Except for voting, I never felt more American. 2.1 million of us showed up. Our group of 88 (2 buses) wore our bright yellow 912 shirts (that Brian designed) on Friday as went to the Pentagon, Tomb of the Unknown soldier, Capitol, restaurants, riding the Metro, etc... People were "running" up to us stating that they were there for the protest, also. Met a guy that works for a very prominent Senator and he thanked us for showing up in DC. He couldn't believe that number of people that came. Another guy I met was on the medical staff at the White House. I spoke on behalf of all Americans and told him we wanted the same healthcare. He started laughing. By Friday evening, we knew that DC had under estimated the crowd. 500,000 were registered and the parks dept ignored that number and set up for 100,000. They had too few porta potties, trash cans and no water. AND no one complained.

Our Saturday morning started early at Freedom Square by the White House. An hour and a half BEFORE we were to march, the police dept spoke to us and stated that the crowd was considered "critical mass" and they had to start moving us toward the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue. We had every sidewalk and street backed up. We had even shut down the DC Metro System and I-95. People just kept coming from every direction. Dick Armey spoke and stated that the crowd was larger than Obama's inauguration. The police kept telling us how nice it was to have us and couldn't believe how we cleaned up the place as we left. I hope our Congress listens/hears to what the people are saying or I and many others will return next year. I understand the White House was "shocked" at the turn-out. You certainly can't ignore these numbers and these people vote.

On our bus, we had people drive in from Chicago, Springfield & Blue Springs, MO, Lake of the Ozarks and the rest were from STL and surrounding communites. On our way to DC, we picked up people in Effingham and Collinsville, IL. None of us kenw each other before the tirp. This was truly grass roots. We had an awesome group and more fun together. Some in our group had families that were so worried about their safety in DC. The only problems we had was when we arrived back in STL late last night. The last potty stop was a restaurant/gas station in Illinois that was being held up when we pulled up. The police sent us on our way very quickly (and try to load a bus quickly). The next try was at another gas station in St. Louis and we walked right into a drug transaction. They were snorting and selling cocaine and surrounded us. We left there even quicker. We laughted till we cried, AFTER we got on the bus and then called the police.

It's good to be home and I'll go back in a heart beat, if I need too.

Love, Cathy