That's what I'm doing but the wildcard is we don't know what a meaningful amount of "super early" would mean since we don't have recent eclipses in the USA to use as past guides about crowd behavior. It's an unprecedented mega event since the last total eclipse to cross the USA-48 was 1918 when the horse & buggy was still prevalent.
I plan to find a spot 6 hours early but my worst fear is that everybody else camped out 12+ hours before I did. Or there is unforseen traffic gridlock towards the path of totality.
That's true, but the path of totality is 70 miles wide. If you make contingency plans, pick an area that isn't too populated but has multiple roads, my guess is that it will be fine.
>everybody else camped out 12+ hours before I did
Basically every spot is a good spot as long as you can get to it. Gridlock starting the day before is the only problem I can foresee that would keep me from actually getting there.
I'll probably pack the bikes in the insane case that I have to leave my car on the side of the road 20 miles outside of the path of totality or something. But the only way I see that happening is if it turns into something like a hurricane evacuation.
>I thought the last full eclipse to cross the USA was in the late 70's?
Right, but that 1979 one didn't reach the major metro areas across the entire swath of USA-48. That's what people mean by comparing it to 1918[1] in terms of widespread national interest.
The eclipses of 1918, 2017, and 2024 attract extra attention because of the paths crossing numerous population centers.
I plan to find a spot 6 hours early but my worst fear is that everybody else camped out 12+ hours before I did. Or there is unforseen traffic gridlock towards the path of totality.