chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA

I was forced to spend a grueling minute walking from my driveway where I was watching it to my front door

(Download)


(Download)

TJBNovember Loc: Long Island, New York

Ghery Loc: Olympia, WA

A little over an hour at 8500 MSL. Viewed from the air, then flew back to Olympia from the area just south of Salem, Oregon. Traffic? What's that? :-)

Martha Krohn

We went to Torranten, Wyoming, population 6900. Afterward, it took us 3 hours just to leave town. Left at 11:45. By 7:00 we were only down 85 about 40 miles when we were detoured. When the detour took us to 80, we kept going south on a back road. Within 1 1/2 hours we were at Greeley and fortunate to find a hotel. We arrived home, Tuesday, at 4:00. Never again.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

For a 550 mile trip back to Michigan it took 2 hrs. to go the first 10 miles on I-75 in Tennessee. Everybody started rebooking their hotel rooms and staying the night. Rates were 50% higher that night if you could find a room.

cwaters Loc: San Carlos, CA

From Portland down to 10 miles SE of Salem Oregon: 1.5 hours on Sunday, camped out. Returned by back roads soon after totality (10:45 or so), stopped to jump start a car with a dead battery, stopped to look at a waterfall, back home in Portland by 2 PM. Not much traffic, no eclipse-apocalypse here.

mikenolan Loc: Lincoln Nebraska

We had a friend and his wife drive in from Wisconsin to watch the eclipse in our back yard. They didn't leave until the next morning, by which point traffic was back to normal.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

My brother left Bend OR at 6 pm and got home at 7am(13hrs) to Napa county area.
I left the next day at 6am, the traffic was very heavy but did the same drive in 7.5 hrs.
My wife left behind me at noon and at 10pm had to stop and spend the night in Red Bluff because every hotel in Redding was booked and she was just crawling along(12hrs).
The distance was 440 miles.
SS

Pine Warbler

We live in Omaha and drove directly south on Highway 50 to the Nebraska-Kansas border. We were at a friend's family farm. Normal drive is <2 hrs...took 3 hrs to get there. On the way home basically went bumper to bumper all the way back so about 4 hours. Still one of the most amazing experiences to have seen...especially with friends and family. I know my 5 & 8 yr old grandsons will remember that they were pulled out of school to drive down and have this experience. I probably should start looking for lodging for the eclipse in 2024...

I.A.Teacher

Just think people; would you have traveled that far if it were not for the Eclipse? It gave you something out of the ordinary to do also, a chance to see and meet other people.
We had a partial eclipse in Connecticut. I had made the pinhole card stock projector, by the time it was to happen, it was cloudy so, I was unable to see anything. Had to wait for the eleven o'clock news to see it.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

To answer your specific question, it took me 7 hours to get home from photographing the eclipse. However, 6 of those were spent back in the office/lab. I photographed it from the patio just outside the building. Walked back inside and went back to work in my lab.
--Bob

2Much Loc: WA

3 hrs. 45 min for a normally 2 1/2 hr. return trip on I-84 from Baker City, OR. Traffic was heavy but moved 70 mph, the delays from two short one lane sections of (inactive) road construction. Being able to see the extent of the delays ahead, I was able to cope without the trauma that it might extend to the Pacific Ocean.

Originally planned out a couple of scenic locations where I could watch the ground shadow coming at me like a supernatural cheetah, but the dread of an interstate parking lot caused me to (regrettably, afterwards) settle for an otherwise perfect but more easily accessible spot to view the eclipse.

So much was happening as totality approached, I chose to simply absorb it. Now, I'm not convinced the beauty of the sun's corona can be captured with cameras. It was much more delicately detailed to my eye, with great contrast and color that are obscured in a hazy flare in all the photos I've seen. Some of that may be different atmosphere/weather conditions, but I'm thinking it's the advantage of the human eye.

While travel may be a pain, you can't replicate the alien lighting, eclipse shaped shadows, 20 degree drop in temperature of thin morning air, songbirds growing excitedly active in shrubs along the creek, then instantly silent, and that strange and exquisite corona hanging in your sky.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Well put. It was an experience. Near the woods the cicadas were mind blowingly loud in the middle of the day. And how about the instant change from a color world to black and white at totality. And the cheers from the crowd at that point.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

It took me ten minutes, but that probably explains my results....

(Download)

skylinefirepest Loc: Southern Pines, N.C.

Went to Columbia, S.C. in three hours...took five hours and fifteen minutes to get back to Southern Pines, N.C. Part of the problem was very heavy traffic causing stops and ten mph on I 20 and part of the problem was that SCDOT in all their infinite wisdom didn't cancel road work on U.S. 1 headed home. But it was worth it! Got some good shots and if I were doing it again I would spend the night before heading home.