WASHINGTON -- There we were, hundreds of us, speed-walking through the Third Street tunnel of Interstate 395 in Washington.

In the fuzzy light of the underground thoroughfare, with everyone hurrying along and bundled up against the fierce cold, we seemed like refugees in a disaster movie, fleeing a destroyed city en masse.

But of course we weren’t. We were just some of the city’s morning travelers Jan. 20, trying to get to the National Mall to “witness history” as Barack Obama was inaugurated as the country’s 44th president.

We took the interstate tunnel because organizers had deemed it the most expeditious way to move people from the Mall’s north side to its south side, where many of the entry gates were located.

After seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we exited into another crowd of people who had already established a massive sea of bodies in front of every gate into the “Mall Standing Area.”

I spotted the “Silver Gate,” which matched my ticket, and figured I was almost home free.

I wasn’t.

It was 7:30 a.m. and the gates weren’t opening for another half hour. I could see my gate, but couldn’t get anywhere close to it.

Though I had stayed in the city the previous night, my relatively short trip on the Metro hadn’t gotten me to the Mall any sooner than thousands of others.

As I waited, I asked people when they had left their respective accommodations that morning.
One woman told me she had gotten up at 2:30 a.m. in Fulton, been dropped off at a park-and-ride by a friend, taken a bus ride to Silver Spring and then the Metro into the city.

The fact that she could now see the dome of the Capitol building, she said, was good news.

On to the checkpoint

After what seemed like a long wait, my Silver-ticketed compatriots and I made it to the security checkpoint along the Mall’s edge. There, police officers wearing black clothes and serious faces patted us down and eyed our possessions — cameras, lunch bags, cell phones — with discerning glances.

Then came the sudden exhilaration of having a little breathing room after spending an hour and a half in body-to-body crowds.

People started running onto the Mall, some skipping, after being restricted to a penguin waddle for blocks on end.

“We made it, we made it, we made it, made it, made it,” one person sang.

I’ve never seen so many people so obviously freezing cold and so obviously happy at the same time.

More and more people flooded into the area — for hours. Then, shortly before the ceremonies began, green fence barricades keeping people back from the Reflecting Pool were, quite literally, stampeded over.

And we all got better spots for it. On the long stretch of steps in front of the frozen waters of the  pool, we now had a clear view of the Capitol.

Various VIPs were introduced — senators and judges, agency heads and cabinet members — and then came all the big names: Sasha and Malia, Michelle and Barack. The crowds roared.

Chants of “O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA,” and “YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!” filled the cool air.

Former President George W. Bush was booed. Former Vice President Al Gore was cheered.

Obama takes the stage

But nothing was as pivotal as the moment when Barack Obama officially became the country’s first black president.

“Finally, finally, finally,” said one man several rows in front of me.

And then Obama spoke.

One particularly poignant remark that took my section of the crowd by storm and seemed to add warmth to my own frozen frame was this: “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.”

Obama’s words were anticipated, cheered and repeated.

But throughout the city and all day long, it was more Obama’s visage that seemed to shape the message of the moment.

The famous red-and-blue image of him by artist Shepard Fairey, underscored by the words “Hope,” “Change” and “Progress,” as well as many other images like it, captured what the day was about for most people, and, from hats, scarves, T-shirts and buttons, screamed of a resounding joy for the new president.

Barack Obama has yet to prove what he will do in office. But the hope he has instilled in all the people who traveled to the National Mall Jan. 20 has, in my eyes, been demonstrably proven.

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