Tale of the Midnight Ramblers

Sometimes the journey is stranger than the strangers you meet.

LaDeen Powell and her group from People's Funeral Home made an extra effort to watch the Inaugural Parade Tuesday afternoon, leaving their warm cabin in Virginia around 2 a.m. and getting into the city before sunrise.

The group walked to Pennsylvania Avenue and planted themselves on the barrier fence, determined to stake out their spot for the mid-afternoon parade. By 10 a.m. they were known to be fine and still in good spirits.

"It was an awesome day," Powell said. "I am so glad I came." She talked of all the people she met, the sights of the city, the euphoria that was pervasive throughout the event and the whole "once-in-a-lifetime" aspect of the trip. Was it worth it? Was it worth leaving Whiteville after midnight Sunday (Monday morning) to get to D.C.? Was it worth piling out of their warm cabin early, early this morning to secure a spot in the parade?

"It was so worth it," Powell said. She said that from the warmth of that cabin, which, by the way, she has been in since early this afternoon, after the "People's Party" just got so darned cold standing at the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue - cold enough to fear serious illness or even death - that they gave their prime spot on the rail (a spot close enough to watch the First Couple holding hands as they walked by) to total strangers, and they got on a train and rode back to the Algonquin, where they watched the parade on television.

And, of course, the Midnight Ramblers will be at it again, packing up their bags and leaving in the middle of the night - midnight - so they can be back in Whiteville Wednesday morning to resume business. And yes, it will all have been worth it.