Considering taking off the 8th to drive up to see the total eclipse. Anyone else doing this?

We are in the Spring area so going north on 45 seems the most convenient but I'm wondering how massive the migration is going to be on day of, from Houston to the eclipse zone. Like will it be hurricane evac levels crazy or just mildly heavy. In which case, would a smaller route to the zone like through CS be better?

I don't think outbound traffic in the morning will be too bad. The drive back in the evening will be pretty awful though.

My brother lives near Wimberley. They have been told to expect 50,000 people. They are only getting 2 minutes of totality.

Wimberley isn't that big. It's going to be a cluster. We are going to his place Saturday and making a long weekend of it.

If you leave Monday you might be really frustrated unless you leave at 4am or some time super early.

Getting back will be just as bad.

Waco is expecting well north of 6 figures and Houston is where the vast majority are coming from.

If you leave early enough Monday then you should be OK.

Coming back Monday afternoon/evening? lol

I'm going out towards Concan. I'll get there Saturday and as long as the weather is good I won't leave that ranch until Monday evening. I might make it back to Houston before work on Tuesday.

Traffic into the areas of totality will build over the weekend, but when it ends EVERYONE is heading for the exits at the same time.

Edit to add.... There was a reasonably good thread over the weekend on F16 (politics) and a poster said that in 2017 they were in Wyoming. When the eclipse was over what was normally a 4ish hour drive to Denver took 13 hours.

Yep, I heard to estimate 3X time for a typical drive. And pray there are no wrecks.

Maybe a dumb question, but will it be a partial eclipse here?

El Gallo Blanco said:

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Maybe a dumb question, but will it be a partial eclipse here?

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Yes. I would imagine pretty similar to what we saw last year.

El Gallo Blanco said:

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Maybe a dumb question, but will it be a partial eclipse here?

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Yes, we won't get the totality, but we will have like 95% coverage which is still pretty good.

OP if you don't already have a place lined up to watch it, good luck.

1. Stay as far away from the population centers as you can.
2. Stay on this side of 35.
3. Waco seems like about the ideal location in terms of traffic from Houston. Far enough away from Dallas and Austin that most won't venture that far.
4. Pack food and snacks since restaurants will probably have a bunch of call-ins that day.
5. Fill your gas tank before you leave. Should be able to make it there and back on a tank for most cars.
6. Bathroom is really the only challenge. Baylor might not be a bad place to go if they have football parking and a bunch of public buildings and bathrooms. Local waco parks might also be a good place.

We're heading to Horeshoe Bay to watch it. Most probably will drive up either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. We plan to drive back on Tuesday - thinking a lot of people will leave Monday afternoon/evening directly after the eclipse.

TXAG 05 said:

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El Gallo Blanco said:

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Maybe a dumb question, but will it be a partial eclipse here?

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Yes, we won't get the totality, but we will have like 95% coverage which is still pretty good.

OP if you don't already have a place lined up to watch it, good luck.

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How do you think this would compare to the one we got last year in Houston? That was like a slight filter on everything. Pretty cool, but also subtle enough to where i am sure some didn't notice or just chalked up to slight cloud cover.

I found decent hotel in Hearne TX (just outside of total eclipse zone), Sunday night of the 7th for less than $200, so booked it and figure we can drive up to Marlin or something to watch it on Monday. Then going to pack up and make a beeline for home right after the total eclipse is over, so as to avoid Waco traffic coming back to Houston.

There is virtually no flight availability from SA to Houston on United or Southwest on Monday evening, Tuesday, or Wednesday. This will be a cluster.

I was going to take the SW flight from DAL to PIT but I've decided to go to the practice round at the Masters instead. Much less traffic and a better crowd to be around.

Serotonin said:

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Quote:

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2. Stay on this side of 35.

3. Waco

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"Excuse me holmes...know a good place to watch the eclipse?"

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"You see that sign down there say RIB TIPS? Well **** that. You don't want that."

P.H. Dexippus said:

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I predict the traffic nightmare will be a bigger story than the eclipse itself. T&Ps.

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Hurricane Rita evacuation?

I looked at some hotel/motel prices west of San Antonio, and LOL at the rates for a Monday night.

Mainly, I took that as indicator of traffic, and based on estimates I've seen the last couple days, no way I'm sitting through that.

I loved astronomy as a kid, still stargaze, I think I understand the interest. But I'm not sure the time investment is really worth seeing it get dark - which happens every night anyway. I also remember times when we had to too much cloud cover to really see big events in the past.

Wife's family is staying in Fredericksburg but leaving after on Monday. Would 7 hours be reasonable to expect to get back to Houston Monday afternoon?

Not from what I'm hearing. I would expect it to be longer.