Riding along with Kansas Citians going to the Women’s March on Washington

Kansas City Star (MO)

Jan. 20--This Saturday, more than 200,000 people are expected to travel to the nation's capital for the Women's March on Washington. Among them? Roughly 800 women from Kansas and Missouri. Reporter Katy Bergen is documenting the journey of more than 100 Kansas City women headed to Washington, D.C., this weekend. Follow along here:

2:15 pm, Friday, January 20, Illinois:

It's quiet on the bus now although there was a moment of brief excitement when we passed the St. Louis Arch.

We are in...Illinois! pic.twitter.com/8iJqz4Bne8

-- Katy Bergen (@KatyBergen) January 20, 2017

I chatted with my random seatmate, Christi Clemons Hoffman, a Reiki master who also does part-time work for Hallmark.

This isn't the first foray into activism for the Kansas City native. She says she participated in several protests over the years for various issues in Kansas City and in 2004 she rode on a charter bus to Washington D.C. to protest the war in Iraq.

Trump's election shocked her, she said. His recorded words about groping women. His lack of political experience. Flip-flopping on his own campaign promises. All of it was a "deal-breaker."

"That's what really confounds me," Hoffman said. "If people are fed up with business as usual, why did they elect a One Percenter who is filling his cabinet with rich white guys?"

One good thing from the election? A network of women with similar ideas for activism in 2017 that she found mostly through online groups that formed after the election.

"It completely helped my sanity," Hoffman said. "Those groups helped immensely. I didn't feel like I was alone."

12:20 a.m. Friday, Missouri...Still

The inauguration ceremony may have passed but you wouldn't know it on this bus. It didn't seem like anyone was watching it.

I chatted with 17-year-old Grace Dolan of Blue Springs, during a pit stop in Kingdom City. Dolan was in an airport a few weeks ago when she saw an online post about the march and quickly decided it was something she wanted to be part of.

Meet Grace Dolan, 17 and traveling to #womensmarch alone. "I think it's an opportunity to be part of history," she said. @amazinggrace014 pic.twitter.com/tqK3Sdp9BR

-- Katy Bergen (@KatyBergen) January 20, 2017

Grace lives with her mom in Missouri, but her dad is in D.C. Perfect, right? Well, Dad needed a little convincing; he wasn't exactly sure what the event was. Grace, who is involved in speech and debate in high school, had a plan.

"I got my debater voice on and I told him about women's rights," Grace told me.

Grace told me she is marching for issues like reproductive rights and equal pay, but also simply to support the idea that women's ideas and voices are important.

"I think a lot of times women are just overlooked, and seen as quiet and timid and that's just not true," Grace said.

While the teen hasn't even voted in her first election yet, she said she and her friends try to be engaged.

"I think it's an opportunity to be part of history," she said about the march. "I'm a little nervous because I don't know what to expect but I'm mostly really excited."

10 a.m. Friday, Missouri

We are off! Roughly 110 women met in the parking lot of Silverstein Eye Centers Arena this morning and got situated. There is a genuine feeling of excitement on the bus. (We'll see if the mood fades as we get further into this 20 hour bus ride.)

Gloria Steinem <--- who everyone on this bus is excited to see or hear at @womensmarch

-- Katy Bergen (@KatyBergen) January 20, 2017

In the parking lot, I met Jenny Nolan, a 32-year old account executive who is marching to make a statement to the Trump administration, particularly about the importance of preserving reproductive rights and ending sexual assault. You can hear what she said in the video above.

9:30 a.m. Friday, Missouri

What exactly is going to happen at the march? Here's the plan, according to event organizers. A rally is expected to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Independence Avenue and Southwest Third Street, near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Event organizers released a list of speakers this week, as well as information on musical performances. The list includes transgender-rights activist Janet Mock; Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards; feminist Gloria Steinem; Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser; filmmaker Michael Moore; and actresses Scarlett Johansson, America Ferrera and Ashley Judd, among many others.

More than a dozen musical guests are expected to perform, including KCK's Janelle Monáe, the Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

A brief march is then planned for roughly 1:15 p.m. The march is expected to end near the Washington Monument.

9 a.m. Friday, Silverstein Eye Centers Arena

Hi, everyone! Katy here. I first heard about local efforts to send Kansas City women to the Women's March on Washington in November, when the march was first taking form. In the weeks since, 150 women have made plans to head to D.C. for the Women's March on Saturday on three buses. Dozens more will fly or drive there themselves. The event is intended to be a show of support for civil rights and minority groups in the wake of Trump's election and is expected to be one of the larger Washington, D.C., marches in American history.

Today is the meet-up. The group boards buses in Independence and expects to arrive in Washington, D.C., at 6 a.m. Saturday. The march begins at 10 a.m. at the Capitol, and continues until 5 p.m. (Eastern time!). Keep following along for notes, videos and photos from our journey across the country. You can also follow me on Twitter at @KatyBergen.

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