How far will folks go to attend inaugural?

The presidential campaign may have been long and grueling, but some of the lengths taken to get to the inauguration seem downright torturous.

Five busloads leave the Jewel Grand Bazaar at 87th Street and the Dan Ryan at 4 p.m. Monday embarking on a nearly 700-mile, 12-plus-hour trip across one time zone, a handful of states, the Appalachian Mountains and beltway traffic before arriving at the Capitol Skyline hotel in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the inauguration.

But don't get too comfortable.

Sponsors made arrangements for travelers to freshen up, get a bite to eat and catch the ceremony on big-screen TV if they don't want to wander out in the Washington winter. The forecast is for temperatures in the single digits.

Then, once it's over, they'll get back on the bus and be back in Chicago on Wednesday.

"We're going to sleep on the bus," said state Rep. Connie Howard, a Chicago Democrat who helped organize the trip after being overwhelmed with requests.

"It's not difficult if you're in great shape like me," said the 66-year-old lawmaker.

By the way, none of them have tickets to the actual inauguration. Howard said people just want to be able to say they were in the capital for Barack Obama's historic swearing in. "We decided we would just go," she said.

And they won't be alone.

On a typical workday, Washington's population almost doubles to just under 1 million as suburban residents commute downtown. At noon Tuesday, that population could triple if not quadruple. Local officials have predicted as many as 4 million people could show up along the National Mall just so they will be able say they were there.

Keep in mind there are only 240,000 tickets to the event and they were gobbled up long ago. An additional 5,000 bleacher seats along the parade route were released last week and sold out in minutes.

But the National Mall is largely open to the public and will have huge video banks showing the ceremony.

Hundreds of suburbanites will be among the thousands if not millions attending. One is Gregory Koeppen, of Grayslake.

"In my wildest dreams, I never thought we would actually get tickets to the inauguration," said Koeppen, who, along with Michael Higgins of Hainesville got tickets through Congressman Mark Kirk. "We thought Grant Park was going to be the highlight of Obama's election, but now we will be standing at the foot of the Capitol as our new president takes office."

Kim White of Naperville was invited back in the summer to one of the numerous balls. Now she and her family have a chance to see history. Lucky for her, she booked her hotel and travel months ago.

Even before Obama won in November, the hotels began filling up and most were gone soon after. A Holiday Inn across the Potomac in Arlington, Va., goes for $400 a night, with a four-night minimum - standard fare for this event.

In the Washington area, residents are being advised to avoid the highways and subways and expect to walk They've also been told to stock up on groceries and other essentials as the inaugural crowd descends on the district.