TPX II UPDATE! On The Road Recent Reports (Halloween!)

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Feel the Energy from Portland!

Amy Schroeder of Parcbench produced this video from the Tea Party Express II rally in Portland, OR. You'll definitely feel the energy of this video, and we liked that because the rally in Porland was just that - ENERGETIC.

Thank you to the great people of Portland and thanks to Amy of Parcbench. We hope all our supporters enjoy this short video!

Yippee! Great event in Tri-Cities

ANOTHER OVERFLOW CROWD

THIS TIME IN TRI-CITIES WASHINGTON!

Thank you to the great people of the Tri-Cities area in Central Washington! We didn't arrive into town last night until around 1:30 AM. By the time we got to bed last night (we always end up working for at least an hour or two at the end of each day - in addition to working on the buses all day long) it was almost 3:00 AM. Alarms were set for 7:00 - 7:30 AM as we had to get rolling from our hotel this morning by 8:15 - 8:30 AM.

So we were reallllyyyy tired last night and this morning. It's always like that on these tours, and that's why the energy from the crowds always is so invigorating and helpful.

It was a cool, windy morning. Really, really windy. We pulled into our venue and feared a small crowd, but committed ourselves to doing our best to energize whoever turned out.

But we had nothing to worry about. The momentum continues to build for this effort as we cross the country and word spreads of the Tea Party Express II: Countdown to Judgment Day tour. We walked into the local high school auditorium and saw this - a room so filled that not everyone fit in the room!

People came and went throughout the program - as there were informational and vendor booths in the open area outside the auditorium. Here's a few pictures we took on our camera phones to help give you a feel for the crowd. We were near tears during the end as we paid tribute to our veterans and so many amazing men and women came up on stage - patriots who had served this country and are the reason we remain a free nation where people can speak freely, question their government's erroneous actions & harmful policies, and then has the freedom to vote out of office those who fail us.

Friday, October 30, 2009

We're in Puyallup!! Wow - it's rocking!

We thought Portland was a great event. We've now arrived in Puyallup and it's stunning. The fairgrounds is PACKED. Thousands of people. ALERT: The fire marshall told us there so many people packed the convention hall that they had to move a large part of the crowd outside or else our event would be shut down. When I ran outside to grab something from the bus I encountered the event security informing latecomers that they were not allowed to enter the facility on account of the overflow crowd.

So speakers were set up outside by the buses so the good folks outside could hear. Estimates from officials on hand was that the crowd surpassed 4,000 people. Some estimates place the crowd as high as 5,500 - but my guess is that it was somewhere between 4,500 - 5,000.

The people of Washington State have sure turned out in massive numbers. Washington, D.C. -- can you hear us NOW??

Special thanks go out to the people who helped make this happen: Ken Morse and the Olympia Tea Party, Kirby Wilbur of KVI - 570 AM, and the great people of Operation Support Our Troops.

We just received a video from a great patriot who was at the event - WATCH IT HERE.

We just arrived at our Portland event!

HELLO FROM PORTLAND!

We just pulled into Portland. It's cloudy and cool, but not raining right now. We arrived 30 minutes early - YAY! Nice not to be late. There's a good-sized crowd already and it's growing by the minute. Portland is going to be a great event! More soon. Mark Williams and Deborah Johns are now speaking.

There's a good turnout of media in addition to the hundreds of people on hand. Jeff Kemp of Americans for Prosperity is going to try to call in to Lars Larson's radio show and have his speech to the crowd broadcast live. The logistics of things like this are always tricky, but we'll try to make it work!

UPDATE 1: Portland's ABC affiliate KATU reports "Hundreds Rally for Lower Taxes as Part of Tea Party Express." See their report - HERE.