The Latest on the total solar eclipse crossing the U.S., from Oregon to South Carolina (all times EDT):
5:50 p.m.
Patrick Schueck says his 10-year-old twin daughters were not very interested in seeing the eclipse - until they saw it.
He says Ava and Hayden weren't excited about riding with the family from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Alto Pass, Illinois, the night before to view the eclipse atop a mountain featuring a 1,000-foot-tall cross.
Even after arriving at Bald Knob Cross of Peace, one of them sat looking at her iPhone.
Schueck says the girls' indifference switched to amazement during the eclipse. He says it was "as if the sun set and rose within about three minutes."
Schueck says viewing the eclipse was "one of the most moving experiences" he's had, and he's glad the family got to witness it.
He says the experience is one "they'll remember for the rest of their lives."
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4 p.m.
Some cruise passengers have watched the solar eclipse as Bonnie Tyler sang her hit, "Total Eclipse of the Heart."
The Welsh singer was backed on the ballad by Joe Jonas' band, DNCE, during a Monday afternoon performance in an outdoor theater on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.
"Total Eclipse Cruise" left from Florida on Sunday, sailing through the Caribbean toward St. Maarten on Monday, when the moon passed in front of the sun. A total eclipse was viewable in a narrow band across the sea.
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" topped the Billboard charts for four weeks in 1983. Spotify says streams of the song have increased by 2,859 percent in the U.S. and 827 percent worldwide during the past two weeks.
- AP writer David Fischer
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3:40 p.m.
The crickets and other animals grew noisy as it got darker at the Nashville zoo, but when the sun was totally blotted out, it was the humans who drowned out the animals, clapping, "oohing" and "aahing" for more than the nearly two minutes the total eclipse lasted.
And then once the light returned, the show began.
The two juvenile giraffes, Mazi, a 6-month-old, and Nasha, a 3-year-old, raced in circles as the people stared. About 20 feet away, some of the rhinos were doing their best imitation of running after heading toward their pens when it got dark.
Teresa Morehead, of Indianapolis, says she was surprised to see the animals running. She says the rhinos were more confused than anything.
- AP science writer Seth Borenstein
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2:55 p.m.
John Hays drove up from Bishop, California, for the total eclipse in Salem, Oregon, and says the experience will stay with him forever.
It was his second eclipse. He experienced one in Guatemala about 27 years ago. He saw Monday's eclipse from a deck overlooking the Willamette Valley and the foothills of the Coastal Range.
Hays says he liked it because he had a clear view across the entire landscape.
He says he will never forget that "it was 10:30 and it became night." He says "just watching the light become silvery, and the temperature drop, that was also a pretty amazing thing."
- AP writer Andrew Selsky
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2:50 p.m.
The first total solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. coast to coast in nearly a century has come to an end in South Carolina.
Americans across the land watched in wonder Monday as the moon blocked the sun, turning daylight into twilight.
Totality - when the sun is completely obscured by the moon - lasted just two minutes or so in each location along the narrow corridor stretching all the way across the U.S., from Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. It took about 90 minutes for total blockage to cross the country.
Two-hundred million people live within a day's drive of Monday's path of totality. So towns and parks along the eclipse's main drag have welcomed monumental crowds. The last coast-to-coast eclipse was in 1918.
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1:50 p.m.
Northwest cities not quite in the path of totality also enjoyed the solar eclipse.
Boise is not in totality. But birds quieted down briefly when 99.5 percent of sun was blocked. And some neighborhoods erupted into applause and hooting as residents cheered the show from their yards.
In Portland, hundreds gathered at Tom McCall Waterfront Park to see the rare celestial event. Some office workers stood on rooftops, and small crowds gathered on the sidewalks, looking skyward. Some expressed surprise that even a sliver of sun can prevent a city from falling into darkness.
Within minutes, traffic resumed on what had been eerily quiet downtown streets.
- AP writers Rebecca Boone and Steven DuBois
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1:40 p.m.
After staying behind the clouds, the sun in Nashville moved into the clear to happy staring crowds at the Nashville Zoo.
Louisiana State University chemical engineering major Tiffany Lastinger told her physics major friend, "Oh my God, Katie, look."
The sun resembled a Pac-Man character.
Her friend, Katherine M. Nugent, studies astrophysics but was watching a group of rhinos and giraffes. The two plan to enter their observations in the iNaturalist app.
Nugent says it's "really cool to see how different animals react."
- AP science writer Seth Borenstein
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1:20 p.m.
The first total solar eclipse to sweep the U.S. coast to coast in nearly a century has begun in Oregon.
Americans across the land are watching in wonder through telescopes, cameras and protective glasses Monday as the moon blots out the sun and turns daylight into twilight.
Totality - when the sun is completely obscured by the moon - will last two minutes or so in each location along the narrow corridor stretching from Oregon to South Carolina.
