The National Owner-Operators Trucking Association protest on the Mall Tuesday morning wasn’t a Lynyrd Skynyrd-themed monster truck rally, after all. Locals listening to morning traffic reports, of course, got the impression that an army of Benzedrine-addled 18-wheeler drivers was about to end civilized commuting forever by driving to D.C. to decry oil prices. But the rally actually culminated in a polite group of truckers turning onto 3rd Street NW, parking, and marching toward the Capitol. Metropolitan Police Department officers on hand took it easy. “They can stay as late as they want,” said one officer. “We’re on overtime.” The real action, meanwhile, took place at the National Gallery of Art on 7th Street, where two curators and three guards carefully eyed the perimeter and guarded their blooming bushes just in case any marauding teamsters showed up. —Andrew Katz

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