Guarding Wendell Allen's Sign

Fred and took part in sign guarding at this local man's yard from 10PM till midnight last night. It was cold, as you can tell by our dress! We had no incidents while we were there, but many people did "Honk for Free Speech".

Our local delegate, Kris Amundsen, took the first shift and we relieved her. There was a "First Amendment Rally" from 5-7 PM that day, which generated lots of honking!

Wendell Allen, a lifelong Republican who is supporting Webb, and his son Skip (who seems more like a Democrat--bet they have some great discussions!) seem like really nice people who are mystified that politics could get so ugly and personal. Wendell first voted for Wendell Wilkie for President, so he's been at this a long time.

For more on the Sign Stealing controversy, read these articles:
Sign Skirmishes in Mount Vernon Oct 18, 2006
Another Twist in Sign Saga Oct 26, 2006
Sign Ordeal Continues Nov 1, 2006

Webb Rally

Webb proved to be a good speaker. You can see and hear his complete remarks at the link for the Webb Rally video. He made several points about his books in response to the recent Allen attacks. See the sign in the lower right corner of this photo--it says "Jim Webb--I'm a woman & I love your writings!!"

It was great fun! You can see some of the crowd in the subsequent pictures, and Fred got to have his picture taken with candidate Webb and Governor Kaine. I got to shake hands with both of them.

Our tour around Temple Square was conducted by these two young women, one from Germany and one from Alabama. They did quite a bit of proselitizing.

We visited the Bonneville Salt Flats. Unfortunately, during the winter months, they are flooded, so we came to the end of the road. Good thing we weren't trying to break the MINI land speed record at the time, as there is no warning that the road disappears into a lake!

At Sutter's Mill, where Marshall discovered gold, Fred tried his hand at digging for gold. No luck, unfortunately.

We really enjoyed the great weather we had in Monterey!

From LeGrand, CA we went on to the rough life in Monterey. I took a class for a week and Fred found something to do.

Red Sail Restaurant. Shelter Island, San Diego. We took full advantage of the absolutely beautiful morning and had breakfast outside. Peg needed to soak up all the sun she could before heading home to DC's 4-7 inches of snow.