After beholding the midday darkness of a total solar eclipse that raced across the continent, thousands of spectators in New England were stuck seeing only brake lights Monday night as highway traffic backed up for hours.

Crowds of motorists leaving remote northern New Hampshire in the late afternoon clogged local roads leading to Interstate 93, which they found also thronged by cars inching southward. By midnight, some drivers had traveled only 50 miles (80 km) in nine hours.

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation urged patience and said there were about 22,000 more vehicles visiting the tiny state compared to the same time last year. Heavy traffic was also reported in Vermont and Massachusetts.

At 35,000 feet over the U.S. the air was thick with anticipation and excited chatter as everyone pulled out their phones hoping to get a photo.

Gray shadows entered the blue sky, turning it a rich slate as the moon started to eclipse the sun.

The moment everyone had been waiting for was here—totality.

Before even getting into the air Delta Air Lines treated passengers to an experience. As they arrived at gate E15 at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport for Flight 1010 to Detroit, they were met with a celestial-themed balloon arch, a red carpet and music.

Flight attendants in purple and gray passed out eclipse-viewing glasses the airline produced in collaboration with Warby Parker—paper shades but with blue-and-white star path drawings on the front and "Eyes on the Sky" written inside.

Delta workers wore T-shirts emblazoned with "Climbing the Cosmos," the airline's slogan for the pair of flights from Austin and Dallas that would be in the path of the eclipse 35,000 feet in the air.

People were excited, and the gate party only heightened the anticipation. Most passengers flew to Dallas that morning or the night before just to turn right around, all to experience totality in a way few others could.