Traveling to view the Eclipse, advice?

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>>1277139
if I fly, the cheapest round-trip flight for the period I'd need to be there is $690 with a 2.75 hour layover in Chicago on the way there and 2 stops (Chicago and Pittsburgh) on the return trip/.

This is a flight leaving on Saturday the 19th and returning early morning on Tuesday.

I would need hotel accommodations for 3 nights on the 19th, 20th and 21st as well as day to day travel for the few days I'm there which would either be Uber or a rental.

File: 2017-07-21 13_16_38-port jefferson ny to nashville tn - Google Maps.png (374KB, 1385x561px) Image search: [Google]

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>>1277142
now, if I drove I would need two days each way. No way I'm doing a non-stop 15hr drive.

The way I figure, I would probably make one stop on the way there and back. Somewhere right in the middle like Charlottesville, VA.

In this case, the only costs are: 2 small hotel stops during the trip (1 each way), 1 night of hotel before the day of (possibly two if I don't feel like leaving late at night) and the cost of fuel and upkeep for the trip.

I drive a 2014 Nissan Xterra which is quite a gas guzzler. I get 15mpg around town on a good day and 20mpg at most during highway trips.

Doing the math on a calculator, with an estimated 18mpg average and an estimated $/gal cost of $2.40/gal, it looks like about $125 for fuel EACH direction so lets double that to $250.

The other place I'd save money with driving is I won't need a rental car.

I would just need to pay for 3-4 nights of hotel stays.

>>1277145
Can anyone offer any suggestions? something I've overlooked?

>I know I also have to pay for food but I'm not going to go crazy here. Just what I need to get by. no restaurants.
>Hotels on driving trip would be the cheapest shithole motel's possible. I just need a bed.

OP, are you affiliating yourself with a planetarium, university, enthusiast group? I would want to be with a bunch of geeks who bring their homemade telescopes and such, and gush and ooh and ahh about it, just myself standing in a place where city lights were pretty bright. Why did you pick Nashville? Did you research it?

Southern Cross Astronomical Society is my local enthusiast club. They'll be going I'm sure.
http://www.scas.org/

>>1277149
>are you affiliating yourself with a planetarium, university, enthusiast group?
nope

>Why did you pick Nashville? Did you research it?
looked to be the closest place to travel from where I live. I don't necessarily need to be in the city, just somewhere within the path of totality nearby.

Just get a buddy of yours and take turns driving down in one shot. My dad and I are driving down from New England. Made the drive down to North Carolina/South Carolina multiple times and it has never been a problem when you have more than one driver.

>>1277139
Okay, just found some more information after talking with some buddies at work.

First, SC is closer than TN and easier to get to.

Second, apparently there is another eclipse coming on April 8th 2024 that can be seen from Upstate NY. Much closer to me and it's a day after my birthday!

might sit this one out

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>>1277139
have you considered cloud cover predictions for the eclipse date? Pic related shows one model, there are many, for 24 hours from now. I'd plan on getting close to the path 24 hours beforehand and then drive to wherever the best (least cloud is black) weather is. A friend of mine did that for the European 1999 eclipse, while I stupidly rented a car the very same morning and just missed the path by one hour (heavy traffic).
Useful links: http://eclipsophile.com/eclipsewx/fcsts/
https://spotwx.com/
http://weather.cod.edu/forecast/

>>1277175
Consider the risk of clouds.