My in-progress planning of a US Road Trip to experience the Total Solar Eclipse in April 2024
Further details will be filled in as the plan gets more concrete over time; e.g., specific hotels, car rental(s), entraces, restaurants, etc.
Itinerary
| When | Where | What | Details |
| 30/03/2024 | CPH-MEM | Flight from Copenhagen to Memphis | Transfer to airport Flight Rent car Check-in hotel Dinner |
| 31/03/2024 | Memphis | Arrival & Hotel | Dinner in Beale Street |
| 01/04/2024 | Memphis
Memphis |
Elvis
Martin Luther King |
Visit Sun Studios & Graceland
Visit Lorraine Motel & National Civil Rights Museu Dinner in Beale Street |
| 02/04/2024 | Memphis – New Orleans
New Orleans |
Driving South (636 km) | Drive from Memphis (after breakfast) to New Orleans (650 km)
Dinner near/on Mississippi |
| 03/04/2024 | New Orleans | New Orleans | Sightseeing i New Orleans
Dinner near/on Mississippi or in Cajun quarter |
| 04/04/2024 | New Orleans – Houston | Driving West (560 km) | Drive from New Orleans (after breakfast) to Houston (560 km) |
| 05/04/2024 | Houston | NASA Johnson Space Center | Visit NASA’s Johnson Space Center (from where Apollo 11 and the other mande lunar Voyager as Well as the Space Shuttles were controlled – and see a real Space Shuttle)
Dinner in Houston |
| 06/04/2024 | Houston – Dallas | Driving North-West (385 km) | Drive from Houston (after breakfast) to Dallas (385 km) |
| 07/04/2024 | Dallas
Dallas – ”Texas” |
JFK / Dealey Plaza | Visit Dealey Plaza and The Sixth Floor Museu
Drive to the end destination (somewhere South/South-West of Dallas) Find good spot for the eclipse Dinner in the local town |
| 08/04/2024 | ”Texas”
(fx Bortle 2 – Elm Creek R.V. & Campgrounds, 457 Recreation Road, 10, Voss, TX 76888, USA) |
Total Solar Eclipse
Example from Waco: Duration:2h 40m 13s
Duration of totality:4m 11s
Partial begins:8 Apr 2024, 12:20:31
Full begins:8 Apr 2024, 13:38:04
Maximum:8 Apr 2024, 13:40:09
Full ends:8 Apr 2024, 13:42:15
Partial ends:8 Apr 2024, 15:00:44
Times shown in local time (CDT)
This day was cloudy 56% of the time (since 2000)
|
Setup of chosen area after early breakfast; e.g., chairs, photo equipement, etc.
Relax / Pool / Champages & Drinks |
| 09/04/2024 | ”Texas” | Relax & suck in impressions
Milky Way photo at night |
Day off Astro photo trip to some nearby dark sky area (e.g., West of Cranfills Gap) to watch and/or photograph the Milky Way’s visible bands of Cosmin dust in the night skyDinner in local town or at the hotel |
| 10/04/2024 | DFW-NYC | Check out of hotel Transfer to airport Flight to New York Transfer from airport Check in hotel Dinner |
Breakfast Check out of hotel Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Flight to New York Check in to hotel Dinner |
| 11/04/2024 | New York City | Rent bikes Sightseeing in all of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx |
Only short stops – the idea is the big picture of the city |
| 12/04/2024 | New York City | Sightseeing & shopping Photographing NYC |
Experience few chosen sites Photo bike trip at/after dusk e.g., Brooklyn Bridge, Downtown from Brooklyn Heigts or Queens or New Jersey |
| 13/04/2024 | NYC-CPH | Check out hotel Deliver bikes Transfer to airport Flight to Copenhagen |
detail |
Rental car
Plan is to rent a Motor Home (RV) and thus skip all hotels.
However it isn’t easy to find an RV that can be rented in Memphis and returned in Dallas.
One alternative is to rent a C25 (Standard Motorhome) from motorhomerepublic.com from New Orleans (3 April) to Dallas (10 April) for 17.297, 31 DKK incl. sales tax (2328,80 USD) but that would require renting another (normal) car from Memphis to New Orleans + spending money on hotels in Memphis and New Orleans – not really in the spirit of the initial road trip idea…
Astrophotography
At Bortle 2, one campring site to consider for astrophotography after the solar eclipse, could be Elm Creek R.V. & Campgrounds, 457 Recreation Road, 10, Voss, TX 76888, USA where they have 9 spots for RVs as well as a shop and a restaurant (also serving breakfast). Location on Google Maps
However, note that Elm Creek is outside of the path of eclipse-totality so this location isn’t suited for the eclipse itself!
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