A group of us headed out about 8am in the morning for an almost 2 hour drive to make sure we would reach Bangor with plenty of time to get in line and get a good position. The "group" consisted of my mother, a cousin several friends and my lovely two daughters (11 and 12 yr olds). After reaching Bangor and grabbing a quick breakfast at McD's we headed over to the airfield to get in line. They were very organized and parked us quickly and efficiently. We were among the first dozen or 3 auto's to arrive. Once we headed towards the front of the line we had a long but enjoyable wait. We were very lucky to be among the first 20ish people in line. There was a humorous moment when after having dragged a dumpster over to where people were lined up, one of the college aged volunteers taped a sign on the front of the dumpster saying "protester entrance". (I have a cute picture of this but I'm not sure where I can upload it for people to view)
Finally around 12:30 they started letting people in. Again, we waited several hours but it was very enjoyable as the people were all very pleasant and my daughters had a nice picnic in the field we were lined up in.
Once in there we were fortunate to grab a great seat along the Truck bed that was set up towards the left of the podium. We were high enough up to see everything with nothing to block our view. My mother had a VIP ticket and was placed right up front of the podium. Unfortunately there were no seats up there but being almost 70 and filled with common sense she laid her jacket on the ground, warned everyone that she wouldn't be standing as she was to old to stand for 3 hours and sat herself down. =)
People were excited and everyone was in a great mood. A country western singer sang, he was wonderful (sorry can't remember his name as I don't usually do Country). The highschool band played, cheerleaders cheered. My 11 year old daughter couldn't stand to sit still and wait so she asked for my permission to help bring water around to everyone. Very proud of her, I said yes...and off she went to spend 3 hours walking around with trays full of water making sure people didnt dehydrate in the hot sun.
Anyhow, finally around 3:30, 3:45 my daughter came running over and said that she heard the security who were hanging out by the water table say that the president had arrived and would be coming on stage in a few minutes. She was so excited to be telling me this "secret" information!
President Bush came on stage with little introduction and the crowd went wild!
Okay, I have to log for minute. Will get to the important part when I return!
We were also on one of the trailers to the left of the stage. I wonder if we were sitting/standing near you? My kids got a bit bored with it at times & ended up playing on the grass behind the trailer.