June 9, 2004
A Goodbye to President Ronald Reagan
by Becky Bray
It
was a very unlikely thing that I was in Washington D.C. on June 9th, 2004, but just
the Friday before I had received the go-ahead for a business trip. Monday June
7th I flew up from Huntsville, Alabama, knowing that President Reagan had died,
but not what the schedule of events would be. When I learned that the procession
to the Capitol would take place Wednesday afternoon, I realized I couldn't pass
up the opportunity to pay my respects to this great man.
When my business meetings concluded Wednesday afternoon, I drove to my hotel in Greenbelt and changed to cooler clothes, as I knew it was going to be very hot downtown. I loaded up my pockets with everything I needed, so I wouldn't be burdened with too much, and caught the hotel shuttle to the Greenbelt Metro. I anticipated there would be no place to park in downtown D.C., and that the Metro would be my best bet. After checking out the maps I decided the Archives/Navy-Memorial stop would be a good place to stop.
After the long ride on the Metro's Green Line, I arrived a few minutes after 4:00 pm, and only had a block or so to walk to Constitution Avenue and 7th Street. People were already gathering, and it was getting difficult to find a spot right up at the street. Thankfully I found a spot in the shade of a tree as the weather was hot and humid (someone said the heat index was 103 degrees) and there was a long wait ahead.
Here's the story of the rest of my experience in photos....