Bay Area residents describe traveling thousands of miles in hopes of seeing total solar eclipse

ByJ.R. Stone KGO logo

Monday, April 8, 2024

Bay Area residents describe traveling to see total solar eclipse

Many Bay Area locals have traveled thousands of miles across the country to see the total solar eclipse, visible only in certain locations.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- We are now less than 24 hours away from the solar eclipse.

Here in the Bay Area, a partial eclipse will be visible. The California Academy of Sciences says in San Francisco the eclipse will begin at 10:15 a.m. The maximum cover to the sun will occur at 11:13 a.m., when the moon crosses 34% of the Sun's diameter. The eclipse will then be over in the Bay Area by 12:15 p.m.

Many locals have traveled thousands of miles across the country to see the total solar eclipse, visible only in certain locations.

"I'm a photographer from the Bay Area. I live in the East Bay, in Brentwood," said Mike Oria.

"I live in Concord, so it was a flight out of Oakland," said Mark Zigler.

"I am Chris. This is my wife Leslie. We're from the Bay Area -- Hayward, California," said Chris and Leslie Feyling.

WATCH LIVE MONDAY: ABC News, National Geographic to air live 'Eclipse Across America' special

All of these Bay Area residents have made their way to others parts of the United States, where the excitement is high as they hope see the total solar eclipse on Monday.

We'll start with Mike Oria who has already driven more than 300 miles across Texas and has a trunk full of clothes and camera gear. Yes, he's living out of this car for this event and trying to find the best viewing spot.

"Because of the fluid nature of chasing the weather -- you really can't book and make any solid plans like that, so I have been without running water and a toothbrush since early yesterday morning," Oria said.

Oria said he has settled on a location in Terrell, Texas, pending any change in the weather. He took a picture of a dog's coat that read, "I blacked out for 4 minutes and 21 seconds in Terrell, Texas April 8th, 2024."

If Oria gets a clear shot of the sky, he'll likely be able to file away some of his past pictures of partial eclipses in the Bay Area and replace them with new total solar eclipse ones.

SOLAR ECLIPSE 2024: Where to watch rare celestial event in Bay Area

Down the road in Austin, Texas are Hayward's Mr. and Mrs. Feyling.

"What does the forecast look like there, come tomorrow?" we asked.

"Not the best right now. It's showing us that there is going to be thunderstorms throughout the day, but we're heading a bit west to Lake Travis. Our plan is, we have a pontoon boat or a barge we're going to be on and take it as far west as we can to see if we can get out of the cloud coverage and see everything," said Chris Feyling.

And finally up in Ohio is Concord's Mark Zigler.

"So flew out of Oakland, connected into Chicago, and then flew into Cleveland, and then drove from Cleveland down, so it's about an hour and a half drive," Zigler said.

And he drove through this wintry mix to get to Niles, Ohio now and Warren, Ohio Monday.

"A nice combination of rain, sleet, snow, hail -- pretty much just short of the apocalypse," he said.

"Some people tell me the space geeks get really into this, and I didn't know if you consider yourself a space geek," we said.

"No, not really. It's kind of interesting to me," said Zigler laughing. He continued, "For me, it's definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity."

That life-changing experience echoed by all of these groups. The Feylings experienced the 2017 Solar Eclipse in Oregon with their kids and believe a moment like that with friends will be equally as special.

"It was just such a visually life-changing moment that everybody else was sold on one: having a vacation together, and two: why not see the eclipse at the same time?" they said.

"But as long as during our four minutes of totality tomorrow we have something clear above, we'll be looking good," Oria said.

"So, getting together with family, friends -- some high school buddies, college buddies. We're going to do a big reunion, where we're gonna get together tomorrow afternoon. We're going to watch the eclipse, eat a whole lot of food, and have a good time," Zigler said.