And it was awesome.....even with the parts of my game plan for the day which didn't work exactly the way I'd planned.

I live in the suburbs about nine miles from a metro station and had planned to drive there, get my metro ticket by about 10:00 AM and ride the metro into DC, arriving about 11:00. And that's what I did, except that it unexpectedly took me over an hour waiting in line at the metro station just to get my ticket! You see, the station was so crowded with other people with the same idea that the ticket lines snaked all around inside the station. It was a little like trying to get into a rock concert.

So, I rode the metro train packed with other protesters, most of whom got off at the Federal Triangle station to participate in the march down Pennsylvania Avenue from Freedom Plaza (Pershing Park) to the Capitol Building, and I arrived at the Federal Center SW metro station in DC a little before noon, walked three blocks North on 3d Street and approximately two blocks East via Maryland Avenue SW and Garfield Circle and was on the Capitol Building West Lawn by a little after noon.

We were all there: TEA Partiers, 9-12ers, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, adults, teens and children, old and young, white, black, yellow, brown and red, skinny, fat and in-between, tall, short and medium, many with protest signs, many more wearing T-shirts protesting one thing or another, and a lot of people with both. During the afternoon, I talked with people from Virginia, like me (for whom this was just a "day trip," instead of a trek all across the country), Tennessee (where the no-nonsense, salt of the Earth obviously still live), Texas (who were very clear about the federal "gubment" not messin' with Texas), California (who apologized for Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer and said they were embarrassed), North and South Carolina (who want Congressman Joe "You lie, Mr. President" Wilson to run for president in 2012), Georgia (my native state), Pennsylvania (hard-working coal country) and Maryland (the Free Staters), as well as many others who I didn't even ask where they were from.

Someone said they had been told that CNN was reporting there were about a thousand of us there by noon. I will charitably say that must have been caused by some CNN "estimator" who had no input from the scene. Either that, or CNN was just downplaying the real significance of the event. In other words, as they say in DC, being "disingenuous," but as we say in the South, "lying." I jokingly said CNN would probably "round that up," though, to maybe 1,500 by the end of the day.

Instead, we were there by the thousands. There were people as far as I could see, from the steps of the Capitol Building all the way back toward the National Mall. Another person standing near me got a cell phone call from someone reporting that the crowd actually stretched from the Capitol Building West Lawn to the Washington Monument. If you didn't already know, Google a map of the National Mall and you will see that that is ALL of the National Mall.

About 12:30, because there were already so many people on the Capitol Building West Lawn, I asked some people around me if anyone knew if the marchers from Freedom Plaza had begun arriving yet. I was told some cell phone calls between people had confirmed that the marchers, who were originally supposed to start marching at noon, then at 11:30, had been told to start marching at 10:30 because Freedom Plaza was getting too full to hold everyone coming into it to join in the march. I guess that accounted for the occasional cheering I had heard behind me, back toward the National Mall, as the marchers arrived in "waves" and joined with the rest of us already at the Capitol Building.

I observed several interesting things during the approximately five hours I was there. First, we were all angry at the president, this profligate 111th Congress and big government in general, but we were all polite, helpful and supportive to each other. The general atmosphere was -- Big Government: Bad. Throw the bums out. Elitist politicians and lying president. Each Other: One big tailgate party, but just without the actual tailgates, barbecue grills or beer.

Another thing: I sarcastically remarked to a lady from Tennessee that I had never seen so many creative and imaginative, "professional" protest signs in any one place before in all my life. She "got it" that I was making fun of the Democratic politicians who have said we TEA Partiers are "professionally" organized, funded and supplied. I guess, for some paranoid liberals, the "Vast Right-wing Conspiracy" never dies, but no, actually, "professionally organized" would more likely be ACORN red T-shirted intimidators being bused to AIG execs' houses as a false show of congressional outrage at those execs taking bonuses which congressional and White House Democrats had secretly colluded in their receiving in the first place. Or more like purple T-shirted SEIU union thugs being paid to disrupt town hall meetings and physically attack people, like the black conservative man in St. Louis who was simply passing out "Don't Tread On Me" indicia and wound up going to the hospital.

Also, in addition to being angry without being violent and massing in massive numbers without being destructive, conservative protesters are neat. When radical liberal ("progressive") protesters have "descended on" DC and demonstrated, it's sometimes taken days for US Park Authority personnel to clean up all the litter and trash the protesters left behind. But, I didn't see any trash on the ground today. In fact, I saw one little old lady who actually had the banana peel from the banana she had brought as a snack stored in her lunch bag until she could find a proper trash receptacle to put it in. Now, that's neat.

So many other impressions from today. I'm sure I'll remember more and write about them in the days to come. I feel like my participation in today's events has given me enough material for my blog for several articles. Right now, though, I'm going to go for this time.
 
Well, after a shout-out to the blonde from Fredericksburg -- just in case she reads this -- who is more of a right-wing, flag-waving nutjob than I am, but otherwise a seemingly very nice lady.....and possibly a really good dancer. You know who you are.

Oh, and if you, or anyone else who reads this, have any other impressions from today's events, please comment and share them. We are all the richer for your diversity of input.