Tea Party Express Caravan
Day 5 – September 1
New Mexico
OK, this is getting hard. Keeping our family of 4, plus the dog, propped up and energized for hundreds of miles of driving every day, setting up and tearing down in the sweltering heat, and missing the majority of the fantastic scenery in these great cities is challenging. It reminds me of the bus tour John and I took through Europe a few years ago. It should have been billed as a tour of all the great truck stops of western Europe. But it did help us get our feet wet and give us an idea of where we'd like to come on the next trip to Europe - Italy! I guess this cross-country tour will help us figure out which parts of the U.S. we'd like to visit for longer stretches. So, we’re plugging along, and reminding ourselves that this is bigger than just the travel. We’re fighting to keep our country and to finally be heard. So, we press on.
We didn’t get a very good handle on the time zone change, and ended up pulling into Albuquerque about an hour into the rally. It was in a huge bowl of a park, with no easy access for our gear. We calculated out the time and distance to Las Cruces tonight, and decided if we left that minute, without setting up one thing at all… we’d still be a half-hour late to the next stop! So, we jumped out long enough to snap a few photos of the 500 or so folks, most of whom seemed to have taken a long lunch break to tea party with us, and then hit the highway again. It was around 90 degrees, and the locals were calling it quits a bit early citing the heat.
The drive to Las Cruces was scenic, and the rally location was next to a beautiful lake. We pulled in about 10 minutes after the first bus arrived. The two busses don’t come along at the same time. It seems one of the drivers is a bit quicker than the other. In fact, he flew by us at warp speed at least a half-hour outside of Las Cruces. Passed us like we were out for a Sunday drive. That big thing can really move!
The rally drew at least 1,000 folks – possibly 1,500 (I’m getting much better at estimating crowd sizes…practice, practice, practice.) Had a little interview with the CNN reporter, in which I had to try to explain the special toilet paper on our table – given to us by BanksterBusters.com in Las Vegas. It has the faces of dozens of offending politicians, complete with sassy nicknames. Yeah, not really my area of expertise, and since we personally make nearly everything we typically carry, I’m pretty sure it was clear how unfamiliar I was with the product. Oh well. It was nice to be noticed, even with my hair sticking to my sweaty face and my clothes soaked from the high temps and hard work.
One great thing about New Mexico: when I tell someone my name, I don't have to spell "Gallegos" slowly. They already know how to spell it!
Our family is starting to get into a groove with packing and unloading. Too bad we couldn’t keep the mosquitos from eating us alive!
