By morning the wind had stopped and cold had set in. We got an early start and headed north to the Twin Cities. We stopped in Fargo for lunch with friends.
North Dakota was cold, but the roads were clear and we made good time. Dixie and I lived for 5 years in North Dakota and still feel at home in the Big Empty. Warmest people in the country.
We spent the night in Miles City, Montana, having driven 800 miles.
Early start this morning, as snow has moved in. Fought a light snow for 400 miles, across the passes and along the rivers, but made it home this afternoon.
Good trip. President Obama made it all worth the effort.
We got out of Wheeling late. Dixie loves the casinos. I enjoy reading while she plays.
As we got a late start, we did not get very far and spent last night in Danforth, IL.
Today in Iowa we hit ground blizzards and thought we would try and get north of it. Didn't happen. We are stranded in Northern Iowa for the night.
We arose early yesterday and did a tour of Arlington Cemetray. What a place. Emma felt we had to visit since we were so close. This visit did delay our leaving DC by a couple of hours. Emma wanted to see Baltimore, home of Hair Spray, so we drove there first. And we drove there very slowly. The only heavy traffic we have had for the whole trip.
Then we stopped at Gettysburg to view the battle sight. Here we found out that we were probably too far from Pittsburgh for the Kids to catch their flights home and to college. I drove as fast as I dared, but we just missed their flights. We got them rescheduled for the 22nd and set up in a hotel at the airport (pricey, aren't they?) and drove to Wheeling, WV.
For those I have promised photos, I can not download them to this computer, so everyone will have to wait. Sorry.
The ObamaCart made the NY Times yesterday, so I guess we have arrived.
Sunday Jeff and Emma flew into Pittsburgh and Jeff's baggage was lost so we had to spend the night. Monday we got out late and drove to DC. We swung south and came in from the south east to avoid traffic. Missed our motel and wound up down town. Parked and spent a few hours on the mall. Then back to the motel. Very light traffic.
Then to the MYBO Grassroots Soical. Cheryl had given a power point on the Obamacart, so when we arrived with my wheel, we got a warm reception. Had a great time and returned to the motle around midnight.
This morning up before 5 and got a cab down to the mall. I wanted to watch the show from the Lincoln Memorial, but was over ruled so we moved. To the WWII Memoial where Emma and I found good seats. But, that was not to be either. Dixie and Jeff went to the Washington Monument and called us, so we joined them.
So, we watched our dreams come true from the cold, wind swept hill top which surrounds the Washington Monument. The crowd was so thinck you could hardly move, but not heavy enough to create enogh body heat to warm the place.
What a wonderful experience! It was everything I wished it would be.
Afterwards, we worked our way back out of the mall, across the river to Arlington Cemetary and caught the Metro then a cab back to the room. Tonight we are going out again, but nothing will ever top today.
I really do not know if anyone is reading these posts, but it will be a record if the aliens capture us.
This morning the roads were the pits. 30 miles an hour. Car is rotten in the snow or ice.
Made Pittsburgh. Jeff's luggage is lost, so we have a room in Pittsburgh for tonight. Staying at the Doubletree Hilton. Nice place
Tomorrow DC
Still have an extra room, it ayone cares.
if you need a place to crash let me know.
Another 620 miles done. Tough roads today. Right outside of Sioux City was a wreck. A truck pulling a trailer rolled. Truck went end over end. Trailer looked like a horse trailer to me, but I saw no horses. Four ambulances passed us going to the scene. Iowa was icy for 150 miles so we went slow. Didn't make Indianapolis, but came close.
Thanks to Laura, we stayed with her in Iowa when we were on our Obamacart tour, she is driving about one day ahead of us and keeps us up to date on weather.
Wind turbines in Iowa are impressive. Dixie and I like their looks, but I know some folks think they are ugly. Energy of the future.
Sign up for the grassroots ball.
Made it from Hardin< Montana to souix City Iowa today. Good roads. We are just following the storm. Folks tell us today is the first nice day in a week. The weather is sort of "Obalmy"
See you in DC
We are on the road again. Heading to Washington, only without the Obamacart. I do have a wheel which I am having people sign. We left Anaconda at 4:30 and are spending the night in Hardin, near the Little Bighorn Battlefield.
We still have a hotel room to get rid of, if anyone wants it.
The Obama Cart will be in Butte this Saturday, attending a fundraiser at the War Bonnet. Drop by and sign it and say "How she goin.'"
Election night it will probably be at the Elks Club here in Anaconda, unless we get a better offer.
After 7000 miles and 24 states and Washington D.C. its journey is almost over.
For the next few weeks the ObamaCart is in the Bitterroot Valley. You can see it on the East side of the highway right before Stevensville.
Milissa has several Obama signs up and it is hard to miss, but, of course, I missed it.
Stop by and sign it.
Just got back from Belgrade. It was a lot of fun.
The traffic in Belgrade is equal to that of much of the east coast, at least it was today. I was planning on arriving at the Event Center at 9, but due to traffic, I was at the school instead and did not arrive until 9:30. Elizabeth found me and set me straight. We got the ObamaCart together and got in line.
