My first total eclipse was an awesome and enjoyable experience! Took off for southern IL just after 2:00a.m. and arrived at our destination (my cousin's farm near Carbondale) in only around 5.5 hrs. as traffic was a non-issue and had good roads. And the weather was perfect with only a few thin cirrus at times with a high temp around 80⁰! Had over 100 people there (mostly from my community) to watch it and enjoyed 2 hearty big meals (brunch and supper) plus snacks in-between! Had several spotting scopes on tripods for people to use, and later mounted a camera on one during the eclipse. We also did some experiments and someone gave a presentation about eclipses, etc. My nephew flew his drone before and during the eclipse, which mostly flew itself so he could enjoy the sights. We also had a thermometer recording the temp which dropped 12⁰ f in the shade and still more in the sun, if I remember correctly. One thing I forgot was sunscreen, so I got burned a little even if I tried staying in the shade at times. We left for home around 6:30p.m. hoping traffic would clear out some. Had one little stretch of heavy, slow traffic, but mostly good travelling most of the way, arriving back in around 6 hrs. Trees were much greener in s. IL.
Oh, I forgot to mention my brother down there took us on a ride to his place nearby with a farm tractor and trailer afterwards. Had 60+ people on the flatbed trailer!