Convinced I was being followed by the Presidential Motorcade

[kwelch10377]

So The President is in Boston tonight and on the way home from work I was convinced he was following me. I go to leave work and stop at the bank, which means I wasn't taking my normal way home. I am waiting at a stop light to turn on to a side street and into the bank parking lot. A motorcycle cop pulls into the intersection and start frantically waving cars through. I was able to turn and was in the parking lot and see the motorcade cross the main road.

Then....I leave the bank and am going down the main road and traffic is backed up, but somewhat moving. I pass the state police barracks and the motorcade is pulled into there. While sitting in traffic I had to laugh at the lady with the lifesize cardboard cut out of the President, where does one get one of those? There were cops cars and such trying to get people not to gawk. I finally get through the traffic.

Then....I go to get on the Mass Turnpike and before I get on more motorcycles start speeding up behind me and stop at the lights to try and wave people through and clear the area. I get on the Pike and traffic is stopped before the ramp, but I was ahead of it so able to get on. I was ahead of the motorcade and then when I get to the toll plaza motorcycles come up behind me AGAIN to stop traffic and clear some of the lanes of the toll plaza for the motorcade to go through. I was pulled over to one of the lanes that they didn't clear and finally the motorcade passed me.

The whole thing was just funny bc I wasn't going home my normal way and the motorcade came up behind me 3 times, even after me passing it while it was stopped once. And if anyone wants to know the President does not have to pay the toll when going through a toll plaza.

Please don't make this political, it is not meant to be. It's just meant to be a funny story.

 

[tabby1881]

That's funny. Three times!

 

[terri01p]

 

[Jen414]

Funny. We saw Marine One land at the teeny, tiny little airport down the street from our house this afternoon. The motorcade pulled right out in front of me and the girls. I got some cool pictures of him waving at the crowd from inside his car. The amount of Boston police, firemen, state troopers, swat teams, snipers on roofs, secret service, etc. was quite a site.

 

[kwelch10377]

When I first saw the motorcade I thought maybe it ws Gov. Patrick looking at the flood damage in Framingham, but then I saw the Presidential seal on the Limo.

I must say I was amazed at not only the amount of police, swat, etc and the organizational effort it must have taken clearing traffic, especially during rush hour. One of the other funny sites was one of the trucks in the motorcade had a cap with the hatch open and two guys just kinda hanging out the back, I assume they were Secret Service, but it was just funny looking.

 

[Jen414]

About a half mile from the airport, the DPW had been working all day on some sort of hole in the road. The had the detour signs up and you had to go through a little neighborbood to get around them. Apparently, the President's team--not sure exactly who--came by early afternoon, went right around their detour signs, and told them that they better hurry it up and they weren't kidding!

 

[FireDancer]

I know someone on the Secret Service CAT team. The amount of planning, preparation, and coordination needed to get any of their 4 normal prtectees (Pres, VP, both wives) anywhere is astonishing. It often requires weeks of planning and multiple visits to destination locations by people on his team and the PPD along with a lot of work with local authorities.

 

[JerseyJanice]

When I first saw the motorcade I thought maybe it ws Gov. Patrick looking at the flood damage in Framingham, but then I saw the Presidential seal on the Limo.

I must say I was amazed at not only the amount of police, swat, etc and the organizational effort it must have taken clearing traffic, especially during rush hour. One of the other funny sites was one of the trucks in the motorcade had a cap with the hatch open and two guys just kinda hanging out the back, I assume they were Secret Service, but it was just funny looking.

Really? The actual vehicle in the motorcade that the President was riding in was marked by the Presidential Seal?

That's a departure from what I experienced when he was campaigning in my neck of the woods for the November 2009 election.

I got stuck in a roadblock on my way home from work; it isn't clear to me which airport the President and his entourage landed at and drove from, but I think they try to confuse the general public for security purposes. Several vehicles passed by while I was stopped on the road for the motorcade and I had no way of knowing which one the President rode in.

 

[kwelch10377]

Really? The actual vehicle in the motorcade that the President was riding in was marked by the Presidential Seal?

That's a departure from what I experienced when he was campaigning in my neck of the woods for the November 2009 election.

I got stuck in a roadblock on my way home from work; it isn't clear to me which airport the President and his entourage landed at and drove from, but I think they try to confuse the general public for security purposes. Several vehicles passed by while I was stopped on the road for the motorcade and I had no way of knowing which one the President rode in.

Yeah it was marked. I was also thinking how many limos do they have for the president and how do they get them to the places where he is going? The one that I saw had DC plates.

