Covering visits from presidents and vice presidents — or those running for those offices — can be exhausting.

It’s not the actual events that are difficult, but the hoops journalists often have to jump through primarily before it that make it so challenging.

I learned last Friday that Vice President J.D. Vance, a Republican and former U.S. senator from Ohio, would be returning Monday to East Palestine to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the horrific train derailment in the village.

Memories of covering Republican Donald Trump in East Palestine as he was running for president on Feb. 22, 2023, and then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, when he came to the village on Feb. 16, 2024, kept going through my mind.

When Trump came, the media had to get to the tiny fire station in East Palestine before the sun came up, stand around for about an hour, get kicked out of the location for a few hours, return about 90 minutes before his arrival and then wait for him to speak.

One thing the press was told repeatedly was there wasn’t a public restroom at the fire station so it wasn’t a fun experience.

Trump also ran behind schedule.

This was only 19 days after the derailment occurred, and there were a lot of concerns about the safety of the village so to spend about eight hours there wasn’t at the top of my to-do list.

Covering Biden was even worse.

The White House insisted that photographer R. Michael Semple and I had to be at the Pittsburgh Air Force Station to be in the presidential motorcade even though I asked numerous times to let me know where Biden would be in East Palestine and I’d cover him there.

Instead, we drove past East Palestine to Pittsburgh to join the motorcade several hours before the event. Biden made four stops and gave prepared remarks for a few minutes at one of them before we were rushed back to our van to wait for him to make a final stop before the drive back to Pittsburgh.

I skipped the final stop and wrote my article in the van. It’s a good thing I did that as a heavy snowstorm hit and it took me twice as long to get home as it normally does — and way past deadline.

I’ve had even worse experiences covering presidents and vice presidents and candidates for the offices.

But I’m happy to report that the Vance event was one of the more pleasant experiences I’ve had in these situations.

The White House Correspondents’ Association contacted me Sunday asking to be the print pool reporter and join Vance’s motorcade from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna to East Palestine and then back.

I politely declined.

Then the Vance team provided me with logistics of his visit, which stated if I had equipment I had to be at the East Palestine Fire Station — yes, the same site as Trump’s visit — no later than 9 a.m. with Vance delivering remarks at 12:45 p.m.

I asked Vance’s team if I could be there around noon because I didn’t have any equipment and was told that was fine. That certainly made my Sunday preparation for the Monday event much more pleasant.

I left my house at 11 a.m. Monday and arrived shortly after 11:30 a.m. rightfully concerned that I would have a problem finding a parking spot. Finding a place to park took 10 minutes after a business owner told me I couldn’t park in a number of places. After being checked by the Secret Service, I was inside the fire station before noon.

While inside, I learned from other reporters without equipment that they showed up by the 9 a.m. deadline and had to kill time until the Secret Service reopened the small building at 11:45 a.m.

Vance was supposed to speak at 12:45 p.m., but it was closer to 2 p.m. before he delivered remarks that lasted for less than two minutes.

After Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and Gov. Mike DeWine each spoke for less than two minutes each, Vance took questions from reporters for about 15 to 20 minutes and it was over.

Well, almost over.

The vice presidential motorcade had to leave East Palestine and that meant no one else was leaving the village until it pulled out.

I knew this and sat for about 20 minutes at a traffic light before I watched the motorcade go by — thankful that I wasn’t in it.

When the last Ohio State Highway Patrol car drove past me, I followed as the route to my home was the same. For most of the drive, I was in the car right behind the motorcade.

I tried to keep my distance, but I could tell the OSHP officers driving the last two cars in both lanes to block traffic took notice of me, probably because I was following for about 30 minutes.

At one point on state Route 11, the two vehicles put on their brakes and slowed to 40 mph. I was hoping they weren’t going to pull me over. But they kept going at a slow speed and probably were relieved to see me finally get off at the Boardman-Canfield exit as they headed to YARS.

Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com