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I got up at 5 AM this morning and drove from Orlando to The Villages with a friend. It was a typical Florida summer morning, hot and HUMID.

They opened the area up around 7:30...we got there around 8 (got lost..The Villages is HUGE) and waited for 2 hours in the heat/humidity listening to a good country band.

We heard from various high-ranking Villages guys...got the crowd going, then Adam Putnam (former Congressman) and a couple of other local pols.

The entire time there was a small plane circling overhead with a banner saying “ PAUL RYAN- KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OUR MEDICARE”...it was met with disgusted remarks! There were some protestors there- booed Ryan at the beginning.

We sang Proud To Be An American with Lee Greenwood who introduced Ryan...we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem.

The crowd was large- but I’ve no way of even guessing how large- though I would say certainly thousands were there. I was standing about 30 feet to the left of Ryan so got to see and hear him closely. He’s passionate, he believes what he’s saying- and he’s tired. I was very impressed with his pace and LACK OF TELEPROMPTER! It was interesting when he mentioned the panel of fifteen who will determine who gets covered for what...several people standing near me said “WHAT?! I didn’t know about THAT”...

The crowd was polite, enthusiastic, and almost ALL over 55. There were 3 young men standing near us who were having a conversation with some “older” people..explaining a lot of what’s WRONG with Obama..they were dressed in t-shirts and shorts- just regular college student types. They were VERY well-informed and are worried about the country.

The security consisted of all kinds of alphabets- but one I didn’t understand was the TSA. WTH was the TSA doing there? They were everywhere. Weird?

Mrs, Ryan (Paul’s mom) looked terrific and VERY happy!!

As we were pulling into The Villages it was raining lightly- it stopped after about 30 minutes. The sun came out and stayed out for the next 2 hours. As soon as Ryan stopped speaking and the crowd began to disperse it started to rain again :)