We arrived an hour early and the traffic was awful and there were no parking spaces left. It only took a few minutes to realize we'd have to make our own space and assume we wouldn't get towed. Then we found out how retarded the lines were. The idea was to get people from the parking lot to the hangar with school buses. But they were loading them so slowly that the line had stretched for miles. We decided to just walk there, but were told they gates were shut down and we were only allowed to ride the buses. It made a little bit of sense to me that they didn't want people wandering all over the property getting lost or in to trouble. So we stood in line for a little while and just as we got close to the gate, though we were only halfway through the line, someone made a good decision and opened the gates and everyone poured through deciding to walk/run to the hangar hoping to get there in time. We planned to walk, but saw that there were a lot of buses to fill so we jumped on one. I feel sorry for all the people that stood in line for an hour, and weren't near the gates when they opened them.
We arrived just after it started, and found seats way in the back. There was a lot of red carpet and super-star concert lighting all over the place. They had huge screens so we could actually see what was going on.
Tom Brokaw is a very good speaker. It was nice to hear from the other important guys and girls as well. They hooked up with partners all over the world for brief speeches. Too bad those guys didn't have a plane to touch at the end of the party.
As they opened the hangar doors I saw a crowd had gathered across the street to see it for free. A few people in cars even stopped on the freeway to check it out. Then it was "hail-mary" madness with the digicams. Sometimes those arms, hands, and cameras made a nice frame around the plane for me.
The wing tips are really sweet. The chevrons around the engine look cool too. I can't wait to ride it!
I was surprised how many people banged or knocked on the plane to see what it felt like.
It was a very interesting experience.
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