I am writng this to get a feel for what to expect on January 20,2009 if I am in Washington DC. I have train reservations already for myself, my wife, sister, brother, a friend and his wife and two teen chiildren. But the more I hear about the crowd size that is being expcted, well it makes me take a little pause. Don't get me wrong, I want to be there as bad as anyone. But the number I keep hearing is 4 to 5 million people. After a little thought, I am not sure I want to put myseld in that kinda situation and not now with what is going on..
I was once in a crowd of 75,000 and a stampede broke out. Scary stuff when you are in the middle of it. With stories about 10,000 buses, a cruise ship or two, numerous stars and starlets, big time players on a big day. Makes you wonder what kind of a day it is going to be for the regular folks. We are suppose to arrive at 8:15 am and if there are already 2 million people there am I even gonna be able to hear anything, let alone see something?
Being just a average American, I can't afford to think about buying a ticket, and I sure don't have the connections to get one from a friend. I put in my request with our State Senator, but Im sure not counting on that. So "Just being there" is about all I can do. One to 1.5 million people I can actually see being there and me actually going. But 4 to 5? Where in the hell are all of those people going to go? My friend said we might be on some side street looking at the crowd looking at the Capital. 95 is gonna be tied up for miles, the airports are gonna be jammed. Planes, trains and automobiles. It is gonna be "CRAZY".
And then there is the weather. Standing around for a few hours in 30degree air temps is not something to look forward to. But the real issue I have is the actual threat to my person that it represents. We know that at any moment a nut can do something or if a fight broke out what the hell would go on? If there are 4 to 5 million people there, what the hell can you do but duck and cover. Everyone is gonna be on top of each other. I don't think that area can hold that may people and all the vehicles that need to park. Tension is gonna be high. I think at some point they will have to shut down the city with the way things are going. How many people are they gonna allow on the Mall? Is there a limit and if so where in the hell does everyone else go. I am sure the parade route is gonna be full early and so is the mall. So by 8:30 where can we go? Taking my spouse there just makes it that much more complicated. Gotta protect the wife..
If anyone plans on going let me know if you have heard anything about restrictions at the mall or other logistical things..I gotta have a plan. So if you are going let me know what precautions you are taking.
Thanks people.