Since this past December the great American eclipse has been a daily occupation for my mind and wallet. Let's get right to the best website of the bunch:

Hours and hours have been spent with this Nasa Total Solar Eclipse Interactive Map. Of course, Expedia played an important role in ruling out locations. Idaho? Forget about it. Oregon. Oh Oregon. I explored the trails of Oregon more that Lewis and Clark to find the perfect spot.

The Coast of Oregon was compelling. Corvallis, Oregon really was my first choice as my Nephew owns a house there, but he graduated and rented it out. Salem, Or (I always think of witches when I say Salem) was very promising but Expedia was a bit fickle.

Highway 395 thru Oregon is an amazing drive.

Ok, drive to Oregon from Los Angeles means I get to be "Mr. Tired." So, I hurried my planning efforts and developed the pitch for Amtrak and taking a train to the best eclipse viewing spot. So, here comes the second most important map.

I morphed these two maps together to determine my first best choices for trains, planes, hotels and automobiles:

1. Salem, OR

2. Sun Valley, ID

3. Hastings, NE

4. Hermann, MO

5. Greenville, SC

Except for Sun Valley, each of these is an Amtrak station.

Once you get on Amtrak.com it gets addicting to concoct your travels. We chose to get USA Rail Passes so we could travel on past the eclipse viewing location to the rest of America. At $459 each for 15-days and 8 segments this seems like a pretty good deal.

I picked Hastings, Nebraska first. There were still hotels at a reasonable price available. The plan was to take Amtrak from Los Angeles Union Station to Emeryville and pick up our kid. The next day we would go from Emeryville to Hastings, NE. I was excited to reveal our eclipse travel plans, but was shot down when I said we land at Hastings, NE at 2am the morning of the event.

I thought it was good timing and that we would be excited about the eclipse so skipping the hotel that night would be ok. I held onto this belief for a few days until I got into my Google Earth car and drove around Hastings. It just felt a little ghost townish. (sorry Hastings I am sure it's nice...)

Ok, back to the drawing board and the Nasa interactive eclipse map. I already bought the Amtrak USA Rail Pass so I knew I was going to stick to the overnight trains to get to our destination.

Sun Valley, ID got knocked out because I did not want to drive four thousand hours to get there.

Hermann, MO caught my eye. Its 2 minutes and 30 seconds of Totality could be increased by 10 seconds by just driving a few miles from the train station. 50 bucks a night for motel walking distance to the train station! Sold! We booked Amtrak to leave LAX at 6pm Friday August 18th and arrive at Hermann, Mo Sunday August 20th at 12:03pm.

I did book for arriving the 21st at 12:03pm but wife nixed it saying the chances of a US train being on time is not likely. I agreed having lived for years in time-obsessed Japan and its to the minute on-time trains. I booked a second hotel with a pool because I thought it was summer and that'd be nice. Only a few bucks more, but ooops 20 miles from Hastings.

"Yes! We have special promotions of 30% off for trains from Chicago to Carbondale, Illinois, the center of the "eclipsical" universe," said Marc Magliari, Media Relations, Amtrak. "Just look at blog.amtrak.com for details."

Mr. Magliari also mentioned that it is just a day-trip from New Orleans to Carbondale commenting that you don't even need to get a hotel!

Amtrak is sponsoring eclipse viewing events in Carbondale so make sure to get your free safe viewing glasses before they run out.

For an extra fee you can bring your bicycle on Amtrak. This last comment from Mr. Magliari really opens up eclipse viewing locations. Do be safe riding during totality!

"You can expect the trains to be rather full - but space is available. It's easy to check at Amtrak.com." Closed Mr. Magliari.

Now logistics came into play. Enterprise rent-a-car was closed on Sunday's in Hermann. Strike one. Now we'd have to rely on Uber in the ghost town. Strike two. No need to wait for three. Plans change easy with Amtrak and we rebooked to continue on to St. Louis, Mo. What a great choice!

We booked the St. Louis Union Station Hotel on Market St. Being able to walk from the Amtrak station to the hotel was a key bonus. Then, we set out to discover the hotel and what a gem did we find!

