Reagan's final journey

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Nancy Reagan touched her cheek to the flag-covered casket, then made way for Americans by the thousands to pay respects Monday to Ronald Reagan before a cross-country journey to a state funeral in Washington.

A steady, near-silent stream of people — some saluting, some praying — circled through the rotunda of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where the body of the nation's 40th president will lie in repose through Tuesday before traveling to Washington. After Friday's state funeral, the body will return to California for a hilltop burial service at sunset.

A Marine Corps band played "Hail to the Chief" as eight armed forces members carried the casket into the presidential library, past a 10-foot-tall sculpture titled "After the Ride" depicting Reagan as a smiling cowboy with a Stetson in his hand.

The journey began at a Santa Monica funeral home, where the mahogany casket was placed aboard a hearse for a 40-mile drive to the library in Simi Valley.

Clusters of people watched from overpasses and roadsides as the motorcade headed north, then west on the Ronald Reagan Freeway, its path cleared by motorcycle officers. One banner hung along the route declared, "God bless you Ronald & Nancy." Another proclaimed, "God bless the Gipper."

Flags at half-staff fluttered under an overcast sky as the casket was carried into the library rotunda before a brief family service.

"As we were in procession, I couldn't help but think of the love and the outpouring that has begun in the nation for a great president, a great world leader and a faithful servant of almighty God," said the Rev. Michael Wenning, retired senior pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, where Reagan had worshipped.

When the service ended, Mrs. Reagan, dressed in a black suit and pearls, walked to the casket, placing her left cheek against the flag's field of stars. Her daughter, Patti Davis, hugged her tightly and other family members joined them, placing hands on the casket.

Soon after the family departed, the first of many chartered buses arrived, bringing members of the public who had been waiting — in some cases for hours — for a chance to pay respects to Reagan, who died on Saturday after a 10-year struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

The library was prepared to have 2,000 people an hour move past the casket for 30 hours. Twenty-seven buses shuttled mourners about five miles from a college, which was shut down to provide parking.