Blue: First overnight done

Been awhile since the last post as its been a busy few days and we still only have two wireless cards on the bus. That will be fixed shortly, at which point you can be sure that the entertainment will be continued on a much more consistent basis.

We left for Annapolis originally and things were going smooth the first hour of the drive. Then, while traveling 70 m.p.h. down the highway, the bus turned off. We managed to coast into a rest stop thanks to the wonderful hills of Pennsylvania and gravity working with us. After restarting it, we managed to drive to a local RV shop and sat around for a few hours wondering if the summer was coming to an end only a week into it. Thanks to some quick help from one of their mechanics and our bus driver Gordy, we determined it to simply be a faulty cylenoid which was an easy fix - we just had to wait for NAPA to drive us the part.

While sitting around waiting we have a friendly eldery couple come up to the bus. They had notice the quotes on the bus and John Hancock's name. They informed us that they were the great-great-great ancestors of Mr. Hancock and wanted to learn more about our cause. So we chatted with her, got our bus fixed and we were back on our way.

We arrived in Annapolis a lot later than expected so we set up in a parking lot right off the bay but didn't expect to get many people and we didn't. However, it gave us time to walk around. The city is beautiful. The streets and sidwalks are all done in red brick. There are old buildings everywhere and the entire city is centered around the old capitol building that is built on top of a hill overlooking the bay. The streets are lined with high end coffee shops, eateries, taverns, fudge shops and the like.


We spent the night eating at a place called Chick and Ruth's Delly (correct spelling) which is

home to the six-pound milkshake and "colossal" sandwiches. It was even highlighted on the TV show Man vs. Food. It is a small place but had been around for ages. The walls are lined with photos of people who had been there in the past. They ranged from professional athletes to the crew of the Challenger Space Shuttle to political leaders. You name it and there was probably a picture of him or her eating at the place. It was a fantastic little place and a better dinner could not have been had.

The next day was followed by setting up in a few different places in Annapolis again. Met a few more people, got some local press to come down and spent some more time walking around the city. It was a great morning, but sadly we had to leave to make our way to the capital of the United States, Washington D.C.

D.C., in case you were unaware, has just received the award for being the most congested city in the U.S. This, accompanied by the fact that we are trying to maneuver a 40-foot bus through the city would be bad enough. However, we also decided it would be a bright idea to get into the city around 4:30, or in other words, rush hour. I was delegated navigator, was handed the beautiful little road map pamphlet of the D.C. area and was told to get us from the east side of city to Georgetown on the west while making sure our route circled the mall for picture opportunities. A daunting task to say the least, especially with the knowledge that should I allow us to miss a turn, there would be no way to get back, not in the whale of a vehicle we are in, especially during D.C. rush hour traffic. Then, of course D.C. also has a wonderful rule of no left turns on half of their streets . The only way to find out is to drive near it it hoping to God that we could actually turn. An hour and a half and a quarter tank of gas later we finally managed to find our way to the ritzy shop-lined streets of Georgetown and to the Savoy Hotel where we were putting on a clinic for the local Tea Party group.

The meeting went over fantastically with Beth, our fearless leader, explaining everything we stood for, teaching people what they can and should and need to do. People were amazed by our group and unbelievably receptive. After an hour and a half or so, we ended the seminar and starfted the meet and greet. People were eager to talk to all of us, especially Justina and myself about what they claimed to be the most amazing internship ever. One of the guys was even from Michigan and spent a while talking to me. It was a fun-filled evening and we really accomplished a lot. Finally we managed to get out of the hotel around 10 p.m.

Oh, what you may have not noticed is something that I have yet to mention. Food for the day...that's because we had not eaten. We had been going since about seven in the morning and food was kind of put on the backburner. Around midnight we pulled into a McDonalds and ordered a bunch of food, much to the dismay of the people inside who were all but clocked out for the night. We got back on the bus, pulled out a bottle of champagne to compliment the greasy fast food, enjoyed a fine meal and finally managed to get to bed shortly after one.

We are now on our way back home to Olean/Buffalo. We have an "open house" for the bus tomorrow, a meeting with our website designer on Monday and then its back to Virginia on Wednesday. Really excited for that but to celebrate our first over night Justina and I only have one choice. That means Allentown tonight! Come out if you are in the Buffalo area!