Kyle, Greg, Katie and I attended the Barack Obama rally in Fort Collins, CO on October 26, 2008. It was AWESOME.
Karen, Katie and Greg left home a little before 10:00 a.m. We parked at a remote lot in southwest Fort Collins and rode a shuttle bus to campus. After getting in line (the end of the line was about three or four blocks from the entrance to the Oval), we ate our lunches.
We were able to watch some college kids play Ultimate Frisbee in their Halloween costumes! That was fun.
It was a LONG wait - we got in the line at 11:30 and it didn't start moving until almost 2:00. It wasn't too bad, though - the crowd was fun and the mood was festive. People ahead of us in line started doing the "wave" and several of the "waves" made it as far as we could see.
We heard that the line extended to Moby Gym, south along Shields, and then wrapped back up on campus along the south-side dorms.
Each one of us saw people we knew! Karen saw two people she knew through work, Greg saw a classmate and a teacher, and Katie saw a classmate as well.
Kyle joined us around 1:00 or so.
The weather was pretty chilly, and I would say we were a bit cold at times when the wind picked up. I guess it could have been a whole lot worse, though.
We saw one "protester". Some guy rode by on a bike and shouted "Woo-hoo, McCain all the way!" Everyone just laughed at him.
You know, we did not hear one word of anger or frustration all day long. Everyone was so happy and upbeat, no complaining about the line - it was a really neat crowd. Lots of diversity - we saw babies and grandmas and people of all backgrounds and all walks of life. It was cool.
Finally, the line started moving and we made our way to the rally entrance. They had about twenty metal detector stations set up. They moved people through there pretty quick.
We were thrilled to find out that we were in the general admission section that was closest to the podium. By then, it was about 2:30 or so. We heard the District 4 candidate Betsy Markey give a speech, as well as Governor Bill Ritter. As we were waiting, we saw the motorcade arrive on the road to the east of the Oval. This was while Ritter was speaking. Everyone started cheering, and he knew it wasn't for him. He joked about that line not usually getting such a big roar from the crowd! There were no speeches after that, which kind of surprised me.
Here we are waiting for the rally to start. See the Jesus-rays shining on us? The Oval is pretty well shielded from the wind, so the conditions were just about perfect. The fall color on the trees was just beautiful!
They confiscated our water bottle at the metal detector station, but it was just as well. I think we would have gotten separated had we needed to move toward the porta-potties.
We made a contingency plan if we got separated ("Meet on the steps of the Administration Building!").
At about 3:00, they stopped letting people in - I think so they could secure the area we were standing in. Then about five minutes later, people just started flooding into the Oval - I don't think they had to go through any security at all.
Some guys came to the podium and did some sound checks, and then at 3:25 an announcement came over the public address system to welcome "Barack Obama, the next President of the United States!" Everyone went nuts!
Katie took this picture, sitting atop Kyle's shoulders. The podium is located right below the break in the trees, and you can see Obama's dark suit right above the top of a blonde girl's head.
Here is a 4-1/2 minute video that Kyle shot for me as the speech ended. It's a little shaky at times, but worth the watch. At the end, Kyle pans the crowd so you can get a sense of how many people were there.
If you've heard his speeches before, this one didn't lay much new ground. Still, it was great to hear it all in person and with the crowd reacting all around.
At one point in his speech, he said something about working toward a health care system where we would eliminate the whole concept of a "pre-existing condition". The little old lady standing next to me turned to her little old lady friend and said with a huge smile, "Wouldn't that be wonderful?".
His speech lasted about 30 or 35 minutes. It took a while before the crowd could get moving toward the exit, but once it loosened up, we were out of there in no time.
We headed toward the bus stop, located across College Avenue at the old Fort Collins High School. We just walked right onto a bus! In about two minutes, it was full and we headed back to the remote lot. We were in our car by about 5:00.
We stopped at Red Robin at Centerra on the way home to grab a bite to eat.
After getting home, Katie told me this was "the best weekend ever!" (To be fair, it was her her birthday on Saturday so that contributed somewhat, I'm sure, to the overall impression.) As we were watching the video at home, she started clapping along with the crowd and then giggled when she realized she didn't need to do that at home.
It was an awesome day.
Visit www.barackobama.com to learn more.
