Solar Eclipse Aug 21, 2017 (Portland, Bend, Madras: buying, construction, prices)

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

Well, I reserved the LaGrande Super 8 at less than 100 dollars for Aug. 21. The Baker City Super 8 rate for the same night is 3X higher.

I hope it works out for you. I've heard of people getting reservations canceled and then being given the "opportunity" to rebook at a higher rate.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

I hope it works out for you. I've heard of people getting reservations canceled and then being given the "opportunity" to rebook at a higher rate.

I forget if this has already been discussed in this thread or if I just read it on the OLive feed - but most of the cases of reservations being canceled were from on-line bookings (like Expedia or Hotels.com) where the customers were booking quite a bit in advance and the hotel hadn't yet gotten around to changing their prices for that day.

Some of the hotels honored the prices and some canceled the reservations. IMO, the hotel was at fault for not planning as far ahead as the customer but I think the hotel operators decided they were okay annoying the heck out of a customer who wasn't likely to be a repeat.

[photoshopper]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Besides, it will only last for about 2.5 hours starting about 4pm in the afternoon.

You could drive out from Portland to Madras in the morning, see it all, have dinner and be home by 11 pm.

Terrible advice. I'm sure no one else in the 2nd largest city in the northwest will be driving that route that morning.
And totality in Madras is 10:20 AM!

[KC7NEC]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

That's a pretty good location. It looks like you are about half way between the center line and the edge of the totality. If you drove someplace south of Salem though, you would get a slightly longer eclipse (about 2 minutes vs 1 minute 45 seconds. People on 45 North on the east side of the state will miss the total eclipse entirely.

A Salem police officer spoke at our neighborhood association this week. They anticipate that by SUNDAY afternoon the drive from North to South Salem will take 6-8 HOURS a normally 15 min drive. He said the bridges across the Willamette will be impassable by Sunday morning.

Here is a good site for Salem eclipse information: https://salemareaeclipse.info/

And here is a write up that I put together a few days ago:

Is Salem ready for the #eclipse2017? We all have heard the still increasing projected numbers and know that Salem is going to be one of the major hubs. Not only is it on the path of totality it's on a major interstate connecting major cities North (Portland, Seattle) and South (SF, LA)

Estimates have ranged from 50-200k in Salem city alone not counting surrounding communities and roads. Much will depend on the weather forecast the day before. if the coast looks to be a bust most all of the people there may try coming inland. If traffic (or heaven forbid forest fires) close access East we may have many people that planned other places end up stuck in Salem.

Even with the lower estimates its likely that typical commute times that morning in Salem will be absolutely horrible. Crossing the bridges could take hours. Even the surface streets and collectors will be packed beyond anything ever seen here. Even in a larger city such as ours, you should fuel up the week before as gas may become difficult to find.

Emergency Services such as Police, Medical, and Fire could be stretched very thin. Please only call in absolute emergencies. The hospital could be much busier than normal.
Anticipate possible failure or connection issues with the cellular systems. Please if possible stay off of the phone or use text messaging.

Be great hosts! Let's show our guests the 'shalom' of Salem and be welcoming and helpful. If you have a local nonservice or noncritical business consider closing for the day to help reduce traffic and give employees a chance to be with families.

Start planning now, and get prepared. This will be an unprecedented event but its a great practice for a major disaster such as Cascadia Earthquake.
Most importantly, on August 21st enjoy the moment that could be once in a lifetime!!

[Cloudy Dayz]

Just an update on my plans for viewing the eclipse. Yesterday I drove to Madras to search for a good viewing location. The first problem was the drive took hours longer than Google Maps predicted. The traffic was really backed up on US-20 around Sisters. Lots of road construction. I hope they suspend the construction during the eclipse, but still if the traffic is that bad on a normal day, I hate to even think of what it will be like on Eclipse Day. I did really enjoyed the area around Warm Springs. I wish I had had more time to look around. It would be a great location for watching the eclipse. But I can see now that the only way I will be able to do that is if I drive the day before and sleep overnight in my car.

I think I will go back again and see if I can maybe find a good viewing location somewhere in a high elevation in the mountains, hopefully above the clouds. If I can avoid the bottleneck at Sisters, that will cut hours off my travel time.

[CAjerseychick]

hmmmm just realized I am actually off for the eclipse(several days off in a row actually) and we have a place to stay in Bend....

reading through thread now/ lol....

[Rob Allen]

I bought eclipse-viewing glasses at Bi-Mart the other day, and today I see that Fantasy Video is giving them away.

[Metlakatla]

Oregon Hotel Rooms Booked for Eclipse Have Vanished, Warn Justice Officials - Willamette Week

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today urged people who have booked hotel rooms in the 90-mile path of August's solar eclipse to double-check their reservations before the big day arrives.

The Oregon Department of Justice reports an increased number of consumer complaints accusing hotels of cancelling reservations without cause or hiking up room prices without warning—up to three times the originally advertised price.

Couldn't hurt to check your reservations.

[KC7NEC]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Just an update on my plans for viewing the eclipse. Yesterday I drove to Madras to search for a good viewing location. The first problem was the drive took hours longer than Google Maps predicted. The traffic was really backed up on US-20 around Sisters. Lots of road construction. I hope they suspend the construction during the eclipse, but still if the traffic is that bad on a normal day, I hate to even think of what it will be like on Eclipse Day. I did really enjoyed the area around Warm Springs. I wish I had had more time to look around. It would be a great location for watching the eclipse. But I can see now that the only way I will be able to do that is if I drive the day before and sleep overnight in my car.

I think I will go back again and see if I can maybe find a good viewing location somewhere in a high elevation in the mountains, hopefully above the clouds. If I can avoid the bottleneck at Sisters, that will cut hours off my travel time.

Yes, the Stae is suspending ALL construction Statewide for the whole week but yes it is still a mostly two lane road. As to your plan of the day before I honestly think that 20 and 26 will be completely full and gridlocked by Saturday.

[karlsch]

Eastern Oregon University in La Grande is renting some dorm rooms for the eclipse. You will have to travel a few miles south the day of the eclipse to be in the path of totality: LA GRANDE: Dorm rooms for rent | Elkhorn Media Group