One is of course on the edge of great metropolis there, where the houses are built up in swirls into the golden hills, and where the freeway widens to more lanes than one can count at a glance, and the traffic thickens and roars. It is the Metropolis of California. Sacramento is the edge of it, but one knows that from here forward to the coast, and south to border, it is all the same California--Continuous California, where the cities and their outliers are a web of exits on freeways that are lined by brush and bushes and tall palms that silhouette hillsides of rounded tops or crested by houses that form neat jagged lines.
I had had the notion to stop at the State Capitol and to pray on the steps, just silentl begging God to help the State and Nation at this moment. The night before in Tahoe Vista I had looked up the exit in downtown Sacramento for the capitol, and located a nearby parking garage on the map. I left the map open in a browser on my laptop to consult in my car.
The exit wfinally came. It finally appeared. I turned off on to the frontage road and headed along 10th towards the direction of the parking garage. It would take me past the front of the capitol before I got to the garage.. There was a Taiwanese Restaurant just one black along the street--a good sign---and businesses and odd-shaped little official-looking buildings on either side.
I had choreographed the approach to the garage it in my mind, as I always do when doing a vehicle expedition into a city..
I knew the Capitol would be closed . I wasn't interested in going inside. In my choreography anticipated finding the garage, then walking to the Capitol, and just sitting on the steps for a few moments to pray.
From a block away I saw the street up ahead opposite the traffic light was by blocked off by a meal guard rail. A uniformed cop was standing behnd the rail, and other cops were visible behind him All traffic had to turn right on the one way street going east that went around the east side of the capitol.. As I made the turn I looked down the blocked off street and saw it was filled with people. I could see many were carrying Trump flags and US flags.
The street that I had turned onto was many lanes wide. It ran for four five blocks without allowing a left turn, because the street was south edge of the expansive wooded park to the east of statehouse. After several blocks I realized that one of the trucks ahead of me was flying the American flags and Trump flags from its pick up bed. i
Finally I was able to turn left. But when I turned again to head west to get to the garage. I found this street too was blocked as well by another uniformed police officer. Realizing I'd need a bigger detour to get to the garage, I used my wits and circled back immediately and headed north again on the street I had been on. Luckily I saw a free parking space on the curb with no meter. I was relieved to get out of the car on solid ground. I found myself in front of a trendy Asian cuisine eatery.
It was about 1 o'clock when I parked. I hoped the rally wasn't over already. I figured I could catch the ending of it at least.
I considered for a minute to change clothes quickly in the car into one of my red Trump shirts, to wear under by jacket, or to wear my USA Trump, the sight of which on my noggin set off my lovely sister into rage a year ago. But I was already a Trump, and I figured I that would be the right thing to do was to be myself, so I decided to go in the clothes I was wearing.
I walked quickly along the sidewalks in the blocks until I got the the capitol park, which is an expansive arboretum of the species of California, interlaced with paved walkways in various directions. I passed people dining in restaurants outdoors in patios and under heating lamps. It strained my charity to think of them and how they probably thought about the election.
Once I got in the park, and mingled among the people on the paths . It was clear that many of the people walking around were going to and from the Trump rally. One young man was talking about a famous Black Internet personality who supports Trump.
I navigated through the trees and found the central tree-lined alley that led me to the middle of the east side of the great buildingg. I could see the back steps. It was obvious from the barricades and the continuous line of cops standing and facing outward, one every fifty feet or so, that there would praying on the capitol steps today.
I held my hands clasped out in front of me, fingers interlaced, and recited the Jesus Prayer as I walked in front of the line of police, my eyes half closed as I walked alone down the wide sidewalk that went along the metal barricade.. Up ahead I heard the sound of honking, including one like a semi, echoed by other horns of smaller trucks.
When I got to the corner I saw the parade of trucks was not a continuous line displaying all the flags---Stars and Stripes, Trump, MAGA, Gadsen. There was a truck driven by a Hispanic guy with just the Trump flag and the Mexican flag. They were lined up, coming around the corner I had turned earlier, and like a road rally around the Capitol. Trump supporters with flags stood in front of the barricade, cheering on the trucks. Six or seven Sacramento PD officers wearing black uniforms and black masks were standing around behind the metal barricade. People were going through a gap in the barricade where several cops stood close by. I lingered to appreciate the trucks, my ears watering with emotion, and then turned and went through the gap in the barricade.
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