Eclipse talk at a fever pitch!

[owejia]

Listening to car radio yesterday Paducah station ,  a ball field was advertising come see eclipse at ball field for $15 a head. CAPATLISM AT ITS BEST.

[monkeylizard]

FYI . . . Every hotel in Nashville is booked. Every . . . last . . . one. That includes the surrounding communities. Franklin? Booked. Lebanon? Booked. Murfreesboro? Booked. I did find a motel in Waverly, TN with a couple of rooms left. . .

I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. Even the combination of Bonnaroo and CMA Fest can't bring in that many people.

If the weather is clear (right now, it doesn't look so good) and all those people show up, it's going to be traffic hell.

[Garufa]

2 hours ago, monkeylizard said:

FYI . . . Every hotel in Nashville is booked. Every . . . last . . . one. That includes the surrounding communities. Franklin? Booked. Lebanon? Booked. Murfreesboro? Booked. I did find a motel in Waverly, TN with a couple of rooms left. . .

I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. Even the combination of Bonnaroo and CMA Fest can't bring in that many people.

If the weather is clear (right now, it doesn't look so good) and all those people show up, it's going to be traffic hell.

They should schedule a second show.

[bersaguy]

27 minutes ago, Garufa said:

They should schedule a second show.

Ok Next showing will be in 2024 so book your motel rooms now!!!!!!!!

[peejman]

Blount and Loudon County schools finally caved today and cancelled classes. 

[Garufa]

30 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

Ok Next showing will be in 2024 so book your motel rooms now!!!!!!!!

Funny you mention that.  One of the crackpots who calls into the local talk radio show every evening was talking about that earlier.  According to him the 2024 eclipse path will cross with this year's forming a perfect x marks the spot over the "epicenter" of the New Madrid fault.  Because all total eclipses coincide with some cataclysmic event, well fellas, 2024 doesn't look too good.

Edited August 10, 2017 by Garufa

[monkeylizard]

The 10-day forecast doesn't look promising. I hope I don't have to drive all the way to Nebraska, but that's looking like a real possibility.

[JAB]

17 hours ago, peejman said:

Blount and Loudon County schools finally caved today and cancelled classes. 

Honestly, I think it was kind of insane that they were planning to have classes.  Think of this:

Just 'next door' in Sweetwater they are predicting tens of thousands of visitors.  Hotels there have apparently been booked up for about a year, from what I have been told.  Loudon is closing the freaking bridge - the only way to get into town from the highway (as in not using the Interstate) so people can stand and watch the eclipse there.  The eclipse event at Fort Loudoun State Park (yeah, it is spelled differently) is sold out.  Sweetwater, Loudon - these are very small, rural towns.  The streets are not designed to take this kind of traffic load.  Trying to get kids to and from school that day would be an absolute nightmare because of traffic, etc.  Kids trying to wait to catch the bus would probably create a dangerous situation for the kids.  It is going to be chaos.  I think it is only sensible to close the schools - not because everyone needs to be out to see a 2.5 minute eclipse but because of the massive cluster**** that will ensue when that many people who aren't from the area and have no clue where they are going try to pack into a few, small towns and then start freaking out because a tree or hill or tree on a hill is blocking them from having the absolute, perfectly unobstructed view of the eclipse and so try to start moving around to see it better..  No need adding to the insanity with buses, cars, etc. bringing kids to and from school.  Besides, this way if several hundred Elementary School students wind up being blind on the 22nd it will be on the parents/guardians/etc. and not the schools.

 

EDIT:

I checked out of curiosity and the message on the Loudon County Schools website basically echoes what I was saying, above:

No School August 21 - Solar Eclipse Day

Click to read a message from Dr. Vance regarding school closure on August 21, 2017 - the day of the solar eclipse.

 

Dear Parents,

I hope you are having a great day. We are pleased with the way school has started this year. Our kids and teachers seem to be smoothly transitioning back to school. As I travel around to schools, I’ve been impressed with the level of engagement that I have witnessed.

Initially, we had planned on having schools open on the August 21st eclipse day. However, after receiving information from emergency personnel, we have decided to use an inclement weather day for this event. I believe this would have been an amazing day for instruction, however, the concern for safety with afternoon dismissal created a situation that led to the decision to dismiss for this day. Specifically, the concern for traffic congestion and highway safety has grown significantly since our initial decision, especially in areas near Interstate 75 and Highway 11 where many of our schools are in close proximity. With that being said, we will still teach the lessons we have prepared on the Friday before and send home our eclipse glasses that were provided by Morgan Olson.

