Two buses headed to inauguration fill fast

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com

James Wilkie received some good advice from N.C. Rep. Fred Steen about attending the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama Jan. 20.

Wear good walking shoes and have plenty of warm clothing, Steen told him.

Wilkie, who lives in southern Rowan County, has organized and filled two charter buses that will be taking 102 people to the inauguration next week.

One bus will leave from Sandy Ridge AME Zion Church in Landis, and the other will depart from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Lexington the morning of Jan. 19.

The group will return Jan. 21.

Back in September, almost two months before the election, Wilkie and some friends began discussing the possibility that Obama might be chosen president. If that happened, they said to each other, shouldn't they plan to be in Washington for what would be an historic inauguration?

They set in motion plans for at least a 47-passenger charter bus and made reservations at a hotel in Alexandria, Va.

Wilkie said finding hotel rooms in September wasn't a problem. "It was wide open," he said.

He was surprised, however, at the immediate and overwhelming interest in the bus trip. He eventually needed another bus (which will hold 55 people) as word spread of the trip.

People started signing up from places such as Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington and Atlanta.

"I didn't advertise nothing," Wilkie said.

Wilkie, 66, said going to the inauguration is important because it represents history to him as a black American.

"I never thought I'd see it," he says.