I thought we had quite a few Obama supporters in the parade. Not hundreds, but a nice group. My daughter, Cheyenne and a friend of hers pulled the cart most of the parade route before being relieved by three young ladies from Belgrade.
Along the route as we went through Belgrade's older town with our paraders chanting O-Ba-Ma, the crowd picked up the chant and it echoed off the old brick buildings back to us. I sounded as if everyone was chanting, but we all know Belgrade has its fair share of Republicans.
At what I believe is the Lewis and Clark Park we had a booth set up for the Democrats. We parked the ObamaCart at the booth and enjoyed the rest of the morning and early afternoon with the great people of Belgrade. Free barbeque. Can't beat that. The girls played in the park and ran loose for awhile, before we disassembled the cart and came home.
As we were working our way through the park with the cart to leave, a lady stopped us and told us that her brother supported Obama and her husband supported McCain. So she always took pictures of anything with "Obama" on it to irritate her husband and tease her brother. We had a nice long chant with her and left unsure of who she supported. She took a lot of pictures of us with the cart and wished us luck.
Next trip is to Hamilton unless someone wants us sooner.
The ObamaCart is on the road again. This weekend heading to Belgrade, Montana to participate in a parade and festivities. Early October it will be in the Bitterroot Valley for a few days.
If you need the ObamaCart contact me and we will put it to use. Only six weeks left.
I have been negectful these past few days. After reaching Unity and spending a night in Boston, I have been working on getting back to Montana.
First I have to thank Karen and Linda for putting us up last Wednesday and Thursday. And I must make a few comments about one of the most remarkable people I have ever met and worked with. Cheryl Souza of Boston was a Godsend for me. This project would never have been accomplished without her hard work. After putting up with me for a week as Dixie and I drove cross country, she still acted happy to meet me.
Saturday we went to Castle Island with friends and the ObamaCart. Although, it turns out to be illegal, we rolled it around the island. Some law about campaigning on federal lands.
That afternoon Dixie and I headed for Washington, DC and spent the night in New Jersey.
Sunday we parked at Reagan National Airport and rode the Metro to the Mall and visited The WWII and Vietnam memorials.
At 5:30 I left Dixie to fly home and headed out with the cart. Sunday I made it to Western Virginia. Monday I went through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and into Missouri and spent the night with Dixie's brother and his family.
Sunday evening Marcia from St Louis contacted me and asked if I were going through St Louis. We made arrangments to meet Monday evening, but as usual I was running late, so I left her one of the ObamaCart spare tires at St Louis' Children's Hospital. Marcia does the work of angels on the early morning shift, so she could not stay up as late as I was arriving.
A note for anyone working in Indiana. I do not know if it means anything, but in southwesten Indiana, I was swamped with Obama supporters looking for contacts with the campaign. If anyone who reads this is working in Indiana, sometimes when you are fishing it helps to know where others are getting strikes.
Tuesday I got started late and drove across Missouri and up the west boarder into Iowa and Nebraska. Today I drove across Nebraska, Wyoming and into Montana, but I did not make it home. Will be there tomorrow.
We did it!
Thursday we left Akron and drove to NYC. We had an interview in Lewisburg, PA. After the interview we stoped by the Obama office and ran into Chris who worked in Butte during the pirmary.
Thursday evening we watched the speech from an apartment in Manhattan. Dixie made the NY Post the following morning as the watch party was covered by some media.
One of the greatest political speeches of American history, but I may be biased.
Friday morning we left NYC early and met Heidi for lunch and a picnic in New Haven, Conn. Heidi and her beautiful daugher provided a wonderful break in our schedule. Just taking the time to relax was great.
Then we crossed Conn, Mass and Vermont into New Hampshire. Unity is not easy to find. It really doesn't exist as a town. Will's Convience Store is about it. We met with the press there and headed off for Boston.
Cheryl made us a wonderful lobster dinner.
Today we took the ObamaCart down to Castle Island and rolled it around. It is always fun to watch people when they first see it.
In NYC as we rolled it down the street people were leaning out of their apartment windows cheering us. We needed a bit of ticker tape to complete it, but it sure was fun.
Total milage I believe is around 2730, but I have the exact numbers in our car. 15 states so far.
This afternoon we will head south, tomorrow Washing DC and then I head home.
Just a quick note to friends. We have made it this far and are preparing to enjoy the convention.
The ObamaCart will be in Unity tomorrow afternoon.
Belated happy birthday to my big brother
Milage total for today 2049. Started north of Chicago through northern Indiana into Toledo then across to Akron.
Spent last night in the home of Pam Daniels, her husband, Mark and two wonderful children in their 100 year old home. Their home is beautifully restored. What an honor to have them share with us.
Started this morning by unloading the ObamaCart and rolling in around Evenston.
Pam gave us good directions through Chicago, and we almost followed them, but toured downtown a bit longer than we wanted.
Once we got rolling down the Indiana Turnpike, we were told to stop at South Bend for an interview with the local press. So be sure to check it out tomorrow or the next day. I don't get a chance to see these articles, so if anyone can get me some feed back I would appreciate it.
