Steve and I woke up at 6:15 AM when our phone alarms went off. We slept in the car and it had been an uneasy sleep. Seconds later the car was moving. We had our day planned out ahead of time. We drove into the city. Traffic was light. We found a parking garage near the LCV office and paid $10 to park there all day. We changed clothes in the garage. Then we grabbed breakfast across the street at a place called Cosi. We each got a coffee and a bagel sandwich and walked towards the Mall and towards the parade.
There weren’t many people walking about at 7:30 in the morning, but there were caravans of Secret Service agents in black SUVs driving up and down the streets. The agents in the back seats had the windows rolled down and were holding assault rifles. They weren’t pointing them out the windows, but they had the butt of the rifle under their armpit, read to aim and fire.
We tried to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. The street was blocked off with 10 foot steel walls, concrete barriers, and city buses.
We walked past the White House down towards the Mall. I was really looking forward to seeing the Mall covered in snow. We had gotten a glimpse the day before, but we were stuck in traffic at the time and I had to concentrate on that.
Nobody was on the Mall. There wasn’t a single car on the streets. The sun was just starting to come up.
I made Steve walk over to the new World War II Memorial to take a couple of pictures. I wanted to see how they commemorated Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.
If I had been by myself I probably would have walked over to the Lincoln Memorial, but Steve was getting pretty antsy. I think we was quietly plotting to run in front of Bush’s motorcade and starting a riot, so we decided to walk towards the parade route.
I wasn’t too sure where the parade was or where the security checkpoints were, but I knew that it ran from the Capital to the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue. So we just headed towards the Capital. We walked between the White House and the Washington Monument, which was closed and being refurbished. We saw a sign outside of the White House that read “100% ID Check”. The two of us joked about a Secret Service agent asking you for your blockbuster card and your library card.
Walking up Constitution towards the Capital we passed a couple of security checkpoints with long lines already extending out of them.
While walking along Constitution, we were blocked off from heading towards Pennsylvania Avenue on one side and the Mall on the other, so we just kept on walking. We dead-ended at a security checkpoint in front of the National Gallery. They weren’t letting people in yet, so we just waited. There were probably about 50 people already waiting when we got there; by the time they let us in at 10:00 AM there were over 500.
First we passed through steel barriers guarded by the National Guard. They turned away anyone wearing a backpack. No backpacks allowed! Then we entered a “security tent”. Males went to male screeners and females went to female screeners. We had to open up our jackets and we got patted down. They didn’t check my jacket and they didn’t check Steve’s bag.
We found out later that they weren’t allowing fruit because they could be used as projectiles. They weren’t allowing open water bottles, either. I also saw people with backpacks, which supposedly weren’t allowed. They didn’t allow American flags or crosses, but they did allow people to bring in signs. They just couldn’t bring in sign posts.
On the drive up Steve and I had joked that it would be funny if there were troops or cops lining the entire parade route. We were shocked to see our joke come true.
You could tell that there were cops lining the whole parade route, but they were bunched up into groups, talking to each other, eating, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and talking on their cell phones.
We scouted out a spot on the corner of 4th and Pennsylvania at the start of the parade route. We were in a little section sandwiched between some bleachers and a security trailer, across the street from the Embassy of Canada. We were the first people in the section. From where stood we could see the left-center section of the Capital. We were too far away too make out any details of the stage, but I think we could see it. There was a big TV screen to one side. We could sort of make out the image of whoever was on screen. That was how we knew when Bush was accepting the inauguration.
We were directly across the street from the ANSWER Coalition rally (something, something to Stop War and End Racism). They had a stage set up and some of their own bleachers. They all had signs. Why are we at war when people don’t have jobs, healthcare, that kind of thing. They chanted and rallied all day. Some of the chants were hard to understand, but they all circled around the theme that Bush sucks.
Steve and I just stayed in our spot and tried not to think about how cold our toes were.
The only thing we could really do was sit on the sidelines and protest behind the two rows of steel barriers and walls of cops separating us from the parade route.