Two-hundred million people live within a day's drive of Monday's path of totality, and it will take about 90 minutes for totality to cross the country.
Towns and parks along the eclipse's main drag have welcomed monumental crowds for what promises to be the most observed, studied and photographed eclipse in history.
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12:50 p.m.
Les and Mary Anderson will mark their 13th eclipse with hundreds of amateur astronomers who have descended on Casper, Wyoming.
The couple from San Diego is attending Astroncon, which is organized by the Astronomical League.
The Andersons met on a photography field trip at Yosemite National Park and went to Mexico for an eclipse in 1991, the year before they got married.
In Casper, they joined a friend they met during an eclipse in Aruba in 1998.
Mike O'Leary was ready Monday with a camera outfitted with a homemade eclipse filter. He says seeing an eclipse is "like nothing else you will ever see or do."
- AP videographer Peter Banda
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Noon
Both of South Carolina's political parties are trying to capitalize on the eclipse in fundraising campaigns.
In an email titled "'Eclipse' the Democrats!" the South Carolina Republican Party on Monday asked donors to contribute $20.18 toward the party's efforts to "keep Democrats TOTALLY in the dark" in next year's elections. Republicans now hold all statewide elected offices and control both chambers of South Carolina's Legislature.
In a message of their own, the state's Democratic Party sent supporters links to recent political articles in several outlets reminding them of work ahead of the party.
The party told supporters, "Nobody go blind today, there's too much work to do for Democrats all across the state!"
- AP writer Meg Kinnard
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11:40 a.m.
Eclipse viewers, many of them slathered with sunscreen, are streaming into the noisy Nashville Zoo hours early to see both the eclipse and animals' weird reactions to it.
Zoo spokesman Jim Bartoo says people were camping out at the zoo entrance at 6 a.m., three hours before the gates opened and seven-and-a-half hours before totality.
Paulette Simmons of Nashville came to the zoo after a doctor's appointment, saying she decided on the location because she wanted to see how the animals reacted.
The flamingo lagoon is one of the most popular locales, with the birds expected to roost and get noisy when the sun darkens.
Ninety minutes after the zoo opened, the pathways were clogged with people.
- AP science writer Seth Borenstein
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11:30 a.m.
Baseball fans in more than a half-dozen cities are heading to ballparks to watch the solar eclipse as teams look to cash in with game-day viewing parties.
Minor league teams from Oregon to South Carolina have scheduled games Monday to coincide with the total eclipse as it streaks across the United States.
In Nebraska, the Lincoln Saltdogs will wear special eclipse jerseys and stop their game to watch the full eclipse at 1:02 p.m. The team says it has sold tickets to buyers from as far away as the United Kingdom and Germany.
Other teams hosting events include the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Idaho Falls Chukars, Bowling Green Hot Rods, Nashville Sounds, Greenville Drive, Columbia Fireflies and Charleston RiverDogs.
No big league games are scheduled to coincide with the eclipse.
- AP writer Grant Schulte
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11:25 a.m.
Forecasters say it looks like a big chunk of the nation on the path of the total eclipse will get clear viewing for the sky show.
National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Burke says about 70 percent of the area on the 70-mile path stretching from Oregon to South Carolina is likely to have clear skies when the moon moves in front of the sun.
Burke says it looks good for the Pacific Northwest, the Northern Rockies, Tennessee, Kentucky, and into western South Carolina.
The toughest areas are coastal South Carolina, eastern Nebraska, north and central Missouri and Illinois. Burke says those areas will have thick clouds and have to dodge pop-up thunderstorms.
Astronomers say clouds and rainstorm make it difficult to see the classic image of the blotted out sun.
- AP science writer Seth Borenstein
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9:45 a.m.
With just hours to go before a total solar eclipse would reach the Oregon coast, people were streaming into the fairgrounds in Salem, Oregon, to view the spectacle Monday morning.
The sound of Taiko drummers filled the air during a pre-eclipse show at the fairgrounds. Less than 50 miles north in Portland, Oregon, eclipse experts, contest winners, an astronaut and members of the media were boarding an Alaska Airlines charter flight to fly two hours southwest in to intercept the eclipse about 10 a.m. PDT.
Meanwhile, thousands of eclipse tourists were gathered in the tiny town of Weiser, Idaho. Among them was Agnese Zalcmane, who traveled to the western United States from Latvia so she could be in the zone when the moon's shadow completely covers the sun.
- AP writer Gillian Flaccus
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3 a.m.
Americans with telescopes, cameras and protective glasses are staking out viewing spots to watch the moon blot out the midday sun Monday.
It promises to be the most observed and photographed eclipse in history. The main drag will stretch along a narrow corridor from Oregon to South Carolina. Millions of eclipse watchers are expected to peer skyward, and they're hoping for clear weather.
It will be the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast-to-coast across the U.S. in 99 years.