On the Lighter Side ………… Washington, DC and “The Freedom March”
Tracy and I spent a five days in Washington, DC this month and had a terrific time. One of the highlights of our trip was a four hour Segway tour of the city. It only took about twenty minutes to learn how to ride these things. They were an absolute blast. Tracy rode hers like she was Mario Andretti and was constantly in the lead of our group of ten. I was much more conservative and seemed to linger at the rear of the pack. We also toured all the monuments at night with the most impressive one being the Korean War Monument. Standing there looking at a number of statues of our soldiers coming out of the woods at dusk was an eerie feeling; a feeling that made you proud of our veterans, proud of our current soldiers serving in Iraq and Afganistan and proud to be an American.

The Vietnam memorial brought back many memories and the WWII memorial made me think of my Dad that served as a navigator on a B-29.

We also went to several of the Smithsonians but you actually need several days to really take advantage of the many divisions of this wonderful and education institution. We also visited the spy museum which was quite interesting.

When we first arrived in DC we weren’t very experienced at using the subway system and I almost lost Tracy. I don’t know how many of you remember the Kingston Trio but there song the “M.T.A.” about a subway system almost became reality for Tracy. The chorus to their hit went like this:

“Well, did he ever return? No, he never returned and his fate is still unknown.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned.

Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station and he changed for Jamaica Plain.
When he got there the conductor told him, "One more nickel." Charlie couldn't get off of that train.

Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station, crying, "What will become of me?!!
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea or my cousin in Rocksbury?"

Charlie's wife goes down to the Sculley Square Station every day at quarter past two,
and through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumblin' through.

Well, did he ever return? No, he never returned and his fate is still unknown.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned. He's the man who never returned.”

Let me explain. The first time we rode the train we entered the station and I purchased two tickets. We didn’t realize that we needed these tickets to get out of the station. Fortunately we didn’t throw them away before we reached our destination. Unfortunately, I purchased a five dollar ticket for myself but only had two ones and bought Tracy’s ticket with those two bills. When we reached our destination, the turnstile wouldn’t allow Tracy to exit. You would have thought that she was being kidnapped by the look on her face. She kept crying out for my help but there wasn’t much I could do (except laugh). I tried to tell her to jump over the railing but she absolutely refused to do that. If she would have she probably would have been arrested and I would have had a real story to tell.

I was already through the turnstile and Tracy was in a panic screaming at me that she was stuck. I couldn’t help myself and busted out laughing at the way she was acting. The more I laughed the madder she got. We just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Finally a station attendent approached her and told she had to go over to the machine and purchase another ticket because she was fifty cents short. Once she escaped, (after she punched me), she was okay and we had a great time the rest of the day. She didn’t appreciate the humor in me singing the lyrics to that Kingston Trio song the rest of the day however.

The Freedom March

Yes, I’ll admit it. Tracy and I Went to DC while the 9-12-09 Freedom March was taking place. Many people equated this march to the war protests and other demonstrations. But, it wasn’t anything like many of those protests. The news media has reported different statistics as to how many people attended this “Freedom Rally” from 10’s of thousands to 1.4 million people. I believe there were at least a million people there. What is absolutely amazing is the fact that there no incidents of violence and this crowd of a million left the place as clean as it was s when they arrived. I was astounded to observe everyone bringing their own trash bags and cleaning up the mess before they left. As for the people that attended this rally, they were everyday people. Moms and Dads and a lot of families were there. At least twelve hundred Doctors showed up for their own special press conference. There were no angry mobsters, no evil mongers, no racists and every one there was a true American interested in protecting their personal views about the freedoms established by our constitution.

This rally wasn’t just about health care reform. It was about Government spending, Government control, Cap & Trade, the deficit, unemployment, the recession and health care reform. The crowd wasn’t about being Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian or any other political party. The people were simply Americans expressing their concerns about the current political environment in Washington. There primary objective was to let their Senators and Congressman know how they feel and that they are concerned. This was a historic event and an incredible site. We were glad we were there to witness it.