I've kept you in suspense long enough.

Hello Dear Readers,
The story of my papal experience is a funny one, of course. After running around like a mad woman on Tuesday night (first stop: Dave and Hex's to get camera, take pictures with Remi and get an invite for dinner, followed by Tracy's to get Hokies camping chair, watch the end of the Biggest Loser, and tour her deck, followed by trip to Giant for provisions of peanut butter and jelly, Goldfish crackers, trail mix and bottled soda, then home to pack up and eat dinner) I finally felt prepared to see the pope. I set my alarm clock for 5:30am and fell asleep at 1:00am.

The morning came way too fast, but because I was CERTAIN that every person in the world was going to line the pope's route, I decided I had to forge on with my plan. My hair was mildly straight from the day before, and I didn't feel too dirty, so I decided not to take a shower so I could get downtown even faster and get an even better seat! I parked in Georgetown and started walking. The first person I encountered was Julie Carey, reporter for NBC 4 news, along with her camera crew.
Here's a rundown of how our conversation went:

Julie: (eyeing my camping chair and backpack) "Excuse me, are you headed to see the pope?"
Kim: "Yes. Yes I am."
J: "Oh that's great! I've been walking up and down Pennsylvania Avenue looking for people who have come early to get a good view, but no one's here yet. Since you're the first person I've seen, would you mind going over to our news truck to do an interview?"
K: "You mean nobody's here yet?"
J: "That's right. Can we do an interview?"
K: "Ummm ... did you walk all the way down to the White House?"
J: "I did. No one is here. Can we do that interview now?"

That's right, people. At 6:00am, I was officially the first person to secure my spot on the popemobile route. If that doesn't get me a ticket into heaven, I don't know what will! And let's not forget how I got 4 hours of sleep and didn't shower, so I had to conduct said interview looking like a half-dead, disheveled version of myself. Plus I was a little sweaty from the 50 pounds of gear I was hauling, so let's just say I'm more than glad that no one caught my interview when it aired later in the morning. If they had, I think I would have looked something like this...

So after my interview, I went to find the perfect popemobile viewing area. I settled in at the corner of 22nd and Pennsylvania. The time? 7:30am. This was the mob scene I had to fight to get my spot:

Needless to say, I was pretty bored for the first 3 hours of my journey. Luckily I had yet another reporter and camera crew come by to keep me company. On the ONE DAY that I don't shower and I'm sleepy and sweaty, not one but TWO people ask to interview me. A girl can go her whole life without being interviewed, but it happens to me twice in as many hours, and I look like a mess. This next reporter was from the Associated Press, and he asked me the same questions as the first reporter. I contemplated filling out a FAQ sheet and just handing it out to every reporter that requested an interview so I could save my voice for when the pope arrived, but I felt that would seem like I was trying to take attention away from pope ... but dare I say, for a few short hours, I was getting more press coverage than he was!

Eventually more people arrived and after a mere 6 hours, the popemobile passed me in about 6 seconds. But it was an amazing 6 seconds! As you'll see, I was joined by thousands of other papal well-wishers, as well as more police and secret service than I knew existed. Here are some photos of the event, and thank you to everyone who kept me company that day with their phone calls and texts! I'll put in a good word for you with the Big Guy Upstairs!