April 8th Eclipse

Here in East central Indiana we are in the path for the total eclipse. Been all over the local news stations from Indianapolis for weeks. The city is preparing for huge crowds to flock to viewing sites. Special food and even a special beer canned for the event. As a 78 yr old geezer I think the darkness will be a good opportunity for a nap at home.
 
Here in Texas they are closing the schools in a lot of places and Travis County has declared a disaster area during the eclipse. It is going to be bat **** crazy time for a few days.Some of the hotels in the hill country are charging $1000 a night.
 
Thanks for the reminder. I am really looking forward to it.
A week ago Friday I got to see the International Space Station orbit over my house at about 530AM. It was lite up from the rising sun in the east and was absolutely awesome.
 
I'm in the 83% area, I wanted to drive to NW Ohio to see it, that's the shortest drive from where I live in NC. I checked over 30 campgrounds from Cincinati to north of Dayton and they were all full. I said screw it, I got to see the total in 2017 and got great images through my telescope. I wanted to make it a two-fer, I'll be 91 when the next one comes close enough, so I guess one will have to do.

Being able to photograph it was for me one of the highlights of being an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer. I got shots of the most desired elements of solar eclipse photography. Bailey's Beads at 2nd Contact and 3rd Contact, a Diamond Ring at 3rd Contact, plus the totality with the corona. This year's eclipse, in the center of the path, gives twice as long a period of totality (around 4 minutes) as the 2017 eclipse did; the Moon is closer to Earth this time.
 
Local businesses are expecting a big influx of cash on eclipse day as thousands of out of state tourists are expected to flow in. My guess is that in a large soft on crime city like Indianapolis the thug crowd is expecting a big influx of cash also as thousands of naive tourists flow into the city expecting nothing but a positive experience.
 
My stepson's place is pretty much bang in the center of the totality path, but he didn't know! I would go, but I'm not sure I'm ready for another 1200+ mile banzai run the TX.
Man, a 1200 mile banzai run with an ice chest full of beer, half a pack of cigarettes and wearing sunglasses driving a ford interceptor-hell I'm in :D
 
I'll be at 95% totality. I'm more interested in watching the chickens go to roost early, only to discover it's morning again.
 
We are right in the epicenter. Our Office of Emergency Management has been holding monthly preparation meetings for over a year and we have transitioned to weekly meetings starting in February.

The state of Arkansas's population is only around 3 million and we are anticipating an influx of out of state visitors of another 1.5 million on the 8th. We anticipate a strain on local infrastructure as noted in posts above including traffic, cell communications, and fuel. We are taking the potential impact very serious in our community.

As a side note, Mrs. Faulkner and I took a trip to Kentucky in 2017 to view the previous eclipse. We set up our camera equipment in a rural cemetery and took pictures of the event. We had a grand time and here is one of the photos I took from that trip.


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I still have my foil-covered hat, just in case.
I’m not gonna be totally, or whatever, so it’s all good for the trekkers. See, any time something up there happens that should be over PGH it’s lousy, cloudy weather. It’ll be good for the area North of here. Punxy Phil sent me a Morse code message that said it’s gonna be all good. (Only Morse code works for the underground.)
 

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I'd enjoy being in its path, but no way will I travel somewhere to see it. From what I've read, the projected crowds, traffic, and dearth of sufficient numbers of port-a-potties does not bode well for an enjoyable tourist experience.
 
We were in the totality in 2017 here in flyover country. About two minutes. Now it appears we’re getting four minutes. Really creepy having the streetlights light, the birds get quiet, and the dogs start howling. If you have the chance, it’s a destination experience, unless you’re a curmudgeon who’d prefer being in your front lawn in your bathrobe smacking your lawn mower with a shovel . . .
 

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