August Eclipse Prep/Panic or NBD

JennMof3

Anyone else live in one of the Totality Zones? People are going crazy! Talking about masses of people in the area possibly running out of gas and food issues. Anyone else hearing about these scenarios? 

Ive got my mountain of diapers but I'm thinking about stocking up on formula and nursery water. Since I've been supplementing I'd hate to run out and then not be able to get more due to more customers in town. 

kdanjou

???whaaa?  I think it only lasts a couple of hours total so why would people be freaking out?

sejica

@JennMof3 I think your concerns are warranted, though I think formula runs are unlikely. Most of the influx of travelers will not be needing formula. Any shortages are likely to be accute, and stem from storage and transportation limitations. I'd expect maybe 3-5 days of problems, max. That said, I'd still recommend filling up your vehicles and fridge and pantry around Aug 15th, and plan to not get gas/food for non emergency until Aug 23 or so.

@kdanjou, towns like hopkinsville ky, and other small towns in the path of totality will have their population triple, or more, for the 3 days leading up to the eclipse. These small towns just don't have the space to keep enough food/gas in reserve for that kind of influx, so the restaurants, and to a lesser extent the grocery stores, are likely to simply run out of food. This will not be a problem in larger cities like Nashville and St Louis, as even 50,000 extra people is a drop in the bucket, plus automatic lights are harder to eliminate, so fewer of the tourists will head there.

There may also be some runs on grocery stores everywhere due to people fearing the eclipse is a sign of the Apocalypse. As to this fear, I am reminded that the national emergency response recommendation is that every household have a 3 day supply of water, food, and medicines, as it may take that long for help to get to you in the case of any emergency, or natural disasters. Now that we all have kids, that includes food for them, so I'd recommend everyone not letting their formula or other critical supplies dip below the 3 day reserve limit.

Personally, I'm going to Nashville for the eclipse, as I do not live within the path of totality, but it is only a 2 hr drive for me, so manageable with a 9 week old. If you can get to the path of totality, you should. It is an incredible event.

Edited for typos.

kdanjou

Sorry, you're right that those towns will get an influx of visitors.  I absolutely didn't think of that.  Mom brain.

JennMof3

@sejica My little town of 15k people is in the path of totality. We've got one grocery store and a small Walmart. Usually people hit the store pretty hard at the beginning of the month. I think I need to be one of those people just in case they aren't able to restock quickly. The closest big city is a 20 minute drive on the highway. I believe our last doctors appointment next month is on the 17th. I don't plan to venture out of my little town until after the eclipse. A little worried about cell phones acting up with the extra people on the network. 

They expect 1 million extra people to come to our state. 

sejica

@JennMof3, if your stores run out on the first of the month, you may check back the next week or so, I'm sure they will restock, even if everyone in your town gets the same idea. 1st of the month is payday, etc, so you may find better stock on the 12th or so. Enjoy the totality though!

kswiger06

*lurking*

So when I first read this, I thought that it was possible that it was made out to be a bigger problem than what it, in my mind, would actually turn out to be. Then today my mom told me she was going to drive to Tennessee and stay with some of our relatives just so she can see the eclipse from the totality zone... I couldn't help but share with you ladies because I really never imagined people travelling that far. Maybe people within a couple hours, just for the day, but we live in Ohio lol.

JennMof3

@kswiger06 People are expected to be traveling to my State from all over the world! Hotels have been going for double, triple even 5 times the normal rates. Camping spaces have been gone for months, people are renting dorm rooms for the weekend, hotels all over have zero vacancies. They are expecting travel to be horrible. My brother and sister inlaws employers are closed that day and they're medical offices and a large company. It seems crazy to me because I wouldn't travel anywhere to see the totality but for some people it's a really big deal. 

kswiger06

@JennMof3 that's how I feel, that it sounds like craziness. It's just not something that I'd drive a long distance for, and I can't even imagine coming from another continent. I actually didnt even know about it until I saw this thread. It'll be madness I guess, but on the upside, it should give all the businesses in those areas a temporary boost from all the travelers. With all those random people coming through, stay safe! 

mcvgal

Lurking from May 17. I live in the totality zone but it is expected to be only 1 minute 10 seconds for totality. My coworkers mom live in a small town 45 minutes north of the metro that will have about 2 minutes 38 seconds of totality. They started getting international calls last year from people wanting to rent out rooms for the eclipse. I hadn't even thought about all the extra people in town.

psherman42wwsa

Lurking from May 17 as well. I must be living under a rock and watching too much Disney junior because I had no idea about any of this...

kswiger06

We only had a partial view of it, but I turned on the news showing NASA views and it said that in Oragon is a city with a population of 6,000 and it currently has more than 100,000 people!! People are paying $1,500 a night to camp!! Holy Moly.

How are things where you ladies are at close to the totality path?... here's a pic I was able to snap of what we saw here in Ohio.

sejica

@JennMof3, just checking in to see how things went for you!

We're back home from Nashville, and the 2hr drive down Saturday turned into a 5hr drive home. LO slept the whole way home, so she'll be up all night now, since we weren't driving at night. Totally worth it.

JennMof3

@sejica Things went pretty well here. I totally think our news media over hyped it. I really feel sorry for all of the small businesses who purchased extra food and other items. They really lost money on this. My husband paid a lot of employees overtime all weekend which cost a pretty penny and for them to do almost nothing. 

I wish my LO slept better in the car. Being stuck in 5 hours of traffic would be awful she wakes every time the car stops.