Tea Party Express Caravan
Day 3 - August 30
Ely, Nevada
Ely- there had to be about 150 Nevadans out to Tea Party in the nice, shady park. Close to half of them were veterans, including the sales manager of the local radio station, KDSS, JC Ward. A nice man, father of 5, I think he said. (His youngest girl is beautiful!) He told me a brief, but harrowing story of a night he spent buried in sand next to enemy tanks during Desert Storm. Sorry for complaining about the heat and having to stand at the tea party, JC.
Met a nice man, Therman Mullins, carrying a huge Navy Jack - Don’t Tread on Me flag (the one with the red stripes and the straight snake, not the yellow one with the coiled snake). He told me all about the flag’s history, which I regret was unfamiliar to me. He said he had sons on submarines, and that his particular flag was important to the seamen on those subs. I was impressed by how many US military veterans there were out there tea partying. Interesting.
Bumped into some fellow button people. Stephen has his son with him, and his son’s girlfriend. They are from Colorado and are making the entire trip with the TPE. Also met Jonathan and his wife, two of the few conservatives in Manhattan (that’s in New York, for those of you who are as bad at US geography as I am). He sells buttons on the weekends at home, and gets rude comments and even gets spit on (yikes). But he does it anyway and is a patriot for spreading the message.
Smooth, easy day of traveling, except for the smoke. Mike, a dedicated tea partier from Reno who is leaving the TPE today to get back to work, said there’s a fire in southern California. We’re not getting much news on this trip…I guess we’re just making it, instead!