We neglected to change to the Eastern time zone and wound up behind. We were aiming for Akron, Ohio by 6, but didn't make it until after 8. Visited the Akron Obama office and watched president Clinton speak with the volunteers working tonight. These volunteers have registered 4500 new voters just since June.
One last quick note. Cheryl has put together a fundraiser based on our miles. If you can please chip in a bit. You can also donate on the group site. All funds go to the Obama campaign, we are funding our trip with other funds not connected to the campaign. We would like to raise more money than the trip costs, so we could show the value of something like this and encourage future projects.
It is late and tomorrow Manhattan.
Good evening all. Today's mile total is 1680. Left Iowa and traveled through Wisconsin into Illinois today. Spending the night in Evanston near Chicago. Media alerts, the Dacorah,Iowa and Janesville, Wisconsin papers did interviews and took photos today.
Laura, like Meg the night before, was a wonderful host. She greeted us with a good breakfast and conversation before we got off to a rather late start this morning.
At Decorah we had an interview with the local paper. These local papers are really underrated. Those of us who have small town papers really should appreaciate the hard work they do.
After some wondering around in Wisconsin and taking a few roads not in our atlas we arrived at the town of Hollandale, Wisconsin, population less than 300. It was after noon so we thought this is just the place to meet some folks and get a quick bite. As soon as the trailer with the ObamaCart was parked a gentleman and his grown son approached.
"I have only one thing to tell you about Obama," he said. "I have written him three times and he has never written back. So when you see him find out why. I wrote Hillary too, and she never wrote back. I wrote Edwards and I think I caused him to get out of the race."
He went on to explain that he had to leave Illinois after he wrote the Illinois State Chief Justice. He told us that securtiy had asked him not to write the justice anymore, and if they had to arrest him, he would die in prison, so he now lives in Wisconsin.
So, Senator Obama, if you or one of your aids reads this, there's a man in Hollandale, Wisconsin who would like a letter.
Dixie and I then retired to a bar-cafe and enjoyed lunch and conversation. If you have a chance stop by. It is the only eating place in town.
We made contact with the paper in Janesville, Wisconsin and after some further exploration of uncharted Wisconsin highways we had a wonderful conversation with Frank Schultz and a photographer. During the interview, which was in a parking lot, a man drove up and proudly showed us his bumper sticker which read "Too Poor To Vote Republican" and we had a great time discussing politics in the bank parking lot.
As we left town we drove through a group demonstrating for peace. We honked and waved and they cheered and waved. I am really having a good time.
I have one of those tire gauges the McCain campaign was passing out to mock Obama's energy plan. I use it to show the difference between the two candidates. Barack has ideas about what we, as individuals, can to to help alleviate the pain of high gas prices. Do you realize that keeping your tires properly inflated will save you just about the same amount as McCain's tax holiday? About 15 cents a gallon. The difference is Obama expects us to do something to help ourselves. Where the Republicans seem to feel that if the government or big business doesn't do it, it just isn't worth the effort.
Those who took Obama's advice are currently saveing 15 cents a gallon. Those who accept McCain's program are still waiting for the government to help them.
Tomorrow, Akron, Ohio. And for all of you demonstrating in Janesville, Wisconsin-Peace.
Today was the day we had been waiting for. Morning in Fargo and sunset in Cresco, Iowa.
Total miles 1345. Today's route from Fargo to Fergus Falls to Marshall to Cresco. Too many towns to list.
At breakfast this morning we worked over the media calls for the day and came up with an offer to do an interview in Marshall, MN. Great time with Rae and Cindy of the Marshall Independant. Look for an article in the next few days.
Lunch with Dan and Mary Snobl, recovering Republicans and Dixie's brother and sister in law. Working hard in south west Minnesota for Senator Obama.
Ended with rally at Cresco, Iowa. 20-30 people there and I really enjoyed myself. This evening we are the guests of Laura Hubka and her family. Watched Michelle speak.
Wind turbines cover the plains. Look good.
When I can figure out how to load pictures on the blog I will share. But, tonight I am worn out again. Tomorrow Chicago. I am having the time of my life.
Thank you all for your support and lets get to work. We have to win this.
866 total Miles as of tonight. Today I stopped at New Salem, Bismark, Jamestown, Valley City and Fargo in North Dakota and Moorhead in Minnesota.
We held a brief rally at Concordia College tonight. Only around a dozen kids showed up, but it was planned rather quickly and only the freshmen are at school right now. After a rally some of the kids took the cart around campus and introduced the college to the ObamaCart. Several students signed the wheels and everyone had fun. Although the rally was small, the after rally activities introduced many more to our cause.
At New Salem I stopped for a picture of the cart with Salem Sue the world's largest Holstein cow. From her hilltop roost North Dakota has never looked more beautiful than this year. When I figure out how to download pictures from my camera I will post them.
One final note. I had a bit of irony for breakfast. When I left my room this morning a Haliburton truck was parked right behind the ObamaCart. Haliburton is big in the oil patch and Dickinson is oil country.
See you tomorrow.
