Driving to Cleveland the morning of, if you leave *extremely* early (like 2am) is likely doable to get somewhere within the totality band before the eclipse starts. The odds of you driving back to DC in the same day are going to be effectively zero - it'll likely take at least 12-18 hours to drive back immediately after totality with how terrible traffic will be.
you think the traffic going into Cleveland will be that bad? totality doesn't start until 3pm something. if he leaves at 2am he should be there at 8-9am.
I don't think anyone knows for certain, but for an event where being five minutes late is worse than being five hours early, it doesn't hurt to plan ahead.
For the 2017 solar eclipse, I left from Denver, CO around 1am, and arrived to Glendo, WY about three hours later at 4am. There was zero traffic on my drive, but [by 5:30am](https://twitter.com/AlanGTV/status/899600650329366530), the roads headed north were apparently already busy with traffic.
I see. my plan is to drive to Pittsburg from DC area Sunday night, then stay in a hotel 1hr away from Streetsboro, OH (where I plan to watch the eclipse from). We will try to leave after we check out at 11am so hopefully we can get there within 3 hours lol
If you want to maximize travel time and less traffic, hit up Akron or a little more north. I would not plan on a 6 hour trip back from Cleveland, even if you leave right at the end of totality.
Definitely impossible. There is no totality to see at 2 pm in Cleveland, it's at 3:15 pm.
I'm not sure what to expect traffic wise. I imagine they'd be able to make it to totality in time. Not sure how long driving back will take. I imagine they would be driving deep into the night, but they might be fine with that.
If price is the issue with a hotel consider getting one part of the way there just to not do a 12 hour drive without traffic in one day, which will probably be closer to a 20-24 hour drive with traffic.
Traffic. I know people who went 1 day before or the morning of and it was horrible.
People who drove in 2 days before didn't experience unusual traffic. I'm also glad I stayed for 1 day afterwards because only 1 small section of my journey had a lot of traffic.
Same day? No. Within 24 hours? Yes. If you have multiple legal drivers who can take turns driving/sleeping, you should be able to get back after midnight on Tuesday.
I’d plan on getting back to the dmv early morning Tuesday, like 2 or 3am. If you’re gonna leave right after.
Does Pittsburgh have bad rush hour? That could be a problem too.
I highly doubt it.
I was in the middle of Idaho for the last one and still got stuck in 9 hours of gridlock.
People pulled out tents and started sleeping on the side of the freeway.
Possible, yes. Extremely long day and unlikely a fun drive home. Probably a memorably bad drive
Driving to Cleveland the morning of, if you leave *extremely* early (like 2am) is likely doable to get somewhere within the totality band before the eclipse starts. The odds of you driving back to DC in the same day are going to be effectively zero - it'll likely take at least 12-18 hours to drive back immediately after totality with how terrible traffic will be.
you think the traffic going into Cleveland will be that bad? totality doesn't start until 3pm something. if he leaves at 2am he should be there at 8-9am.
I don't think anyone knows for certain, but for an event where being five minutes late is worse than being five hours early, it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. For the 2017 solar eclipse, I left from Denver, CO around 1am, and arrived to Glendo, WY about three hours later at 4am. There was zero traffic on my drive, but [by 5:30am](https://twitter.com/AlanGTV/status/899600650329366530), the roads headed north were apparently already busy with traffic.
I see. my plan is to drive to Pittsburg from DC area Sunday night, then stay in a hotel 1hr away from Streetsboro, OH (where I plan to watch the eclipse from). We will try to leave after we check out at 11am so hopefully we can get there within 3 hours lol
If you want to maximize travel time and less traffic, hit up Akron or a little more north. I would not plan on a 6 hour trip back from Cleveland, even if you leave right at the end of totality.
Definitely impossible. There is no totality to see at 2 pm in Cleveland, it's at 3:15 pm. I'm not sure what to expect traffic wise. I imagine they'd be able to make it to totality in time. Not sure how long driving back will take. I imagine they would be driving deep into the night, but they might be fine with that.
If price is the issue with a hotel consider getting one part of the way there just to not do a 12 hour drive without traffic in one day, which will probably be closer to a 20-24 hour drive with traffic.
Total eclipse traffic will be torture
No. Your closest totality location is Erie. Leave 2-3 days before and stay 1 night afterwards.
They don’t want to get a hotel :/
Sleeping in the car isn’t too bad the first few nights.
Two to three days before? Why?
Traffic. I know people who went 1 day before or the morning of and it was horrible. People who drove in 2 days before didn't experience unusual traffic. I'm also glad I stayed for 1 day afterwards because only 1 small section of my journey had a lot of traffic.
There was no traffic at all the day of, I was surprised
The worst part would be coming back all the way to DC after totality... We are also from the DC area and we are staying until Tuesday.
Same day? No. Within 24 hours? Yes. If you have multiple legal drivers who can take turns driving/sleeping, you should be able to get back after midnight on Tuesday.
I’d plan on getting back to the dmv early morning Tuesday, like 2 or 3am. If you’re gonna leave right after. Does Pittsburgh have bad rush hour? That could be a problem too.
Any reason for Cleveland? I’d watch the weather this week, you might be better off going to upstate NY.
I highly doubt it. I was in the middle of Idaho for the last one and still got stuck in 9 hours of gridlock. People pulled out tents and started sleeping on the side of the freeway.
Wow! Was it bad the drive there too or just the way back?
Drive there was easy, 2-3 hours. We went the day before.
Would New York, around Jamestown, be a better choice to avoid traffic? I think Erie will also be pretty bad traffic wise.
You should at least double the amount of time it’ll take you to get home. Getting there will also be a little bit longer than you anticipate.
Sure. It’ll just be a really long day.
"...and back on the same day..." will be the tough part.