(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama strode down the platform with his family, greeted the conductor, and boarded the Philadelphia train bound for Washington, an ordinary scene that belied the extraordinary significance of the ride. The 137-mile journey from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C. -- where Obama takes the oath of office Tuesday -- retraces the train route taken by his hero Abraham Lincoln as he traveled to assume the presidency in 1861.

Obama is planning to stop in Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore, Maryland, along the way. In Wilmington, spirits were high as crowds shivering people gathered, sang and celebrated waiting for the train to pull in.

The train will slow down as it passes through Claymont, Delaware, and Edgewood, Maryland, for what's called a "slow roll," so that Obama can wave at residents who gather near the tracks.

i don't really see the appeal besides the first black president part which is what will probably get me, and also that i just know the whole obama entity so well now, but there's too much crap i don't like about him now to overlook.

i wonder how many people will be hoping for him to catch a bullet.

not even because they like him but because they paid 20,000 bucks to be there and need it to be worth it.

I am in northern virginia and i kind of want to go to this since it's only a short metro ride away but holy fuck 2 million people? idk man. the lines are going to be horrendous.

gotta say though, today wasn't really that bad. i guess the influx starts tomorrow?

two million people

if he got shot I wouldn't be surprised if that entire city got ripped apart.