I was reading this morning that the stop he made at the police barracks was a surprise stop to thank all the workers that having been working on flood reflief and that is were the headquarters is.

 

[liamsaunt]

From my office, I was able to watch the Presidential motorcade go across the bridge from Cambridge to Boston last time he was here (to speak at MIT, IIRC). It was really amazing to see. There were no limousines, they used SUVs. There were at least eight of them, some white, some black, all unmarked. Police cars in the front and back, police motorcycles alongside plus an ambulance in the rear! They also had boats on either side of the bridge, and as the motorcade went over the bridge, the boats followed on either side.

 

[mnrose]

Yeah it was marked. I was also thinking how many limos do they have for the president and how do they get them to the places where he is going? The one that I saw had DC plates.

I was reading this morning that the stop he made at the police barracks was a surprise stop to thank all the workers that having been working on flood reflief and that is were the headquarters is.

I know, I know! My brother worked in White House Communications (he was military, assigned to the WH) for 8 years (awesome job!). The cars (and there are multiple, multiple vehicles...the limos, the SUVs, etc) are flown in by military transport in advance of POTUS. This is also (generally) the same plane which takes all the advance personnel.

The amount of advance work required is unbelievable. My brother (who helped set up and man the secure communication system that is needed by the President wherever and whenever he travels) would often be in place a week in advance of a visit. And, a visit could be as short as a "refueling" on a small island off the coast of Africa when the first Bush traveled from Asia back to the US. The President was "on the ground" there for about an hour, and yet my brother spent a week on that island.

 

[Jen414]

Yeah it was marked. I was also thinking how many limos do they have for the president and how do they get them to the places where he is going? The one that I saw had DC plates.

I was reading this morning that the stop he made at the police barracks was a surprise stop to thank all the workers that having been working on flood reflief and that is were the headquarters is.

The limos came right out of the helicopters. There were 3 military-type helicopters and 2 that could be Marine One--looked exactly the same with the Presidential seal and all. Then there were 2 Presidential limos. The President was in the 2nd one and the windows were only tinted slightly so you could see him and he was waving to everyone.

I don't think there was much pre-planning for this part of his visit; I think it was pretty spur of the moment. My husband is a detective in town. The chief of police found out about it at 1:30ish. Another friend is a State Trooper and he found out about the same time. I am positive they usually do lots of pre-planning for the President normally, but I don't think they did for this.

 

[liamsaunt]

The three Presidential helicopters just flew right by my window! They did have a seal on them. I was wondering why they were so big. Now I know, they have limos inside!

 

[Disney Doll]

So, kwelch...what are you doing that you are being followed by the Secret Service?

Along the notes of the discussion about the "hoopla" surrounding the President (the office, not the current office holder...this is not a political discussion). I have always found all the "workings" of that stuff very interesting. How they move him from place to place, the protocols involved in all that State Department type stuff, the levels of security required and so forth...fascinating....

I often think when I see the President walking around in a crowd (ie-the Inaugural day when they get out of the car to wave to the people) that the Secret Service must absolutely HATE that. I mean, it's a situation that they only have so much control over, no matter how well-prepared they are. They must all be there thinking "Get back in the damn car". And it's got to be worse when they go overseas, especially if it to a not-so-friendly country.

 

[kwelch10377]

So, kwelch...what are you doing that you are being followed by the Secret Service?

I am still trying to figure that out! Of course when the first motorcycle cop came up behind me and I didn't know what was going on, all I could think of is, I swear I wasn't speeding!

 

[momrek06]

When I first moved to CA from MA (July '08) DH & I came upon a very busy 4 way intersection here in SoCal. We happened to be the first car in one of the many lanes of traffic. Anyway, before you know it, CHIPS are EVERYWHERE ... I mean many many CHIPS on motorcycles all in the intersection stopping ALL traffic. Now we wait, nothing is happening, we had no idea what was going on, people are all sitting patiently, shrugging their shoulders at one another as if to say "what's going on" ... we continue to just sit as CHIPS are just in the middle of this intersection. Close to 5 minutes pass and then all of a sudden a motorcade of SUV's comes flying through the intersection, quite a few of them with more CHIPS.

Then the procession is over and we are kept waiting another 5 minutes.

Finally, we are waved on. The next day it was in our paper that OBAMA was in town speaking at a fundraiser. Funny thing about it, he was NOT even President at the time. HUGE security ... seems like more in '08, than yesterday in Boston. AND SoCal is used to celebrities, they are all over the place.