365 Days of Service: Presidential Motorcade

I saw President Obama today. He was in his car.

It's not often that the famous Santa Monica Boulevard, the original Route 66, closes with no cars to be found. Today was the day, the President was in town!

I wasn't intentionally planning to wave the President hello (or give him a shaka to represent all the islanders!). But when the four cars in front of me were stopped on an off-ramp of the 405 and police lined the street, I knew it meant one thing... the Presidential motorcade was to pass by. Quite the timing. For those who had plans to meet others or the UPS man who was still "working" this could have been seen as unfortunate timing. If only they took one exit before or one exit after, if they reached this exact spot 30 seconds earlier, they wouldn't literally be stopped with no where to go and at the mercy of a motorcade. For me, the timing was impeccable! A perfect time to get stopped with only the President to see!

And the service was abundant. The Secret Service, that is.

The police men and women on our block were friendly. They were chatting with by-standers (or stuck-standers) giving them updates on when the roads would open and when the motorcade would pass. They said that we'd see 2 cars come down the street at 60 miles per hour and that was that. It wasn't quite the Presidential Parade I'd anticipated in my head but I knew it'd be great!

So time passes by, 30 minutes, an hour...

At one point, 5 policemen on motorcycles passed by and one officer joked to the crowd, "That was it. All done. Did you guys see it? Obama was on that motorcycle with a helment on. You guys must missed it!" It was funny, I admit. It took me a second to ensure she was joking but it was fun to see her good spirit about everything.

Over the police radio a call came in, "We're rolling. We're rolling..." This was the moment we (or just me!) were waiting for.

Then, the President.

It was everything I'd hoped for. Police, a motorcade, the President rolling down my street.

Thanks to the hundreds of men and women that served the President today. The police from South Central Los Angeles who made their way to the Westside to provide extra support. Thanks to the President for his service to our country everyday. Today, I salute you. (Literally!)