9/12 March on Washington

Tom and I got a great deal on airline tickets to Washington DC to attend the 9/12 March on Washington. $140 apiece, round trip, from DFW to Dulles on American airlines!!! Tom's brother and sister-in-law, Steve and Ellen, live in Virginia and we made plans to stay with them and take the Metro into DC on Saturday morning for the March.

Tom and I headed to DFW at about 7:30am Friday morning ... 9/11 .... flying on 9/11 ... are we crazy? We used the little scanners to get our boarding passes and were offered a chance to upgrade to 1st Class for a very affordable cost ... so we jumped on that!!! Tom's birthday is 9/12 and so this was just the beginning of Happy Birthday Tom!!

We saw Ronda Evans, a woman I used to teach with and who occasionally joins us at BJ's. She was on the same flight with us. She and her in-laws were also flying to Washington to join the March. Her Mother-in-law was in a wheelchair! But they felt very strongly that they needed to be part of this! I was impressed. I had a feeling that a lot of the people on our flight were going to be involved in the March, but I was the only one wearing the patriotic T-shirt.

1st class is the way to travel!! Bloody Mary's and a nice breakfast .... lots of leg and shoulder room ... very comfortable. The flight went well and we arrived at Dulles at 1:30 .... took the big land cruiser people mover shuttle things to the main terminal ... got our rental car and head to Steve and Ellen's house. Steve met us with hugs and Beers!! What a great host! Ellen got home from her first week of school and we all went out to dinner .... Steak and beer .... yummy!!

Steve and Ellen don't quite know what to make of our wanting to be part of this March. There has been no news coverage of the event and they were unaware that it was happening. When they looked in the Washington Post Weekend Guide there was a mention of a "Black Family Reunion" on the Mall ... "come join with half a million of your black family members for a huge family reunion" .... but no mention of the Conservatives converging on the Capitol. To be honest, Tom and I had no idea what to expect .... there were 100,000 people registered for the event .... would they all show up? Would others show up? There is not a central organizing force behind this Conservative movement, despite what the mainstream media seems to think. We knew there were people from the Dallas group coming ... but had no plans to meet up with them anywhere .... we hoped to maybe see a sign at Freedom Plaza saying "Texans gather HERE" ... but we were mostly there on our own.

Saturday dawned cool and cloudy .... possible showers .... so we packed a backpack with rain gear and cameras and gum and maps and headed to the Metro Station in Springfield, VA. Both Steve and Ellen figured we wouldn't see much traffic at the Metro .... WOW WERE THEY WRONG!!! The metro station was PACKED .... lines at every machine to get tickets .... LONG LINES! This was a good sign of things to come. Everyone in line was excited and energized by the number of people there at the Metro Station. We were at the very end of the Blue line ... so when the train arrived it was empty and we piled on. There were numerous stops on the way into Washington DC and at every stop there were people trying to get onto the metro ... they kept piling onto our train until there wasn't even standing room available anymore. People with signs and patriotic shirts and flags and emotion. People from all over the USA. Many people traveling alone .... and many traveling in small groups from their hometown. Old, young, families, couples, singles .... not going to lie, most were white .... but there were representatives from all walks of life.

We planned to get off at the Federal Triangle stop and cross Pennsylvania Avenue to get to Freedom Plaza where the March was supposed to start at 11:30. We arrived at The Federal Triangle stop at 10:30 am and the stop was body to body people chanting "USA! USA!! USA!!!" As we were getting off of the train, Tom heard a woman (who was staying on the train say "This is frightening!" and Tom turned to her and said .... "No Ma'am .... this is Democracy!" and several people around him agreed!

We climbed the Down escalator, which had been turned off, up to street level, while others rode the up escalator ... both escalators were packed with people. When we got up to street level it was body to body up there, too as we tried to move towards where we thought Freedom Plaza was .... but the mass of bodies was moving up Pennsylvania Avenue already ... so we simply turned and started walking with people. Tom and I weren't carrying flags or signs .... we were simply adding our count of 2 to the total count. Tom wore his "Member of the VAST Right Wing Conspiracy" T-shirt ... and I wore my "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happy Hour" T-shirt. And we walked and we talked to people near us ... and we took video and we were simply AWED by the amount of people surrounding us! The signs were creative ... the people were polite and everyone was so inspired by the number of people, the sheer size of the group.

Thank goodness the day was overcast and not too hot. At one point the sun came out and things heated up quickly ... but then it went back under the clouds and it was very comfortable at street level.

