just curious if anyone else is excited/doing anything for the eclipse next week. here in rochester NY we are directly in the path of totality, and all the news is suggesting we will get 100,000+ people in the area next week. i will most likely be watching it on campus as i will be there in the morning anyway.
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I drove my family to Idaho to experience totality, maybe seven years ago. Very cool experience. I highly recommend it.
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Whoever needs motivation - Alex Filippenko will help!
Plan to be in Indiana on that day - Bloomington is also smack in the middle of the totality path.
The only unknown right now is the weather…
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@mgoldst
Yes, I’ll be in town for it, right downtown with all the hoards across the street at Parcel 5, trying to actually work, lololol.
Hoping they will open the rooftop deck on Sibley for the season early so I can hide up there.
Heading to San Antonio, TX area… fingers crossed for the weather… didn’t trust the weather here in PA…
I’m visiting family in Southeastern Illinois and extended my vacation so I can be here for the eclipse. My Dad lives right in the path for totality.
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Austin is in the path of the eclipse. The city declared a preemptive disaster situation and we’ve been alerted that over a million people are expected to come into town for the event.
Hotels are booked and restaurants and gas stations are scrambling.
We’ve been warned to buy groceries and gas in advance, and to refrain from driving days before and at least a day afterwards. School districts have already issued shutdown notices for the day of the event. It’s not easy being a destination city.
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I live in Plattsburgh NY, and we’re expecting obscene amounts fo traffic and vistors as well. Heard from a friend some hotels were going for around $1200/night that weekend.
Love my hometown, but I do not think it is worth $1200/night, eclipse or not LOL.
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Do you plan on going to Fort Wayne while you’re there?
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I will need to plead “ignorant” here, Eric - what’s going on in Fort Wayne??
I’ll mainly be in Bloomington, dropping my friend’s daughter off at Purdue and then heading on to perhaps swing by CME in Chicago. So far, these are the main itinerary points (apart from the eclipse, of course 
)
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Ah, my bad. Sweetwater Music is located in Fort Wayne.
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Ah, OK, cool - I had no idea 
I guess CME is “better” for looking at basses (not buying) - they should have a better selection available in the store.
(I also know a guy (bass player) working in a music store in Milwaukee - but that might be too much driving all things considered…)
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Sorry, is that Indiana University in Bloomington or Purdue in West Lafayette? I was going to ask what brings you to town - I no longer live there but grew up in Indiana and spend some formative years up to quite a bit of chicanery in Bloomington. 
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Haha, yeah, that wasn’t quite clear. My friend is a professor at IU and I’ll stay with them in Bloomington. His daughter studies at Purdue and needs to go back to classes the day after the eclipse, and I’ll give her ride as I will be slowly making my way back to O’Hare.
I had visited IU a couple of years ago and given a seminar there, but this time around it is “just” a social call, on occasion of the eclipse.
I can’t say I know much more about Indiana, as Eric’s remark about Fort Wayne also attests to 
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Makes much more sense now, thanks for indulging my curiosity! Hope you have a great trip!
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Thanks - very much looking forward to it!
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You need to come do a seminar in Georgia.
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For new - no.
Anything in sweetwater’s inventory - they will bring out and unbox for you to play. It’s nuts.
But used - ya CME is better.
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Wouldn’t mind - it’s been a while since my last visit to Hotlanta 
Ah, see, my European “modesty” kinda prevents me from exploiting this and have them unbox more than 1 or 2 basses - wouldn’t feel right to me…
At CME, they always have lots of nice basses hanging in the showroom (also rather expensive makes and models), which at least gives you a chance to try a, say, Mark King Alembic or similar.
Plus (I finally checked), Fort Wayne is a bit out of my way this time around - I will have to stick to the N, NW, and S side of Chicago 
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