Adventures with a Democratic inauguration

It pays to volunteer for these things. Why? Face time. I have a grand idea, and now there are people with my business card in their pockets who can help me realize it.

I also got my sugar addicted hands on one of the chocolate tea cup desserts. Yummy, especially accompanied by red wine.

Then came the thank you for spending our time managing traffic flow Friday night; the volunteers got to come along on the whistle stop rail tour from Greeley to Pueblo.

In near zero temps we were bused (got to sit behind the Fighting Dem from CD 5 Jay Fawcett) from Invesco Field to Greeley, then loaded onto the train. The train was just warm enough to be comfortable, not too warm to regret the tights under the jeans and the multiple shirts, especially with the addition of Colorado style political swag thru the course of the day (fleece blankets and vests with Colorado Promise 2007 logos). I hung out with people ranging from Ritter siblings (one of whom explained why Greeley is always colder than the rest of the front range/NE plains area) to campaign employees to other volunteers to friends and family of the first lady who loved the hand painted jeans of Tiffany's I was wearing. Moving from the back to the front raised viewing car for the Denver-Colorado Springs leg, we had a couple of rail employees answering every question we had and then some, discussing the feasability and logistics of a front range commuter line, explaining the different trains and maximum speeds they can reach, trading stories of the legendery train routes rail nuts travel in order to ride.

We were fed, watered, boozed, sugared as the trip went on. The swag was passed out in intervals, causing us to act like greedy little children with each new goodie (the vests were prompltly donned, the cookies gobbled down with more bottles of Fat Tire and glasses of merlot and cocktails as the sun set). We had multiple trips up and down the length of the train by the governor himself, offering up photos ops and thrashing his voice.

We arrived in Pueblo way late, and gobbled down dinner (yet more food, as if we hadn't had enough, but we ate as if we hadn't) listened to a shortened series of speeches and boarded our buses back up to Denver (not sure if they had the fireworks desplay or not, we didn't see it)- seats laid out with Pueblo salsa to add to our haul and a temperature reading of 4 degrees according to the LED sign at the Marriott. Arrived back at Invesco field to our cars only 45 minutes late, but still nearly 15 hours after the day started.

And this morning? It's amazing how hanging out and overindulging for a day has made me feel as if I've been beaten up. This evening? Other than a quick foray this afternoon for yet more food someone else cooked, I've barely left my chaise.