Well... we were warned, the highways would be PACKED with everyone leaving the area. Normally, the road trip home would have been 3.5hrs. It took us 9hrs. We were on I-85 with the rest of them, and Charlotte, NC traffic. After stop 'n Go traffic for 3 hours, we had traveled 22 miles. I wanted to sleep in my own bed, Sunday night I slept in a pickup truck, barely, with wifey and 3 kids. Having driven in Chicago traffic for decades before, I was useto traffic at 0-10mph up to 70mph bumper-to-bumper across the potholes.
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We LOVED IT!!! Best idea ever, was go to Bob Jones University, (Greenville, SC), take in all the pre-eclipse presentations, what to watch for, and the commentary during the eclipse kept it really fascinating! If it was a "non-event" for anyone, all the scientific talk before & after, really turned it into a memorable, never forget outing. If I'm around for the next one in 7 years, we'll take a telescope with the right filters, cameras, etc., and record that one, with the NASA or multiple Solar Scientists' audio feeds. Just having someone point out, "OK, next we should see this..." and describe it in detail, the colors, etc., then see it happen, really added to the "WOW!!" moment, "I see that, that's neat!". The commentary on what Solar Scientists were studying, balloon launches, HAM radio propagation testing, etc. - there was so much going on at the same time, it was a pick-what-aspect-you-want and follow it.
Otherwise, it was just the moon passing by the sun, with sparkles- all the other stuff passed by, completely missed.
The audio commentary feed, and seeing it blown blown up on a big screen, made it understandable.
By comparison, what "fun" is looking at the night sky, seeing all those stars, and not knowing anything about navigation, constellations, meteors, satellites, comets or phases of the moon?
... just noticed the price of telescopes is as cheap as $5... the sky-is-the-limit on prices. For the next one, in 7 years, we'll find a desolate place, and camp out, tune into a good university audio feed and enjoy the event again. We'll skip the 9hrs to travel 150mi thing and enjoy a couple of days in the quiet wilderness... punctuated by owls disemboweling rabbits, 360 degrees of coyotes & bears destroying our coolers, while we huddle inside the truck, gun magazines completely emptied.
