We had 4 location options, but got out first choice. Turnout was poor at our location. Probably 100 people. This location had relatively easy access to the highway, air conditioned dining area, food, a large parking lot, a field, a playground, a creek, a pavilion, shade trees, indoor facilities, etc. There were people from Chicago, New Jersey, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois at our location.
I didn't see any location that was filled, or even half full. Many places that could have held 200 had 5-10 cars. Even the fairgrounds had few people.
It's true that most private people were selling parking in their yards.
The local hotels, RV spots, and camping spots were all booked.
In the final analysis, we could have stayed home, and seen the eclipse just fine from our yard.
Honestly, I was expecting far more traffic. I covered the 90+ miles in less than 2 hours, coming home. Yes, there was traffic, but the greatest delays were due to police officers directing traffic the wrong way (resulting in additional traffic from U-turns, and one traffic light that held up hundreds of cars. There were some residential streets, so sometimes the speed limit was as low as 30. We also came home during rush hour, so some heavy traffic was normal, anyway.
