My wife and I traveled from Arizona to Oregon for the 2017 eclipse. Stayed a night with my brother in Bend, then drove from Bend to Seneca (between Burns and John Day) the day before the event and camped out in the Malheur National Forest, up the gnarliest logging road I could drive in a Nissan Sentra. There were some clearcuts at the top of a ridge, and we had a very nice view of the total eclipse. Only one other person anywhere nearby.
I also saw a total eclipse in February 1979 in Oregon. I was very lucky to get to the only hole in the clouds for at least 50 miles in any direction, arriving no more than 10 minutes before the eclipse started. That was along the Columbia River, not far east of The Dalles.
I imagine we’ll see the 2024 eclipse somewhere along the track of totality, no idea yet where we’ll go.
Have been fortunate enough to see two, the 2017 event in Baker City OR and on March 7, 1970, at Virginia Beach. Chased one in May 1984 but had to settle for two minutes of darkness under cloud, which was widespread (also near the VA-NC border). Would recommend south Texas for best probability of clear skies in April along that track. Pretty much a certainty that a long stretch of that track will be overcast, no telling what stretch yet of course, but chances are about the same from Arkansas to Quebec, no particular reason to choose any place along that stretch yet. The best idea is to have more than one target, and decide a week in advance, take a motel 150-200 miles from the center line, on your route to the target, and (this eclipse is well timed for a morning drive into position) get into place from there, and return there at your leisure in the heavy traffic you can expect. The reason for that plan is that the motel 150-200 miles out won’t likely be fully booked a couple of days before the eclipse. The motels near the totality line will be (probably a year before, and at highly inflated prices too). The other viable plan is to choose a sparsely populated area and camp out on federal land, organized campsites will all be booked too.
What’s the most surprising part of this experience? I found the sudden drop in lighting unexpected, about a minute before totality you feel like it’s just like sunset, then a few seconds before totality, the light drops to near darkness very quickly. If you’re in a crowd of people, there will be a large gasp of amazement at that point. The other end is the same in reverse except you’re expecting that.