Again, I’m excited about this school year and believe this may be the best year we have ever had. Our teacher and administrators are working hard to provide a platform for our kids to be prepared for college and career opportunities. If we may assist anyway, please don’t hesitate to contact us at schools or here at the office.

Have a great day,

Jason Vance
Director of Schools

Edited August 11, 2017 by JAB

[peejman]

I agree, trying to get kids home from school could be a total nightmare.  Can you imagine the backlash from kids stuck for hours on schools busses?  We (and most everyone else we know) already planned to sign our kids out anyway.  

[bersaguy]

I saw on the news last night that 2 of the big motel chains were not going to be honoring many reservations people made back in January because they got bought and changed the names to the new ownership and did not have to honor any of them. My guess is the new owners are going to jack up the rates of their new locations to double and rent them to new customers. I have not heard if they are even going refund anyones money yet...........Sounds like a major scam to me and I think they should have honored the original reservations.................JMHO  

[Sam1]

Just got an email this morning from Amazon.com telling me to trash my eclipse glasses because the manufacturer is not providing them with a copy of the ISO certification.  And that they would refund.  I wonder how many ten's of thousands of those are being tossed now.

At least they are taking the responsibility of checking fakes.

[mikegideon]

Good thing I bought mine back in June. Got ten for ten bucks. Solunia ISO certified.

[i1afli]

8 hours ago, Sam1 said:

Just got an email this morning from Amazon.com telling me to trash my eclipse glasses because the manufacturer is not providing them with a copy of the ISO certification.  And that they would refund.  I wonder how many ten's of thousands of those are being tossed now.

Yeah, I got that same email. 

I have not received mine yet so I don't know if they still intend to ship them or not.

The tv news was talking about how to test them...something about holding them in front of a car headlight at night and making sure that no light passes through the lens.  I may try this if I get them. 

[JAB]

On 8/11/2017 at 4:27 PM, bersaguy said:

I saw on the news last night that 2 of the big motel chains were not going to be honoring many reservations people made back in January because they got bought and changed the names to the new ownership and did not have to honor any of them. My guess is the new owners are going to jack up the rates of their new locations to double and rent them to new customers. I have not heard if they are even going refund anyones money yet...........Sounds like a major scam to me and I think they should have honored the original reservations.................JMHO  

Sounds like a good way to get their 'new' locations wrecked when a few hundred people who thought they had reservations show up to find that they are being screwed over by crooked owners/management.

[bersaguy]

5 hours ago, JAB said:

Sounds like a good way to get their 'new' locations wrecked when a few hundred people who thought they had reservations show up to find that they are being screwed over by crooked owners/management.

I don't know about getting their locations wrecked but you can bet there will probably be a few lawsuits over it and a lot of people that will be really pi$$ed off. I have always been told that "Good News travels fast but bad news travels at light speed!" If they make enough folks mad the new companies that did not honor those reservations will have their name scattered all over Face Book, Tweeter and all of the other gossip sites on the web!!! It will wind up biting them in the a$$ before it's all over and I say rightfully deserved.............JMHO

[bubbiesdad]

[shotgunshooter]

Funny you mention that.  One of the crackpots who calls into the local talk radio show every evening was talking about that earlier.  According to him the 2024 eclipse path will cross with this year's forming a perfect x marks the spot over the "epicenter" of the New Madrid fault.  Because all total eclipses coincide with some cataclysmic event, well fellas, 2024 doesn't look too good.

I survived 2012 so bring on 2024. If the Rock gets elected say in 2020 he can make Randy Orton head of the Space Corps so he can hit the sun with an RKO outta nowhere.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[vontar]

On 8/10/2017 at 4:44 PM, monkeylizard said:

FYI . . . Every hotel in Nashville is booked. Every . . . last . . . one. That includes the surrounding communities. Franklin? Booked. Lebanon? Booked. Murfreesboro? Booked. I did find a motel in Waverly, TN with a couple of rooms left. . .

I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. Even the combination of Bonnaroo and CMA Fest can't bring in that many people.

If the weather is clear (right now, it doesn't look so good) and all those people show up, it's going to be traffic hell.

I had one and cancelled it when i decided to stay closer to home.  

 

I am narrowing down my list of places, but still on the hunt for the perfect place (east to Middle TN).