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Keith McCord ReportingThe president is back home tonight after his very brief visit to Salt Lake. It was a whirlwind 15 hours of handshakes, speeches and political meetings. To get a president in and out of town so efficiently takes a lot of planning.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to travel like the president for just one day? Think about it: Someone is always flying or driving you around; no long lines or high prices at the gas pump to worry about. Run all the red lights if you want, and go as fast as you want, the cops will never stop you.
Presidential visits are always well choreographed. At President Bush's arrival last night he was greeted with music, flood lights, and a crowd of people on hand to welcome him. This wasn't a spontaneous gathering; these were invited guests-and probably not a democrat among them!
When the president had concluded his appearances, getting out of town was a snap. At 11:31, he wrapped up his final speech of the day. His motorcade left the hotel at 11:46, and with all the intersections cleared and all the freeway on-ramps blocked, the president arrived at Salt Lake International six minutes later.
When the president is about to leave, security gets tighter than it already is. Other planes cannot take off or land; they just line up one behind the other on taxiways and wait.
When the motorcade arrives, it's a whirlwind of activity. The vehicles circle behind Air Force One and the Presidents' SUV pulls right up to the stairs. With a few final handshakes, he's up the stairs and gone.
At 12:02, the door closed, the engines revved immediately and the plane started to taxi. Four minutes later the president was on his way back to Washington.
From podium to take off; took all of 35-minutes. Now that's the way to travel!
This was President Bush's 4th visit to Utah.
