Buckle up, kiddos. This is going to a doozy of an entry! If anyone needs to use the bathroom, I suggest you go now. I'll wait . . . . . . . . . okay? Right, off we go!
So, when last we spoke, I was winding up a relatively easy week. That all changed when my alarm went off at 3:00 AM (!!!!) on Saturday morning. Why, in the world, was I up that early on a weekend? Well, I was going to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Fear and/or Sanity in Washington D.C.! I had opted to take the bus that the Huffington Post was graciously offering to take people down for free. The only hiccup was that the buses were leaving at 6:00 and we had to be at Shea Stadium in Queens by 5:30. The New Jersey Transit system doesn't run trains on the weekends til 5:45, so that wasn't going to work. I had finally decided, against my better judgment, to drive through Manhattan and Queens to get to Shea Stadium.
I quickly went through my ablutions and was out the door by 3:50. I made a quick stop at the ATM to get toll money, since Manhattan seems to charge you a toll whenever you change lanes. Using my trusty GPS (whose name is Emily; she's British), I navigated the dark and deserted NJ roads and finally made through an almost empty Lincoln Tunnel and out into the streets of NYC. Thankfully, not many people drive at 4:00 in the morning, so it wasn't too stressful. I did let out a whoop of thanks when I saw Shea Stadium and knew I had made it alive. So, at 5:05, I parked my car and joined an already long line of HuffPost Bus goers. And I waited, and waited and waited! The line got longer and didn't seem to move when 5:30 rolled around. Apparently, the Huffington Post is not known for their even planning skills and didn't seem to know how to handle almost 20,000 people going by bus. At around 5:45, the line moved slowly, inch by inch. Suddenly, the lines collapsed and everyone became a massive mob of people. To avoid anyone getting trampled, the HuffPost people decided to let people in 50-60 at a time. So, it wasn't until around 7:00 that I cleared the check-in, had my bag checked and got onto the bus. We were moving by 7:15.
As soon as we began to move, I snarfed down a poptart I had brought along in my bag, stuck my headphones in my ears and fell asleep. When I woke up, we were in Pennsylvania. I managed to sit beside a very nice guy who I stuck with for most of the journey. We chatted for the rest of the ride. The bus made two pit stops while on the road, but we were making excellent time and I thought that maybe even after the late start, we may get to D.C. (which is a four hour drive from NYC) on time for the Rally. That was a foolish thought. About ten miles outside of D.C., we hit traffic and construction so it slowed us down. By now, it was noon and the Rally had started. Stephen, the guy I was sitting next to, and I began to watch the Rally on his phone. It was a bit ridiculous.
Finally, at 1:00, we made it to RFK Stadium where the bus dropped us off. We then walked with a bunch of people from other buses about a quarter of a mile up to the nearest metro stop. The entrance was packed with people and a police officer was shouting to the crowd that if you had a metro card, you could go right on down. But there was a 25 minute wait to purchase a metro card with cash; it was 50 minutes if you were paying by credit card. Stephen said that was ridiculous and he was just going to walk the 2 miles to the Rally. I decided that was a good plan and followed him. It's not a bad walk to the Mall from there, and we arrived about 1:30.
By this time, however, the Mall was PACKED with thousands upon thousands of people. I could barely move, there were so many people. I'm not sure if an estimated head count was made, but here's a picture of what I was dealing with:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74104660@N00/5129901590/in/photostream/
If you look at the picture, find the white structure in the middle. It's a police crowd control tower. There is a longish tent to the right. I eventually ended up just behind those two structures. From there, I could kind of see a broadcast screen and could sort of hear what was being said. I took a few pictures, but they are mostly of peoples heads. The main entertainment was reading people's signs. Here are a few of my favorites (and please forgive me if your politics aren't my politics):
"Teaparties are for little girls with imaginary friends."
"Christine O'Donnell turned me into a newt (I got better)."
"Communist: 'You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
I ended up staying through Jon Stewart's main speech, but could really hear much. I left a few minutes before it was officially over so that I could start walking back to the stadium (the metro was still crazy). Stephen had left to go visit the portrait gallery, so I had to remember how we had gotten to the Mall. I made it back just fine and was on one of the first buses to leave. We drove home and arrived about 8:45. I then drove home through much-crazier NYC traffic. It wasn't bad, but driving stick in the big city is quite the work out for your left thigh muscle. I also became an official New Yorker when I honked at a car that wasn't going fast enough for me. :D I finally got home around 10:30. It was an interesting experience and, luckily, the bus ride was free but I'm going to have my parents save the TiVo'd Rally so I can actually see what was going on!
The rest of the week has gone by quietly. I've started doing some volunteer work for one of my classes up at the Montclair Historical Society. That's another, um, interesting experience. I just can't believe it's almost time for the semester to be over. I just need to survive a few more weeks!
Well, I'm sure that you're tired of reading by now, so I will say adios for this week. This weekend looks to be ripe for stories, so I will have more fun things to write about next weekend. Stay tuned!
XOXO,
k
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