My Inauguration Adventure Story: Part 1

Originally posted on nsipress.com

I’ll save the stories about the day before (picking up the tickets, the WI Congressional Reception, etc) for another time. Everybody seems most interested, unsurprisingly, in “The Moment”.

It took hours to achieve “The Moment”.

Early AM

I was staying in Potomac, MD and so was gauranteed an early morning on the 20th.

My plan was to drive to the Shady Grove Metro Station in Gaithersburg. It’s the end of the Metro Red Line, and has about 5,600 parking spaces available (most of which are normally reserved for regular commuters; the reservations were “not honored” for the weekend through the 20th) and so I felt reasonably comfortable in my ability to find parking. Still, I was going to get there early.

My rooms were about a 30 minute drive from Shady Grove, and I wanted to get there around 4:30 to be on the 5:00 train, so my alarm was set for 3:00am. I know, but it turns out that this was almost exactly the right thing to do. 2:00 would have been better.

So I (sort of) woke up and got dressed: 2 layers of silk longjohns (one light and one heavy, if you must know), cotton shirt, wool sweater, fleece underjacket… you get the idea. It wasn’t wicked cold by WI standards, but I’m a wimp (by WI standards) and don’t often spend 9 hours out in sub 20 degree weather without moving much.

The drive itself to Shady Grove metro station was uneventful… GPS worked like a charm and I had run the route the night before. As I approached the ingress to the parking area my hear sank. There was a line that at the time I thought of as long, though my criteria for calling a line “long” would change in just a few hours.

Anyway, it turns out that Police were in the process of closing access to the parking area from the direction I was coming. I had to admit that this made sense, but meant I needed to drive past, execute a U-turn and approach from the opposite direction. It took me about 40 minutes to get to park, the whole time near panicking that spaces were running out. I did find a spot (there were plenty left at that time) and made my way to and through the already-crowded station.

WMATA Commemorative account card

Most of these early-risers hadn’t already bought metro passes of any kind, so there were lines (would’ve called them “long” then ) to access the fare-vending machines. Thank goodness for Smartrip cards through the web! All you need to do with these is tap them on the fare gate and you’re through. I was also told earlier that I would need one to park at a Metro Station, but parking was free on the 19th, and $4.00 cash only on the 20th. Still, the card more than paid for itself in streamlining access to and exit from the terminals.

Despite the obstacles already presented, I was on the train heading downtown by 4:30am. Feeling good, but wanting coffee.

Planning to Deviate

All of the communications from the Presidential Inaugural Comittee (PIC - an organizational outgrowth of the Obama Campaign) and the Joint Comittee on Presidential Inaugurations (the official planning organization, led by members of the Senate and House) indicated that Blue ticket holders like myself should use the Federal Center Metro Station, due to it’s proximity to the Blue Gate Security Screening area on Washington Ave SW and the authorities’ desire to inject some measure of predictability into the proceedings. That Metro Station is not on the Red Line, so I faced a decision: change trains at Metro Center, or get off at Union Station and walk.

Union Station is only 3 blocks from the Capitol, but is on the North (Senate) side of the National Mall. My tickets were for the South side of the Mall, and it had been made abundantly clear that security would not allow anyone to cross the mall anywhere near the Capitol. This was mostly because they didn’t want anyone crossing the parade route until after the parade. So option 1: 14 block walk (to go 5 blocks).

Federal Center station is only 3 blocks from the Blue security screening area, but would mean changing trains in what could well be the most congested metro station of them all. Further, Federal Center was the sole station designated for Silver area ticket holders. I’m guessing about 100,000 of the 240,000 tickets were for the Silver area. Further, I was pretty certain that a high percentage of Silver ticket holders would show up very early, because the number of decent spots in that area was (is?) very small. I had been repeatedly advised that trains would NOT stop at overcrowded stations. Option 2: Risk train-changing madness and swamped Fed Center station.

I had decided the day before not to decide. I would wait and see what things looked like when I arrived at Metro Center, and decide then. I was also receiving text msg updates from WMATA, so if a station was temporarily closed I would know.

When I got to Metro Center both my train and the station were crowded but not packed. I had not received a text from WMATA about any closures or delays, so I had to go with my instinct. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised at my instinct: screw my officially designated metro station. I’m going to Union Station!

It turns out that this was the right thing to do. Apparantly changing trains, which was my primary concern, was not a problem at all. Fed Center station however, was JAMMED. I later met some people who were in that station while I was walking from Union, and it took them almost an hour to exit the station. An HOUR to ride up an escalator, pass through a fare gate, and walk out a door.

I received a text from WMATA at 6:16 am:

Blue and Orange Line trains bypassing Federal Center SW due to crowded conditions until further notice

It is not clear to me if it took this long for them to make a decision, to remember to send the msg, or if the networks were already so congested that it took Sprint that long to route it to me. I never did receive “further notice”.

Next installment: the walk to Blue Gate Security Screening Area.