who will experience their next eclipses.

Send to:
Explore Scientific
621 Madison St
Springdale, Arkansas

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

After Douglas, WY we went through Lusk because I-25 had been such a mess by Glendo on our way to Douglas. Sat on highway about an hour on way to Lusk, all we could figure out for the bottleneck were some guys trying to get people to go to their BBQ and blocking a lane. Then sat an hour in Torrington trying to go about four blocks because people refuse to merge down to one lane the correct way. Thought we had made a major mistake but saw someone say I-25 was even worse after eclipse, that what was usually a two hour drive took eight due to traffic and accidents.

I knew Wyoming would be a mess with a lot of MO and NE folks because of weather, but their lack of traffic control for the crowds was epic fail.

Douglas itself was really nice though. So many went to Casper or Glendo, the light crowds in Douglas made it so you could actually use real restrooms during the event without a line. We had driven to the rest area on I-25 on our way to Douglas, saw about 250 women waiting outside the building in line, and thought no way it was worth stopping. They should have put kybos at the rest area too.

Torrington was definitely a disaster. While sitting in that traffic jam for 1.5 hours I looked at the atlas and realized the road went from 2 lanes down to one and knew that was the problem. That was compounded by the two traffic lights in town so you had to merge and then stop at two lights in that one horse town. They should have had a couple of cops just waving everyone through and only stopping traffic if someone showed up at the intersection. That would have helped immensely.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

So I did a quick hatchet job on the pictures took. Here's a few. You can see some Sun Spots in the first one

 

[TOFB4ISU]

A friend who teaches elementary school posted this on facebook. I thought some of you might be interested:


What are you going to do with those cheap eclipse glasses? You could donate them to Astronomers Without Borders for kids in other countries who will experience their next eclipses.

Well-intended idea, but personally, I want to keep mine as a memento. They can't cost more than a couple pennies a piece to produce and the labor and costs of gathering, shipping and storing them would be far more than producing them (actually putting people to work) anywhere in the world.

 

[VeloClone]

I will second the comments about the difference between the light level at totality and the moment just before and after being incredible. It was literally just like twilight with just the last bit of light and color on the horizon. I could see figures of people 10 feet away but couldn't make out faces. The cicadas came out and were noisy but got quiet again as soon as totality ended.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Well-intended idea, but personally, I want to keep mine as a memento. They can't cost more than a couple pennies a piece to produce and the labor and costs of gathering, shipping and storing them would be far more than producing them (actually putting people to work) anywhere in the world.

Your choice, and I'm good with that. The rest of it, however...if someone is going to throw a bunch away, why not spend a few pennies to help out someone else instead of overloading our landfills?

 

[TOFB4ISU]

Your choice, and I'm good with that. The rest of it, however...if someone is going to throw a bunch away, why not spend a few pennies to help out someone else instead of overloading our landfills?

True; and I shudder to contemplate the volume of disposable water bottles discarded by eclipse viewers Monday . . .

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

True; and I shudder to contemplate the volume of disposable water bottles discarded by eclipse viewers Monday . . .

I wish more truck stops had recycle bins for water bottles, not that people would use them. About the only time I buy bottled water is if I'm on the road so I always have empties rolling around until I get home so I can put them in the recycling.

 

[BCClone]

True; and I shudder to contemplate the volume of disposable water bottles discarded by eclipse viewers Monday . . .

From the amount t of people who said they hit a back road, probably a lot of urine bombs out there also.

 

[Boxerdaddy]

A bit late, but my planned 2 hour drive to Missouri from Des Moines turned into a 10 hour drive to the westest bits of nebraska. I went up past Scottsbluff and Mitchell and ended up about 10 miles south of Agate Fossil bed on a gravel road. It was a blast and we had perfect weather. Not a cloud could be seen. If you thought close was close enough, you truly missed out. The best part was, I didn't really hit any traffic either way out or back. Just one small slowdown as the road we were on hit a T in Mitchell but that only took about 10 minutes to clear. After that, smooth sailing....for 10 hours home. #totallyworthit