We booked a car with Enterprise St. Louis that is open on Sunday so we can start our final eclipse leg bright and early.

The choice from St. Louis is another mind-blowing set of wonderful sounding and looking places.

1. Festus, MO - 2:36.4 of totality. A festival in Festus sounds so cool. Did you know their high school football team mascot is a Tiger? "They're great," said Tony. The kids in St. Genevieve, MO probably yell "Hold that Tiger" at their annual rival game.

2. Chester, IL - 2:39.9 of totality at the Lewis and Clark landmark. an hour and change from St. Louis and there will be a big party at the university.

3. Washington, MO - 2:27.40 of totality at the Amtrak station with park on the river across the street. From St. Louis take an Amtrak in the morning and enjoy several events and local flavors

4. St. Clair, MO - 2:40 of totality - eclipse ground zero champions the website. "Get your Eclipse on Route 66!" Do they sell eclairs in St. Clair? I don't care! What a cool looking town in the path. If we can't get tickets to the beer bus this is looking good.

5. Bloomsdale, MO - 2:40.1 of totality. aaaaah. There is a beer festival on eclipse day. Lobbying hard for this one. Schlafly eclipse party includes a beer bus from its brewery in St. Louis to Bloomsdale for a party. Our hotel is walking distance.

6. De Soto, MO - 2:40.1 of totality. This is a gateway city to the Mark Twain Forest. I'm gonna look for white picket fences.

7. Carbondale, Illinois - 2:38 of totality. Amtrak turned me on to the major eclipse party of the "eclipsical" universe! Rock and Roll baby!

I emailed the Schlafly Brewery to ask more about their beer bus. "We will have 75 tickets, which go on sale on July 1 at www.schlafly.com/eclipse and expect to sell-out quickly!" Emailed Caiti Carrow, publicist for Schlafly.

She continued with, "Our Path of Totality packaging was specially designed to commemorate the August solar eclipse for our Helles-style lager. Consumers can purchase the special edition, black and metallic silver packaging of the beer style, including six and 12-packs. A pair of solar glasses to watch the phenomenon safely will also be included inside the 12-packs."

What is Schlafy's favorite spot in St. Louis? Founding Brewer Stephen Hale would say that the City Museum is a definite must. It's great for both kids and adults alike! For your readers, the Science Center would also be a great destination!

My List of things we must have for the eclipse:

1. Champagne - best suggestion from a veteran eclipse watcher.

2. Eclipse viewing glasses - lots of extra ones to give to others also.

3. Blanket for lying on the ground as sun will be overhead at 1:18pm

4. Solar lenses for my Mavic pro drone, Cannon with 400mm telephoto, Sony camcorder and DJI Osmo. An extra tripod might make sense too. Pictures and running commentary will be here: www.spacedaily.com/eclipse_2017

5. Memory cards, extra batteries, backup device and laptop

6. Bug spray, hats and sunblock.

7. Jacket/sweater for Totality as temperatures will drop fast! "Bring digital thermometer to show difference" my wife said.

8. Snacks and water

9. Maps, paper maps incase cell phone service is spotty. (Gotta be ready to change direction based on weather.)

10. Smiles, lots of smiles.

With our Amtrak USA Rail Pass we get to forge on as rolling stock from Saint Louis Union Station to Chicago and then Niagara Falls. Our great capital of Washington DC is right around the corner on the next train. Then we will pick our path back to Los Angeles via Seattle or Salt Lake City.

Our Great American Eclipse 2017 getaway is booked, so far.

Bradley Bartz owns and operates ABC Solar Inc in Los Angeles California. He writes for Spacedaily and other publications and can be reached on [email protected].

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Rare US total solar eclipse excites Americans coast-to-coast
Washington (AFP) June 22, 2017
For the first time in almost a century the United States is preparing for a coast-to-coast solar eclipse, a rare celestial event millions of Americans, with caution, will be able to observe. During the eclipse on August 21 - the first of its kind since 1918 - the moon will pass between the sun and Earth, casting a dark shadow and making visible the sun's normally obscured atmosphere, or so ... read more

Related Links
Total Solar Eclipse Interactive Map at NASA
Solar Science News at SpaceDaily

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