Real Politics Training School

After a grueling 36 hours on the road, traveling through Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota, in a van packed to the hilt, we FINALLY made it to Minneapolis at around 3:30 this morning! Here's a photo of the 8 of us that traveled together: (from left to right) Jamie, Ciatanya, Jen, Helen, Christi, Clint, me, and Terry.

A quick nap and then we were off to our first day of Campaign For Liberty events. And what a great first day it's been. We had a 10-hour training session on political activism, which may not sound very exciting to some, but the 600 attendees were totally pumped!

For me, the best part of the day came when Ron Paul surprised us with a visit and short speech. I'd never seen him in person before so it was a great thrill for me.

Lots of interesting news from the Ron Paul delegates to the RNC--seems Bush and Cheney won't be attending because of hurricane Gustav (I guess they want to be sure to not screw it up like they did with Katrina.) Also, all the RNC speeches have been canceled for tomorrow--only official convention business.

Here's a few more pics of our day: (1) Jen and me; (2) Clint and Christy with Barry Goldwater Jr.; and (3) the gals, Christy, Helen and Jen.

Headin' for the Grand Rally

Today, I'm setting out on a 30-hour road trip from Corvallis, Oregon to attend the Rally for the Republic in Minneapolis, MN. I, along with 7 other freedom-lovin' folks, will be taking this momentous tour in non-stop fashion--except for potty and food breaks, we are driving straight through. I think we may be a little crazy, but our excitement about the upcoming 3 days of events will make the trip there a whole lot of fun!

We'll have: Jenifer Runnion, graciously donating her van for the journey--without her energy and creative financial-problem solving this trip likely wouldn't have been possible; Caitanya Dasa, Jen's 15 year-old son who is a real rabble rouser and way into politics--we told him he had to leave his megaphone at home; Clint & Christy Johnson, organizer of our local Ron Paul/CFL Meetup and his wife who, like me, is fairly new to political activism; from Salem, OR, Jamie Jackson and Terry Hamel, who were state leaders in the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign and now in the Campaign for Liberty; and Helen Kelly, who lives in Eastern Oregon--I haven't yet met Helen, but look forward to getting to know her and all of these cool folks better on the road.

To kick off our trip, Jen, Caitanya, Christy, Clint and I met last night to deck out the "Liberty Van." Whoo hoo!

Bon voyage! I cannot wait to shake Ron Paul's hand!

Oh yeah! I want to say a huge thank you to the people who donated money to support us in taking this trip: Rich and Jaynee Germond (Jaynee is our candidate for U.S. Congress in the 4th District of Oregon--Go Jaynee!!), Sharon and Gordon Fritz, and Mac Stevens. Thanks to all of you for giving us nearly $1100.00 total!