I saw the TSE from Waxahachie, Texas with a UK tour group. We observed it from the grounds of our hotel but most of the group crowded together, so I and another fellow traveller set up a little distance away. A few Americans parked up nearby and we were joined by a lady who'd driven a long distance in her hire car.
We had avidly watched the US TV weather forecasts because the weather systems were unstable but the cloud cover relented on the day, improved throughout the morning, giving good views from first contact onwards and allowed spectacular views of the TSE. I observed using naked-eye and 10x50 binoculars.
Just before totality I saw a high-altitude 'plane near the almost-eclipsed Sun, but it might not have been one of the eclipse chase 'planes. The audio on my action cam is interesting to listen to - especially the onset of totality - the diamond ring seemed to hover for several seconds; a black hole had formed in the sky; the cheers from the Brits, the whooping and hollering of the less-reserved Americans; the eclipse first-timers exclaiming "Wow!" and pointing out Venus and Jupiter; they were obvious to the naked eye. The lady alongside me aimed her phone at the spectacle and called her brother. His reply "What are you looking at!?" was priceless! I did a brief, fruitless, half-hearted binocular search for comet 12P, then quickly got back to enjoying the fine details in the beautiful corona. The crickets were chirruping again in the darkness.
As the Moon's disc traversed the Sun various prominences were easily visible, then later into totality we thought the final diamond ring was making an early appearance, but it was a big, bright V-shaped prominence at around the 6-o'clock position, remarked upon by many visual observers and it was a fine sight using any optical aid. Then, the diamond ring presented the big finale and the first sunlight flooded back. We were still bathed in the harsh shadows and surreal ground colours of eclipse twilight. The birds started tweeting again.
Everyone was happy, relaxed and relieved that we'd experienced such a great show. The attached pics of solar crescents were taken after totality whilst walking around chatting to other observers. The eclipse was observed by millions of people along the track. The weather conditions deteriorated that evening, bringing rain and thunderstorms across many states. The friendly and welcoming folk of Texas made this a special eclipse experience.
