Doug Mataconis · · 9 comments

Good news:

TUCSON – Hundreds of well-wishers waved and cheered Friday as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords left the hospital here and later arrived at a Houston rehabilitation center that will guide her through the next step in her recovery.

The Arizona Democrat was loaded into a waiting ambulance at University Medical Center and a motorcade took off for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where she and others took a private plane to Texas. Plans called for Giffords to be taken by helicopter to a Houston hospital where she first will be evaluated.

A motorcade that included several police patrol cars left the hospital in Tucson under tight security. There were about 100 people lined up at the corner of Golf Links and Swan roads. That is the corner where an ambulance transporting Giffords turned into the base.

As the motorcade passed, the window of Gifford’s husband, Mark Kelly, was down. He waved, spurring cheers and applause from the crowd.