As part of his cross country book signing tour, the ex-Pres stopped by the local Barnes and Nobel. Anne Marie informed me that we were going to drive by, at 8:30, when the festivites started.
Having been married to her for this long, i knew enough not to argue. Instead i just grabbed keys and handed her the camera.
Oddly, traffic wasn't as bad as i thought it might have been. Probably because we came the way that most folks wouldn't. Even if we ddin't know where the bookstore was, it was pretty obvious from the antenna farm.
Right about when we started to see the crowds, naturally, things came to a sudden stop. The back parking lot (normally pretty empty) was filled to capacity, and there was a new hole in the fence.
Of course, the closer we got to Steven's Creek, the slower traffic started moving, or stopped moving, depending on your point of view. And that's about when we saw the bulk of the crowd that knew it wasn't getting in.
To call it a circus, would probably belittle any number of circuses, although it was actually pretty civil, with folks cheering everytime someone walked out with an autographed book. And a bit surreal, there wasn't a single protestor. (Well, no one in a blue dress or carrying a box of cigars or anything.)
Of course, Anne Marie kept saying how she can't believe he was "right there". i pointed out that he was even closer when we were in D.C. and his motorcade drove by, but apparently that just wasn't the same.
