I found all of my past, major solar eclipse dates - Totals and Annulars...
I was 47 years old before one happened in my life in Texas, but I figured the skies would more likely be clear in the New Mexico desert so a few friends and I went to camp near Carlsbad Caverns a few days before the Annular Eclipse of May 10, 1994. That morning rose with the skies completely blocked in clouds while back home in Texas they had a nice, clear view. I think I got a one-second glance through a small, brief break.
I caught the next major one anywhere in the U.S., the Annular Eclipse of May 20, 2012, at home, watching with my brother and family from my nephew's home in the countryside, and it was great. Annularity didn't start until around 8 pm but we watched it until the sun set, not needing protective viewers for some time at the last.
My next one was the Total Eclipse of August 21, 2017 while traveling with my daughter's family from Yellowstone to the Idaho Falls airport as we headed home from a week up north. We got off the highway at Rexburg, checked out the city parks, found the third one not too crowded, and waited there to join the others in cheering at Totality.
For the Annular Eclipse of October 14, 2023, I had planned on traveling with my daughter's family a few hours from Lubbock for Annularity, but I was stranded in a Lubbock rehab hospital, and they refused my request for a day pass even though I think I was healthy enough to travel with special allowances. They did give me the whole day off from rehab, and my family met me at the hospital to watch from the lawn. I'd bought everyone special Eclipse T-shirts, but my grandson and I were the only ones who remembered to wear them.
I ordered Eclipse Ts for the family again for the Total Eclipse of April 8, 2024 and traveled with most of them to Texas Hill Country in hopes that the skies would be clearer than forecast. Competition for properties along the path all across the US was fierce with outrageous prices, and our hotel suffered confusion with our reservations from several months earlier, but it all worked out, and we toured nearby State Parks and a Wildlife Park in the days leading to the event. I held onto the Ts for the family members who actually traveled and dispersed them only the evening before. I couldn't get reservations for viewing at Meridian State Park, but the city of Meridian had surplus room and clean portapotties at their city park, and the clouds were kind. We enjoyed the show lying in the grass, then headed home.
I doubt that I will be able to travel to see another one in the years I have left, but I have enjoyed the ones I've had.
There had been an abundance of warnings about expected traffic jams and other complications following the Eclipse, but we had no problems other than several I-20 construction zones.