Our section only starting filling up when the section with the protestors across the street was full. Steve and I had been worried that we would be surrounded by Bush supporters. Most of the people waiting with us at the security checkpoint were Bush people. They were easy to spot. They had fur coats, cowboy hats, W pins, and the sort. But we were pleasantly surprised to be completely surrounded by Bush haters. It was great! I wasn’t really into it because of sleep deprivation and frostbite, but we got all our old LCV cheers going. "This parade sucks! How much did it cost?!"
The other side of the parade route got pretty rowdy. The cops looked nervous, so they formed four cop walls between the protesters and the parade route. On our side we only had two walls, maybe two and a half.
We waited for hours for the parade to start. Our section was 99% Bush haters, but the bleachers we were near were 100% Bush supporters. On the other side of the bleachers, where there was more standing room, there were more Bush haters. I think that was the general layout of the parade route. 100% support in the expensive seats; 100% dissent in the poor seats.
Before the parade started, the dignitaries and big time Bush supporters had to be bused up to the special White House parade viewing area. We held up our signs every time one of these buses drove by. Some people gave us the thumbs up, some the thumbs down, others the middle-finger. We generally returned the favor.
The parade started with a DC Metro motorcycle brigade. They got booed. That wasn't cool. Then representatives from each branch of the military marched by. They didn’t necessarily get booed (again, not cool), but we chanted anti-Bush slogans as they marched by.
There was a caravan of GOP leaders in the middle of the parade. They got really harassed.
When Bush finally drove by the crowd went wild. Well, what we thought was Bush anyways. I saw Laura in one of the limos, but I didn’t see W. He drove by in a caravan of about 10 huge black SUVs, with agents hanging out the windows and running along side the cars. So much for a parade. I saw a couple of projectiles launch from the other side of the road just before the entire parade route turned their back on Bush.
That was it.
Dick Cheney came by next. He was driving even faster. His limo left the agents running along his car in the dust.
That was it. That’s why we drove 860 miles.
There was more parade, but we didn’t stick around to watch it.
To make a long story short, we got something to eat, put on some more socks, went out for a couple of drinks, spent the night at a hotel that Ed paid for and drove home the next morning.
There weren’t many people walking about at 7:30 in the morning, but there were caravans of Secret Service agents in black SUVs driving up and down the streets. The agents in the back seats had the windows rolled down and were holding assault rifles. They weren’t pointing them out the windows, but they had the butt of the rifle under their armpit, read to aim and fire.
We tried to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. The street was blocked off with 10 foot steel walls, concrete barriers, and city buses.
We walked past the White House down towards the Mall. I was really looking forward to seeing the Mall covered in snow. We had gotten a glimpse the day before, but we were stuck in traffic at the time and I had to concentrate on that.
Nobody was on the Mall. There wasn’t a single car on the streets. The sun was just starting to come up.
I made Steve walk over to the new World War II Memorial to take a couple of pictures. I wanted to see how they commemorated Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.
If I had been by myself I probably would have walked over to the Lincoln Memorial, but Steve was getting pretty antsy. I think we was quietly plotting to run in front of Bush’s motorcade and starting a riot, so we decided to walk towards the parade route.
I wasn’t too sure where the parade was or where the security checkpoints were, but I knew that it ran from the Capital to the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue. So we just headed towards the Capital. We walked between the White House and the Washington Monument, which was closed and being refurbished. We saw a sign outside of the White House that read “100% ID Check”. The two of us joked about a Secret Service agent asking you for your blockbuster card and your library card.
Walking up Constitution towards the Capital we passed a couple of security checkpoints with long lines already extending out of them.
While walking along Constitution, we were blocked off from heading towards Pennsylvania Avenue on one side and the Mall on the other, so we just kept on walking. We dead-ended at a security checkpoint in front of the National Gallery. They weren’t letting people in yet, so we just waited. There were probably about 50 people already waiting when we got there; by the time they let us in at 10:00 AM there were over 500.