Oh ... I forgot to mention. Tom has a pulled calf muscle and a bad knee ... on opposite legs ... so he felt he needed good shoes for the March. He pulled out his old hiking boots which had been stored in the garage for years. I guess they offer good support .... I was wearing my Berkenstock sandals .... we didn't know what to expect as far as how much time we would be on our feet. So ... anyway .... When we got off of the Metro at Federal Triangle Tom noticed that the sole of one of his boots was beginning to come off .... and a few steps into the March, the other sole began to come off! This really sucked .... because it sure didn't help with the ankle or knee issues! I guess storing the boots in the hot garage caused the glue/soles to deteriorate. I wish I had gotten video of how the shoes looked as he walked .... it looked actually dangerous. And uncomfortable.

BUT .... we were so overwhelmed with the crowd and the patriotism! We could see the Capitol Building in the distance and people filled Pennsylvania Avenue as far as we could see both ahead of us and behind us. We walked for a little while with an elderly couple ... the husband was a World War II vet ... he had been at Iwo Jima. Tom thanked him for his service and the man said "It was my priviledge." Tom then mentioned that this March was truly a historical event. The man agreed but added that "Yes ... but I didn't want to ever see the day when we would have to do this."



At one point we stepped out of the March to stand by some fountains and just shoot video of the people passing by. We looked for counter-protesters .... there was one man sitting on a wall shouting that we all were racist. He was alone and no one was paying any attention to him. I took the time to film some video for my sister who lives in Australia. She doesn't know about or understand what is happening in America right now. She thinks I am over-reacting to things and was very worried about me going to Washington DC. I think she thought We would be alone ....

Tom and I have noticed all along, since our first Tea Party on April 15th in Dallas, that the crowds gathered are all very polite and well-mannered and good citizens .... they threw trash away in Trash cans .... if they couldn't find a trash can, they backpacked it out. The same thing happened in Washington DC. The trash cans quickly became overflowing and at one point I noticed it had spilled out onto the pavement. The next time I turned to look ... the trash on the pavement had been picked up. Compare this to the mounds of trash left from the Obama inauguration address in January 2009. <------ Pictures from 9/12/09 and 1/20/09

I will admit that at one point I did get a little scared .... where Pennsylvania Ave. hit 3rd street, the crowd turned unto 3rd street even though the Capitol building was still way up ahead of us. But there were barriers and police on horseback and motorcycles blocking us from going further and turning us onto 3rd street. I did not like being within a crowd headed in an unknown direction for an unknown reason. Off to the side I saw the FOX TV Van and further up 3rd we saw the CNN Van ... and then I saw the Washington Monument to my right and the huge crowds to my left .... basically they had turned us into the Mall as the Capitol grounds were already full of people .... it wasn't even noon yet and there were still untold thousands of people behind us. But the March was over for us. I was fine once I knew we had been turned because the Capitol grounds were full. And once I saw FOX News nearby.

Tom and I milled around the mall area on the edge of the sound from the speakers on the Capitol grounds. We couldn't really hear what was happening. The only "ugliness" we experienced in the whole March was near the CNN van where people were calling each other stupid names and insulting their mothers and such. We moved away from there quickly .... ridiculous.

All the nearby restaurants and bathroom facilities were packed with people ... Tom's shoes were blown ... the sole finally came off of one shoe so now he was limping ....and there was a metro station nearby so we decided to return to Virginia ... we had done what we had come to do ... which was basically be counted! I had hoped to meet several people I know from Facebook ... we all had each other's phone numbers ... but the sheer size of the crowd would have made an easy meeting impossible. We had also hoped to experience a couple of pubs in the area, but Tom's shoe situation kept us from really going anywhere in comfort. We also knew that once the Rally was over the Metro would be packed with people trying to get back to where they came from ... so we got a jump on the crowd.

While waiting for our train in the metro station, a very tired looking woman sat down next to us. When an elderly US Vet came up, she stood up and gave him her seat. A few minutes later I looked at her standing near the track and she looked so tired that I suggested Tom get up and offer her his seat ... she gratefully sat down. She explained that she had been at work since 6:00am at Voice of America where she broadcasts to Iran. She was granted asylum here in America in the early 80's and has been sending messages of support to Iran ever since. I asked her what she thought about what was happening in DC today and she said "At least you CAN do this .... did you hear what happened in Iran after our last elections?" I told that I had heard and I apologized for our government's reaction to the protests in the streets .... I told her I thought we were wrong to say nothing, do nothing after encouraging those very protests. The woman started crying and hugged me and said "Thank you." Then her train showed up.

Tom and I rode back to the end of the Blue Line .... each of us deep in thought about what we had seen and heard and experienced ... we were eager to see how it was being reported. We got back to Steve and Ellen's and watched FOX News on and off the rest of the afternoon. The size and scope of the March was amazing to see!

This day was also Tom's Birthday and we decided to go out to a German Restaurant in the area. Steve and Ellen already had plans to attend a concert that night .... so Tom and I went on our own. Good German Oktoberfest Beer and Good German Food!! Great way to end a wonderful, historical day!