And so the eclipse traffic begins

[Camelfilter]

Yea i never did buy off on the original million they estimated. Still bad enough as it was.

I think the media hype scared a whole bunch of folk off, including folk whom had made reservation a year out.

 

[Foreverlost]

Traffic backing up in L.A. Pine this morning.
Appears to be lots of Komiefornia plates south bound on Huntington Rd.
Are we there yet daddy??

Foreverlost,

 

[CoastRange57]

The ash that fell from the sky was like a powder. Very fine and it bore a lot resemblance to bentonite. It sealed up lawns and turf and we found layers of it for about 15 years afterwards when we ripped out lawns and fairways on golf courses. I think that heavier stuff they dredged out of the river has a lot larger gradient that the ash / powder that was wind carried. That sh*t set up like concrete in gutters and catch basins.

The older concretes were pretty strong. Of course my Dad and the other farmers thought throwing every piece of loose steel and metal left over in the mix helped reinforce it and got rid of the metal at the same time.

 

[Kristina]

Same here. It was a fascinating experience. We did what we could to make it special for our daughter. And while I was taking some photos, I spent plenty of time looking around, taking everything in. I'm glad we got a chance to experience it. Only thing better would have been in the path of totality.

I don't even have the words to describe what totality was like. It took me 5 hours to get back to Portland from Corvalis on back roads and the two or so minutes in totality were worth every second of it. I have a new understanding of primal fear and the depth of human emotion that is indescribable. Even my brother, who is about as unemotional as a person can get, was in tears.

Maybe I can replicate it with emojis...

 

[Kristina]

I feel really lucky and REALLY small to have had the chance to see this, for the second time in my life. I find it crazy how many people I know that said they could care less about it and had no plans to even try and catch a glimpse.

This x100

 

[11Charlie]

I don't even have the words to describe what totality was like. It took me 5 hours to get back to Portland from Corvalis on back roads and the two or so minutes in totality were worth every second of it. I have a new understanding of primal fear and the depth of human emotion that is indescribable. Even my brother, who is about as unemotional as a person can get, was in tears.

Maybe u can replicate it with emojis...

That is cool. Glad it was worth the trip for you and your brother. I guess now we know why people chase these things across the globe. I have heard people explain it as a life changing event.

 

[The Heretic]

Looking at the traffic map there seems to be some people who are going home now in the Prineville area and north bound from Salem.

So as I thought - a number of people waited a day for traffic to clear

 

[RVTECH]

So as I thought - a number of people waited a day for traffic to clear

There was probably twice or more as many heading south On Hwy 97 this morning on my way into Bend - and a bunch pulled over on the sides of the roads sleeping in their cars!

 

[Foreverlost]

L.A. Pine Rt97 delays of 20min-2hrs again today.

 

[wired]

I was surprised how few people I saw. Went down to my sons place in Albany and set the GPS to avoid highways on the way back. Took 6 hours to get back to Yakima which I thought was good time.

As an aside I noticed Google maps was very good at predicting where traffic was based on the fact they use GPS tracking on everyone. If I saw that on the map I'd detour it and it would recalculate. I started thinking what if people with Radar/Lidar detectors could tie into the same system and we could get real time reports on where cops were setting up speed traps. People would slow down where the cops were . Win/win because thats what they're after right ?

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Looking at the local news,
They're saying that the liquor stores in the path of totality went up 43% over last year!
The rest of oregon, up 21%! Bunch of alcoholics!

 

[nammac]

Looking at the local news,
They're saying that the liquor stores in the path of totality went up 43% over last year!
The rest of oregon, up 21%! Bunch of alcoholics!

Hiccup...

Sigh....

 

[awshoot]

I don't even have the words to describe what totality was like. It took me 5 hours to get back to Portland from Corvalis on back roads and the two or so minutes in totality were worth every second of it. I have a new understanding of primal fear and the depth of human emotion that is indescribable. Even my brother, who is about as unemotional as a person can get, was in tears. ....

Yes. I questioned my decision to travel when I learned that Bellingham would have 85% coverage. After seeing it, no question it was worth it. At 85% coverage, without being told there was an eclipse, I wouldn't even have noticed. It was like a cloud passing over the sun. Even with 99% coverage, it was still daylight then BOOM - stars come out, crazy white ring of fire in the sky -- it was just wild.

I also skipped the traffic though -- came down on a four seater cessna with my wife and friend. That northbound traffic out of Albany was basically stopped. Southbound was crawling.

 

[cookie]

I think Comets are better than eclipses.

 

[Argonaut]

It was underwhelming here in Weiser. A few hrs of traffic after the event but not a lot more than that. My brother was stuck in traffic north of Mcall because the automated lights on the bridge construction sites didn't let them go enough. Finally the ISP took control and let the north bound traffic have priority. I bet there are more than a few vendors that didn't recoup there investment. Our University of California professor (NASA scientist, and conservative ) put on a tremendous program, did incredible photography work. My son ran the smoker, food was good.......everyone shot guns afterwards, my buddy read his cowboy poetry........a great time was had by all.