First we passed through steel barriers guarded by the National Guard. They turned away anyone wearing a backpack. No backpacks allowed! Then we entered a “security tent”. Males went to male screeners and females went to female screeners. We had to open up our jackets and we got patted down. They didn’t check my jacket and they didn’t check Steve’s bag.
We found out later that they weren’t allowing fruit because they could be used as projectiles. They weren’t allowing open water bottles, either. I also saw people with backpacks, which supposedly weren’t allowed. They didn’t allow American flags or crosses, but they did allow people to bring in signs. They just couldn’t bring in sign posts.
On the drive up Steve and I had joked that it would be funny if there were troops or cops lining the entire parade route. We were shocked to see our joke come true.
You could tell that there were cops lining the whole parade route, but they were bunched up into groups, talking to each other, eating, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and talking on their cell phones.
We scouted out a spot on the corner of 4th and Pennsylvania at the start of the parade route. We were in a little section sandwiched between some bleachers and a security trailer, across the street from the Embassy of Canada. We were the first people in the section. From where stood we could see the left-center section of the Capital. We were too far away too make out any details of the stage, but I think we could see it. There was a big TV screen to one side. We could sort of make out the image of whoever was on screen. That was how we knew when Bush was accepting the inauguration.
We were directly across the street from the ANSWER Coalition rally (something, something to Stop War and End Racism). They had a stage set up and some of their own bleachers. They all had signs. Why are we at war when people don’t have jobs, healthcare, that kind of thing. They chanted and rallied all day. Some of the chants were hard to understand, but they all circled around the theme that Bush sucks.
Steve and I just stayed in our spot and tried not to think about how cold our toes were.
The only thing we could really do was sit on the sidelines and protest behind the two rows of steel barriers and walls of cops separating us from the parade route.
Our section only starting filling up when the section with the protestors across the street was full. Steve and I had been worried that we would be surrounded by Bush supporters. Most of the people waiting with us at the security checkpoint were Bush people. They were easy to spot. They had fur coats, cowboy hats, W pins, and the sort. But we were pleasantly surprised to be completely surrounded by Bush haters. It was great! I wasn’t really into it because of sleep deprivation and frostbite, but we got all our old LCV cheers going. "This parade sucks! How much did it cost?!"
The other side of the parade route got pretty rowdy. The cops looked nervous, so they formed four cop walls between the protesters and the parade route. On our side we only had two walls, maybe two and a half.
We waited for hours for the parade to start. Our section was 99% Bush haters, but the bleachers we were near were 100% Bush supporters. On the other side of the bleachers, where there was more standing room, there were more Bush haters. I think that was the general layout of the parade route. 100% support in the expensive seats; 100% dissent in the poor seats.
Before the parade started, the dignitaries and big time Bush supporters had to be bused up to the special White House parade viewing area. We held up our signs every time one of these buses drove by. Some people gave us the thumbs up, some the thumbs down, others the middle-finger. We generally returned the favor.
The parade started with a DC Metro motorcycle brigade. They got booed. That wasn't cool. Then representatives from each branch of the military marched by. They didn’t necessarily get booed (again, not cool), but we chanted anti-Bush slogans as they marched by.
There was a caravan of GOP leaders in the middle of the parade. They got really harassed.
When Bush finally drove by the crowd went wild. Well, what we thought was Bush anyways. I saw Laura in one of the limos, but I didn’t see W. He drove by in a caravan of about 10 huge black SUVs, with agents hanging out the windows and running along side the cars. So much for a parade. I saw a couple of projectiles launch from the other side of the road just before the entire parade route turned their back on Bush.
That was it.
Dick Cheney came by next. He was driving even faster. His limo left the agents running along his car in the dust.
That was it. That’s why we drove 860 miles.
There was more parade, but we didn’t stick around to watch it.
To make a long story short, we got something to eat, put on some more socks, went out for a couple of drinks, spent the night at a hotel that Ed paid for and drove home the next morning.