Total Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017 Poll

I am thinking of putting in for that day off, a year in advance, if the computer system will allow me to go that far in advance.

That's probably a good idea. 

Mainly because most don't see this as a major event then like us, that are in to science.  Most think of it as just another thing...

I don't think people understand how remarkable this could be. They need to read the eclipse2017.org website. I'll probably be among those taking off work that day.

Please, please, please, let the ignorant remain that way. This is going to be huge and we don't need to make it larger. You cannot get a hotel in Central Oregon now for next August Eclipse week. I am taking off for sure and I'm going to have a couple of hotels reserved. One of them well to the southeast and one of them well to the northwest. My glasses are ordered. I feel like I have a good chance of being here next August but I don't know what my odds are 7 years from now so I'm throwing my eggs into the basket for this one. I remember 1994. I hope everybody keeps thinking it's the same thing..

If this one does pan out for a lot of people 2024 is going to be an absolute circus. That's another reason why I'm piling in for this one

I have a hotel room booked in Nebraska. Now I'm going to work on the southeast part of this. We have a Resort just outside the gates of Great Smoky National Park and I think I'm gonna book something there when I can.

I have to book at least two nights at my Resort. If anybody is interested, that the cost would be $250. That would cover Sunday and Monday night. I am going to reserve a couple of extras and sell them to the general public for probably $500. These will be one bedroom condos of various types.

I'm willing to travel as far as St. Joseph to the northwest and Paducah to the southeast. I'll monitor forecasts and be willing to make last minute adjustments as needed. One thing I want to avoid is traffic. I'm certainly not going to assume that interstate travel will be normal. Hope for the best, but expect the worst...

I'll have to take my son out of school so I don't want to go too far. It'll be an unexcused absence for Monday so I don't want him to miss Tuesday as well.

Well, I wouldn't let that keep you from venturing into Nebraska a little bit just in case. You can get well into Nebraska and only be 8 hours away.


Strategies I can suggest to you from doing stuff like this myself is go ahead and perhaps book a Motel 6 in York Nebraska for that Sunday night. The best thing about a Motel 6 if you can cancel all the way up to that day and they will not actually charge you until the booking. York is probably seven and a half hours from st. Peters. If you wake up that morning and have to make a decision about going west then you can consider that unexcused absence and whether it's worth it or not. The reason to go to York is you want to be away from a metro area and have easy access to a good rural road. You might find one with the hill like you are looking for. I already have reservations in North Platte and York. I don't feel bad about holding them because that is the way you plan these things. I will definitely cancel least one of them more than 2 days out and somebody is going to be very happy. I will definitely know the day before if I'm going to bother to go out there to the other one, and if not, somebody else is going to be happy

Mine either.  


In fact most people I've talked to weren't aware of it yet and aside from the coworkers most didn't seem all that interested.  I suspect as the day approaches media attention will ramp up and more interest will be generated.  


Much of the population, unless you're in the southwest or northeast, are probably within a (long) day's drive of totality.  So there should be a considerably large number of dedicated viewers willing to travel.  However, I'm a little skeptical of any significant travel or crowd issues because the track spans the entire US spreading out the eclipse tourists, because the large population centers like Southern California and New England are probably too far for a day trip, and because most casual viewers won't be willing to make significant last minute travel changes in the case of clouds.

I went to a website about photographing in the club and it seems tricky. I've worked with photographing lightning and stuff like that using a non slr camera. Trying to figure out how long you gotta set your exposure. It's definitely not something you want to use really short exposure on. You gotta have enough aperture to take in the light in that darkened situation. The website actually said a good Focus practice would be to go 2 weeks earlier and lock in on the full moon and don't change the settings. That would get your focus in.

I spot checked a couple of hotels in the area and while several of them are sold out there is still plenty of availability. Prices haven't run up too much from what I can tell.

He he he. Book ahead indeed. I have numerous rooms booked.

Ironically, Dr. Svoma is my faculty mentor and is one of my professors. He is a great guy and I am sure he will do an awesome job with the research from the Eclipse.