you down the NYS Thruway! Long story short, yesterday DS and I drove out towards where Pres. Obama was speaking on his northeast bus tour. Of course we had no intention of actually seeing/hearing him, but I thought maybe we could catch a glimpse of the motorcade as it traveled down the Thruway towards Syracuse (where I live, but streets were packed along the route).
Plans were to stop at a rest stop on the eastbound part of the Thruway but the toll ticket operator told us that the motorcade would be coming through her booth shortly. So we pulled over and waited in the parking lot. A little while later - in the pouring rain and thunderstorm - we had a great view of the whole entourage... only about 10 feet away from our car! Fifteen NYS troopers on their motorcycles, followed by about 35 very-presidential looking black SUVs and cars, a press bus, a staff bus, and the big, black, million-dollar "Ground Force One" with opaque windows! (Of course the batteries in my camera were low (arrrgghh) so I didn't get a video of that! I am posting the only picture I got though, the toll booth about a minute before they went through.)
Ah, that was exciting, we thought, and a few minutes later, went through the toll booth and on our way home. Troopers, sherrifs, Thruway vehicles still everywhere else, on the overpasses, under the bridges, blocking the service roads, etc. but no one blocking the entrance. About 15 seconds laters we were being followed by flashing red lightts and one very angry cop. He told us to stop because there had to be a 20-mile(!!) buffer between the motorcade and other traffic in case there was a problem and the Secret Service, some of who were still behind us, had to travel 90 mph to get to them.
Okay, so we waited. Shortly after that I noticed a small car with out-of-state license plates also being pulled over by the trooper, who by that time had driven away. To pass the time, I got out of the car. "I guess we both got one when we shouldn't have, huh?" There were 2 guys in the car who looked like they were only about 20 years old and in t-shirts and jeans. The driver got out too, and by this time I could see that they were Virginia license plates. It still didn't dawn on me. Then he whips out his wallet and opens it up to flash me his Secret Service badge. Wow! I almost wet my pants! lol He was very nice, told me it would only be about 10 minutes, and a minute later, gets out of the car and changes his clothes. No kidding! Nice abs, but I wasn't expecting that! I guess if you are going to be a Secret Service agent, it's good to look like a poor college student ;o)
A little while later they drove away and waved to us that it was okay to go on. It was the most surreal trip home. There was NO one on the Thruway for the 40 miles home except for the SS car about 1/2 mile away (who was apparently escorting us, now that I think of it). Official cars now blocking the service area where we had intended to stop in the first place.
We drove on. I drove with my flashers on (as if to indicate that I would stop anywhere, immediately, if they wanted me to!) and about 1/4 mile from our exit, from the rear-view mirror I could see a row of troopers - again with the flashing red lights on - coming from over a hill. They were escorting the traffic, the Thruway was now open. Exciting but surreal experience for a Thursday afternoon!
https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/Finer_Kitchens/DawnNYS/79d25373-1e45-49ce-9953-ab069590ba16.jpg~original
Plans were to stop at a rest stop on the eastbound part of the Thruway but the toll ticket operator told us that the motorcade would be coming through her booth shortly. So we pulled over and waited in the parking lot. A little while later - in the pouring rain and thunderstorm - we had a great view of the whole entourage... only about 10 feet away from our car! Fifteen NYS troopers on their motorcycles, followed by about 35 very-presidential looking black SUVs and cars, a press bus, a staff bus, and the big, black, million-dollar "Ground Force One" with opaque windows! (Of course the batteries in my camera were low (arrrgghh) so I didn't get a video of that! I am posting the only picture I got though, the toll booth about a minute before they went through.)
Ah, that was exciting, we thought, and a few minutes later, went through the toll booth and on our way home. Troopers, sherrifs, Thruway vehicles still everywhere else, on the overpasses, under the bridges, blocking the service roads, etc. but no one blocking the entrance. About 15 seconds laters we were being followed by flashing red lightts and one very angry cop. He told us to stop because there had to be a 20-mile(!!) buffer between the motorcade and other traffic in case there was a problem and the Secret Service, some of who were still behind us, had to travel 90 mph to get to them.
Okay, so we waited. Shortly after that I noticed a small car with out-of-state license plates also being pulled over by the trooper, who by that time had driven away. To pass the time, I got out of the car. "I guess we both got one when we shouldn't have, huh?" There were 2 guys in the car who looked like they were only about 20 years old and in t-shirts and jeans. The driver got out too, and by this time I could see that they were Virginia license plates. It still didn't dawn on me. Then he whips out his wallet and opens it up to flash me his Secret Service badge. Wow! I almost wet my pants! lol He was very nice, told me it would only be about 10 minutes, and a minute later, gets out of the car and changes his clothes. No kidding! Nice abs, but I wasn't expecting that! I guess if you are going to be a Secret Service agent, it's good to look like a poor college student ;o)
A little while later they drove away and waved to us that it was okay to go on. It was the most surreal trip home. There was NO one on the Thruway for the 40 miles home except for the SS car about 1/2 mile away (who was apparently escorting us, now that I think of it). Official cars now blocking the service area where we had intended to stop in the first place.
We drove on. I drove with my flashers on (as if to indicate that I would stop anywhere, immediately, if they wanted me to!) and about 1/4 mile from our exit, from the rear-view mirror I could see a row of troopers - again with the flashing red lights on - coming from over a hill. They were escorting the traffic, the Thruway was now open. Exciting but surreal experience for a Thursday afternoon!
https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/Finer_Kitchens/DawnNYS/79d25373-1e45-49ce-9953-ab069590ba16.jpg~original
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