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Crowds gather during the opening inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. Many Mainers are driving down and staying with friends to see Tuesday's swearing-in.

Follow Justin in Washington D.C. as he writes about the inauguration and Mainers taking part in the festivities. Find his reports on pressherald.com or follow @justinNXT on Twitter.

By even the most modest guesses, the crowds descending on Washington, D.C., today will dwarf the population of Maine.

It will be a madhouse of historic proportions as people from around the country and across the world try to squeeze into any space possible to witness the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Let's add to that picture dropping temperatures, security checkpoints, road closures and inevitable traffic snarls and an immovable mass of humanity – all of which are enough to make even a credentialed journalist rethink his plans.

So why would anyone drive more than 500 miles, brave the wilds of Connecticut and New Jersey and spend almost 10 hours on the road to enter this?

"It's going to be one of those occasions you tell your grandkids about," said Scott Caparelli of Portland, who planned to drive to D.C. over the weekend.

While some Mainers will be able to take in the inauguration on the club level, flying directly to D.C. and enjoying tickets to the ceremonies and balls, many others are going to wing it, carpooling and couch-surfing their way through the swearing-in and celebrations.

"The whole thing is just so amorphous and so unknown," said Kerry Gallivan of Yarmouth.

Gallivan, 38, and a friend planned to leave Friday, stopping overnight in Massachusetts before making the final leg of the journey Saturday. They'll be crashing at a friend's apartment near the National Zoo.

"I'm going to park my car as soon as we get down there on Saturday and not touch it again until we leave," he said.

He's got no tickets and no access, but he said the way Obama captured the country's spirit and inspired millions continues to be a powerful motivator. As he makes his way through the District, he's counting on a favored Obama campaign buzzword to guide him.

"I'm holding out hope I can get an official ticket," Gallivan said. "But just being down there and experiencing everything will be kind of fun."

In some ways, it is fitting to gas up and go for the big day. The American Road Trip is as iconic a pursuit as grilling on the Fourth of July or eating turkey on Thanksgiving.

Sure, most of us still bear scars from sharing long, drawn-out hours with siblings or cousins in the back of a Detroit-made roadster. But in the end, those grim – yet fond – memories made us stronger, or at least more appreciative of air travel.

Wendy Diffin knows it won't be a cakewalk. She's relying on friends and a few connections to get through the inauguration.

"Even before (Obama) won, I said, 'If he wins, I'm going. I don't care how I get there,'" she said.

In this case, that meant a circuitous car ride with friends, including stops in Massachusetts and New York to fill out the itinerary.

Diffin essentially has no plan, just a high threshold for flexibility. She wants to volunteer today as part of the day of service, but she's not sure she'll be able to make her way around the District.

On Tuesday, she's planning on being up early and donning the finest in Maine outerwear.

"I brought warm long johns, a hat, gloves and UGG boots," she said. "I hope I'll be warm."

For Caparelli, 26, the decision to go to D.C. was and wasn't easy. He struggled with the idea of fighting the crowds versus being part of history.

And then he found out that his ticket request had come through.

Now he's one of the lucky ones.

"It's kind of an honor because so few tickets were given out," he said.

Caparelli plans to stay with his sister and is sharing his other ticket with a friend.

Caparelli calls himself an independent who can be equally swayed by appeals from the left and the right. But it was Obama's message of moving past political affiliations and meeting the potential the country creates that inspired him, he said.

Even with a golden ticket that gets him on...