Short narrative: Driving (thanks, Steve!) from Franklin, Tenneessee starting at 07:45 on I-24 met with plenty of traffic at various choke-points until getting off at Vienna, Illinois, heading west. Made it to approximate centerline outside of Anna, Illinois just 25 minutes before totality, so wasn’t able to set up photo gear in a decent way.
Perfect weather, ~70F, 95% clear skies, some thin cirrus clouds that did not affect viewing at all. Some shadow bands, small and less distinct than in 2017, the final onset was very rapid. Spectacular diamond ring, then four minutes of totality with a massive hook-shaped prominence and others distributed around the disk, corona brilliant, easily observed out to maybe five lunar diameters, circum-horizon twiLight was gorgeous. And then it was over.
Many hours drive back in extensive traffic that intersected with a huge storm system threatening golf-ball-sized hail. Arrived back in Franklin at 23:00.
