Well my friend and I booked 10 of the 11 nights for our trip to the Eclipse.
He's going to drive from Cali to Surprise AZ, pick me up, then we'll crash for the night in Flagstaff, AZ. Then two nights in Zion NP, two nights in Bryce Canyon NP, then two nights in Evanston WY (nights of Aug 20 & 21) then three nights in Grand Teton NP.
The two nights in Evanston, WY will be $200. It was the closest we could get to GT NP (eclipse zone) and not pay $800-2500/night for a hotel. It's a 195-220 mile drive from Evanston WY to GT NP. And we'll have to drive up, then drive back, then up again to get back to GT NP for our three nights to visit GT NP and Yellowstone. Sucks but nothing we could do. At least we have the motels booked. On the drive home, we'll stay the night somewhere between GT NP and my house as I don't think my friend will make the 950 mile drive back to my house.
Our only concern now is the drive up from Evanston WY to the eclipse zone. A friend of my friend is also heading up and he heard reports that I-15 is going to be a parking lot as people head up to the eclipse zone. Some might head east over to GT NP and jam up
our road north at the Alpine, WY junction.
We are planning on leaving Evanston, WY around midnight in case we encounter a lot of traffic. Maybe take
this alternate route to the Dubois WY area. Might be less traffic.
Eclipse will be at 11:36am MDT on Aug 21 so we'll have 10-11 hours to get to eclipse zone, traffic willing. Better 5 hours early than 5 minutes late.
The total amount of driving (from/back to) my house for the trip will be 2400-2600 miles depending on how we get to eclipse zone from Evanston WY. My friend will have to drive an additional 700 miles (from/back to) his house.