On 15/04/24 12:53, Mike Van Pelt wrote:
> In article <uuko8l$717a$1@dont-email.me>,
> Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>> As most of us are aware, a total eclipse of the sun is crossing
>> Mexico, the US, and Canada on Monday.
>>
>> Who is going to try to get into the zone of totality?
>
> My back yard was pretty close to the center of totality.
> We had a friend from San Jose, a college friend and his
> wife from South Carolina, and my cousin and her husband
> and son all staying with us to see it.
>
> Luckily, there was a gap in the clouds just at the right
> moment; it was looking pretty dang sketchy here in
> central Texas.

I was amused to read the headline in CNN online:
"Google Searches about eye injuries see massive spike amid solar eclipse."

In article <svjt0j5ftqr1v8b4p9r2vl9b75f85hhbc9@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>And, yes, the /Science News/ report on it featured the author
>reflecting on how much she wasn't willing to pay for a room on the
>Path of Totality. Apparently, this is one of those "should have
>reserved the room four years in advance" situations.

Lots of luck on that one. I've heard stories of people getting
notified that their reservation was cancelled. "Oh, do you
want to re-book?" "At the original price?" "Ha ha ha ha,
oh, you're serious, let me laugh harder HA HA HA HA."

--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston

On Tue, 9 Apr 2024 19:22:17 -0400, Cryptoengineer
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

>I drove up to Burlington, VT, Saturday, planning to watch it
>there. Sunday night, I saw reports of 60-80% cloud cover predictions
>for the location, so we gave up our plans, and Monday morning we drove
>about 70 miles east to West Burke, a wide spot on the road on eastern
>VT, and settled on the lawn behind the hamlet's gas station.
>
Glad you mentioned VT since there are several Burlingtons in the US as
well as one in Canada (my wife's home towns). Are the Burlington games
still being held? (My wife knew people who had competed there - the
main qualification for participation being that you had to be from one
of the Burlingtons to compete. Apparently the standards ranged from
amateur athletes to Olympians)

On Wed, 10 Apr 2024 08:49:48 -0700, Paul S Person
<psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

>>I ended up seeing it from the DFW area. Conditions weren't perfect,
>>with broken clouds occasionally blocking the event during the run up.
>>But the clouds cleared enough to give a great view of totality.
>
>Sadly, I didn't notice it at all here in Seattle.
>
>That may not be too surprising: the one I /did/ notice would have been
>the 2017, and we had 90% occlusion. This time, it was only 20%. And,
>being Seattle, cloudy. After an unusually sunny March, we are now back
>to a cloudy (but not all that cold) April. With showers, which bring
>May flowers.

It rained through the entire period of totality in Vancouver though
Vancouver would have had even less partiality than Seattle.

On 4/14/2024 9:06 PM, Mike Van Pelt wrote:
> In article <svjt0j5ftqr1v8b4p9r2vl9b75f85hhbc9@4ax.com>,
> Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>> And, yes, the /Science News/ report on it featured the author
>> reflecting on how much she wasn't willing to pay for a room on the
>> Path of Totality. Apparently, this is one of those "should have
>> reserved the room four years in advance" situations.
>
> Lots of luck on that one. I've heard stories of people getting
> notified that their reservation was cancelled. "Oh, do you
> want to re-book?" "At the original price?" "Ha ha ha ha,
> oh, you're serious, let me laugh harder HA HA HA HA."
>
I booked 3 nights in Covington, VT, about 3 weeks ahead of the event.
This is a couple miles north of Burlington, and the Hampton Inn was
$500/night.

pt

On 15/04/2024 10.59, Cryptoengineer wrote:

> I booked 3 nights in Covington, VT, about 3 weeks ahead of the event.
> This is a couple miles north of Burlington, and the Hampton Inn was
> $500/night.

Ouch! I booked a room at the Staybridge in The Colony, Texas back in
January. It was a shade under $200/night -- including all taxes, fees,
and such.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Deuteronomy 10:18-19

On 4/3/24 16:20, Cryptoengineer wrote:
> As most of us are aware, a total eclipse of the sun is crossing
> Mexico, the US, and Canada on Monday.
>
> Who is going to try to get into the zone of totality? I'm driving
> up to Burlington Vermont, and staying there for three nights (at
> eye-watering prices). I am guessing about a 50% chance at actually
> seeing it. That town was chosen because there's other things to see
> in the area as well. By coincidence, its also our 35th wedding
> anniversary.
>
> pt

Did you miss me? I didn't think so.

We just got home yesterday. My wife and I drove from California to Texas
(and back) for the eclipse. We have a timeshare that has a facility in
Marble Falls, Tx. It was right in the middle of the totality. To make a
long story (drive) short, the clouds obscured most of the event. Instead
of 4 minutes, we got about 30 seconds spread out over the 4 minutes.

It was still worth the drive, for me anyway. We saw a prominence glowing
bright orange! My brother, 50 or so miles away, got the full 4 minutes.

I could regale you with stories of the rest of the trip, but no one
signed up for that.

The only big issue was the hail storm that hit a few hours after the
eclipse. OMG! How we didn't end up with any broken windows on the car is
beyond me. All the cars around us had broken windows. We just had dents
and a broken mirror.

--
----------------
Dave Scruggs
Senior Software Engineer - Lockheed Martin, et. al (mostly Retired)
Captain - Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)