huck

Sara (on the left) is kinda from New York and kinda from Connecticut.

Imogen (on the right) is definitely from London.

They came along way to spend the last couple of months in Austin, helping out the Obama campaign.  They also made sure that everyone on the bus was taken care of – whether it was hunger or comfort-related – and organized.  To their credit, no one was left behind.

This picture is from the post-canvassing picnic we had somewhere in BF-Albuquerque.

The grass was soft.

My endlessly amiable companion Ahmed accompanied me on our last foray into Undecided territory.  He’s from Bangladesh where, according to him, they drive around the cities in trucks with loudspeakers announcing a candidate’s name and platform in order to get the word out.  On the day of the election, huge parties roam the streets goading others to cast their ballot.

Add chili dogs and Tecate into the mix, and you’ve got yourself a solid electoral system.

I found a hippie!  Check out “Lorie” (if that is her real name, as opposed to “Starshine” or “Meadow”…) on the far right.

GOTCHA.

P.S. Despite her dyed-in-the-wool hippie cred, having recently lived in Eugene, OR and conspicuously showing up to volunteer for Obama, Lorie is quite awesome.

When I first climbed aboard the Barack Bus, I didn’t know a soul. Hoping to avoid a Forrest Gump “seat’s tay-kuhn” moment with some addled septuagenarian, I plopped down next to Bridget. It seemed a safe bet that she would neither snore nor go berserk and saw my head off with picnicware in a cannibalistic freak-out like that recent incident in Canada.

Far from it! Turns out she’s a sociology professor at Virginia College and worked at The Settlement Home – a foster care facility for wayward girls – for three years like my friend Heather. Turns out she thinks she actually KNOWS Heather from back in the day. LOL, AUSTIN!!!

Anyway, she’s totally nice and a great Obama policy tutor slash first friend on a strange bus.

After changing into my limited edition Obama “Land of Enchantment” Tee Shirt, I shoved back off in this awesome lady named Meredith’s old white Volvo. Joining us were new friends Anne (front passenger), Rachel (HuffPo bloggie and middle rear passenger), and my beautiful bus buddy Bridget (rear right and alliteration.) We held court for some time regarding how to best divide our doorbells (“Look, you guys take Cedarwood Lane and WE’LL take Woodcedar Drive…” etc.), finally venturing back out into Suburbia.