THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606220296
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DALE CITY LENGTH: 55 lines
The Olympic Torch left the White House and did that most American of things Friday en route to Atlanta and next month's games: It stopped at McDonald's.
The flame left Washington's banners and bunting and headed south through Virginia, with bivouacs in historic spots such as George Washington's Mount Vernon home and Thomas Jefferson's beloved University of Virginia.
But stop No. 3 on Day 56 of the tightly scripted passage was the 9,000-space parking lot at Potomac Mills, the hulking discount outlet that state tourism officials call Virginia's No. 1 destination for out-of-state visitors.
Runners panting in 90-degree mid-morning heat carried the torch hand to hand among the standard suburban car dealerships and gas stations that line the approaches to the mall in Prince William County.
The flame took a hard right at a McDonald's opposite the mall and came to rest at a podium surrounded by sweating politicians and a high school orchestra arrayed in plastic chairs on the simmering pavement.
McDonald's helped sponsor the 10-minute layover with free food for the VIPs and some of the army of torch staffers and volunteers.
``It's not a Happy Meal, but I'll take it. I haven't slept more than three hours since Monday and I can't remember what I had for breakfast,'' one worker said as she grabbed the fast food bag.
Nearby, tour buses disgorged bargain hunters, not a few of whom looked startled to see the police cars, recreational vehicles and hangers-on of the Olympic caravan assembled a few hundred yards from the mall's main entrance.
Twenty miles up the road at Mount Vernon, a chaotic American pageant of politicians, beauty queens, football players and vacationing schoolchildren greeted the torch.
Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green sped the flame down the plantation's spreading lawn and handed off to an actor dressed as the first president.
``I didn't feel like a football player,'' Green said later. ``I felt part of something bigger.''
Descendants of the Washington family and a 10th generation descendant of a slave who worked at Mount Vernon also turned laps around the driveway in front of the famous white mansion.
More than 10,000 torch bearers are carrying the torch to Atlanta and the Summer Games.
Gov. George Allen is scheduled to give the flame a bon voyage in Richmond at 7 a.m. Saturday. It will head south through Petersburg and South Hill en route to Raleigh, N.C., for the night. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Douglas Clay of Charlottesville carries the Olympic Torch up the
Lawn at the University of Virginia Friday. Gov. George Allen will
give the flame a bon voyage in Richmond around 7 a.m. today. by CNB