"Street closures throughout Washington, D.C., will make traveling by car or taxi very difficult. Bridges from Virginia crossing the Potomac River into Washington, D.C., as well as major roadways from Maryland into Washington, D.C., may be closed to all but bus traffic.
About 3.5 square miles of downtown Washington will be closed to traffic starting midafternoon on Jan. 19, the day before the inauguration. Streets will remain closed to most traffic until morning rush hour on Jan. 21. Road closures on Capitol Hill will be instituted by the U.S. Capitol Police in cooperation with the Metropolitan Police Department. Access to the perimeter will be restricted to properly authorized and credentialed personnel ONLY. Street closures will go into effect starting at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Streets will reopen once the parade concludes after 5 pm.
D.C.’s subway system will be running 'rush-hour' service all day, but is expecting 'crush-level' crowds. Be prepared to wait for space on a train for long periods of time, during which you will have to stand in close proximity to several thousand people. Many Metro escalators will be closed due to crowding and individuals will need to climb Metro stairs or wait to utilize the small number of elevators at Metro stations.
Please think carefully about whether you can stand outside in cold weather in a large crowd for up to six hours, and whether you are ready for long delays getting home afterwards."
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“Plissken….!”
“Call me Snake.”
We could have used the sneering Snake Plissken, anti-hero of the 1981 John Carpenter film, Escape from New York, as we tried to make a hasty retreat from the Capital area. Our escape routes were limited, and time and the cold were our own ticking clock. The cold seemed to intensify as the wind picked up, and became our constant companion and our enemy.
To interject a bit more bad Grade-B cinema into this story, Conan the Barbarian, had he been there to help us out, would have grunted “Crush your enemies…see them driven before you….hear the lamentations of their women.” Ice princesses, of course, by Crom.
Come to think of it, Snake would have chosen to use the sewer system, mutant troglodytes not withstanding, but alas, there was just us, elated, bedraggled, exhausted, and ready to head back to the cabin, the pug, and the hot tub. Recall that over 2,000,000 people were packed into the Mall. Well, 2,000,000 people were then trying to leave all at once, and it seemed DC had no coherent exit plan in place. We saw no cops and only one National Guard unit, and they had no idea what was going on themselves.
Going back a bit, Lil, Trevor, Cesia, and I decided that going into the Museum of Natural History after the inauguration to pick up a toy dinosaur for his son was a good idea. Museum management decided that plan was not to be, as the doors were locked. In fact, all the museums along the Mall were locked.
Thus, it was time to shuffle to the nearest subway stop and get back to Fairfax Station. We had no real options about which station to choose, as the police had used chain link fences to block off any alternative routes, so we followed the same street back to the station. As we approached the station, though, we saw that something was amiss. The station was closed and a massive crowd was growing by the minute. Rumors swirled in the air like the tendrils of smoke from some village Conan and Snake Plissken had just decimated, and the consensus of the crowd was the station was going to be closed until 5 PM. The reason, we were told, was that someone had been hit by a train and they had closed down the station for the investigation.
There was nothing to do but to keep shuffling on, despite our fatigue. Another twist to this mini-saga was that sanctuary waited only two blocks from the Capital building, had we been thinking straight. Cesia’s company’s DC headquarters would have been the perfect place to seek shelter. They were open for business, and only ten minutes away from the Mall. I plead the fifth in this case.
At this point, exhaustion was really settling in, and we just wanted to get home. We tried veering off to a nearby Metro station, but abandoned that idea after about 20 minutes when it became clear that station was closed as well. Lil thought perhaps we could find a local college campus and hang out in the student union, grab some coffee, and stay warm until Metro sorted out the service issues. We at one point passed a church, and one of us pondered out loud that maybe getting religious was a good idea, but I watched someone who also had the same idea try in vain to open the huge, chained double doors to the house of worship.
We passed a few eateries, but they too were all closed for business, as was a hotel we also passed. Literally all the buildings we passed were locked, and the only places to sit and rest were on the door stoops, the ground, or the occasional planter. DC seemed almost a ghost town full of millions of wandering refugees, in the streets, on the sidewalks, down alleys, and yes, even shuffling along the intestate that is the famous beltway. Even as cold and tired as I was, it was a cool sight to see all those folks walking along the temporarily-closed through fare, and looking back, I wish we had taken a foot-powered spin ourselves.
Finally, after four shuttered stations, we finally found one open and operating. We lined up, and the wait, while long, was not as bad as I expected. Once again our party, Trevor, Cesia, Lil, and I formed a human chain so we wouldn't lose one another. The dicey part was when we found ourselves halfway down the non-operating escalator into the station, and with such a crush of people all trying to get out of there, one panicking person could have started a tragic stampede.
But!, as on the Mall grounds, the crowd was happy and cooperative, and I saw nothing but smiles and grins, as if we were all in this together to the end. That is exactly how I felt, despite the challenges and uncertainties of getting there in the bitter cold.
Finally, the Metro folks announced that we would not need to use our metro tickets, and to just pass through the turnstyles in an orderly fashion to move the crowd along more quickly. Cheers rang out, and before long, a train arrived and we were on our way home, dinosaur-less but feeling very good. As difficult as it was, it was all part of the greater experience, and I wouldn't change a thing.
Hours after the inauguration ceremony ended, we rolled into the Fairfax Station. A slow slog to the car and we were on our way home. Food was in order and we stopped at an IHOP in Virginia. Lil finally got to use the bathroom, and on her way out of the restaurant she noticed a disheveled, rumpled, happy group at an adjacent table. Ah, more inauguration folks looking for sustenance, hot coffee, a warm place to sit, and a bathroom. Folks just like us. IHOP would be busy that night.
Davenport was thrilled to see us, and we were thrilled to have a warm, soft pug to squeeze.
Dane
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