I was in Grand Island, Nebraska for the 2017 one, right smack dab in the middle of totality. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.
I looked up and there was a big black hole where the sun should have been.
It lasted 2 min, 38 secs as I recall..
August in Nebraska is usually hot & dry so I persuaded my older brother and my youngest son & family (all of us a day’s trip away) to view the eclipse from the family farm about 70 miles east of Grand Island. The farm is about two miles south of the path of totality. We gathered at the farm and within a few minutes of totality, the sky clouded over. We could see that the sky was clear all around, but all we got was darkness. Just at that time what appeared to be a commercial airliner approaching from the northeast turned and followed the path of totality.