By Maggie Lineback

So we are sitting in an empty parking lot trying to get the Election Link Vehicle to work. Our audio tech dubbed it the Urban Assault Vehicle but right now we are in danger of assaulting no one. We drove to this lot a couple miles away from the Farmers Market to see if maybe there was something blocking the signal—in the middle of a parking lot with no structures or trees nearby we should have no such problems.

The scene is surreal. I hear someone on a loud speaker. I figure it’s some kind of political rally. But when I look up I notice barbed wire and realize there a homeless shelter across the street. There are dozens of men listening to a preacher. We could use a little divine intervention ourselves.

This is a picture of the Election Link Vehicle in a Dallas parking lot as we try to figure out what’s wrong. Its markings were stripped off after the Phil Keating trip cross-country. We feel very stealthy. With the DC plates, we could be a Secret Service vehicle. Our photographer said yesterday someone thought we were a storm chasing vehicle. (Read more about Phil Keating’s trip, CLICK HERE!)

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By Maggie Lineback

The Farmer’s Market in Dallas has been here for years—since the forties to be exact. The city says it’s the nation’s largest centrally located working farmer’s market. When we arrive at 6:30 on Sunday morning, it’s still dark and hardly anyone is here yet. A couple farmers are unloading corn on the wholesale side of the market. Soon individual vendors start to trickle in to their stalls. The market opens at seven and one vendor tells me they expect a good day today, since the weather is supposed to be warm.

This time of year, local hucksters get most of their fruit and veggies from warehouses nearby. Much of the produce you see in the stands comes from California this time of year, but soon Texas farms will be producing more of the stuff for sale here.

These people work hard. They’re here day in and day out, all day. The market’s open seven days a week. They say in terms of politics, there’s one big issue for them—the economy. Slight shifts can make or break their business.

As for us, our first live shot was at 7:45am EST, 6:45 our time. It didn’t happen because of technical issues. The fact that we can go live at all from what’s basically a tripped out Expedition is still something I’m trying to get my head around. Usually it takes a big sat truck and at least a half hour or an hour of set up time and cable runs to get things up and running. Going into it, I figured we’d have glitches at some point or another. I guess it’s best for us to figure them out at the front end of our three-day trip. But for the poor producers in NY who were counting on these live shots for their show, they probably feel much differently.

Check out some of the pictures..

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By Lee Ross

We’re making our way to Los Angeles. This morning as we were checking out of our hotel there were still plenty of people up and moving around from the night before. It really is a 24-7 town.  We hit the road headed west and through the Mojave Desert eventually hitting Barstow.  There we met a nice couple this week celebrating their 63rd wedding anniversary. Tommie Burns says immigration is his big issue and he supported Duncan Hunter. But will vote for John McCain in November.  Lots of sun today.  A first for this trip.  Hooray!!!!

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By Lee Ross

As we have made our way across the country, one of the nice things we have come into contact with is people who have been following us on our journey. Each day for the past week or so we bumped into people who say they’ve “been watching us since …” It is nice to hear that people are watching or checking us on the web and on our streaming roof cam. Also, a million thanks to all of you have given us suggestions or offered up your homes/businesses for us to visit along the way. Off to Nevada. Hope to See you at Hoover Dam and Las Vegas after that.

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By Lee Ross 

Here we are at the Grand Canyon. Somehow overnight the giant hole didn’t fill up and was just as spectacular in the morning.

We hear the forecast is for more snow today and based on how chilly and cold it is this morning-that forecast is no surprise. We met a lot of people here at the Grand Canyon from all over the country and the world. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that they expressed all sorts of opinions about the presidential contest. The most blunt came from an Australian man who said the race is too long and is a waste of time and money. I suspect the contest for PM down under is much shorter.

By day’s end we will be in Las Vegas with a bunch of stops in between.

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By Lee Ross

What an adventure!!!! We started off at a spot familiar to me — a golf course. We met the good folks at Oakcreek golf course in Sedona. And they were very nice and gracious. We were told several times that sen. McCain has a house nearby and Arizona has been the only place we’ve found on this trip where we met hard core supporters of his. In other stops along the way we met plenty of people who say they will vote for him and even like him. But there has been a sense of dispassion on the part of many who will vote for him. Not here in AZ though where we even met one man who was showing off his autographed john McCain book.

But our real adventure started when we left for Fossil Creek. This is such a remote spot that we had no cell service for a couple of hours. It is in a beautiful hidden area between the Coconino and Tonto national forests. On our way there we passed alongside a ravine that had at least a 500 foot drop and at the bottom we spotted. the rusted out remains of a few cars. Needless to say we were a little anxious to get to our destination. Once there we saw the beauty of fossil creek. It is unique for Arizona in that it flows year round. And it flows into the verde river which is a major source of drinking water for phoenix. 100 years ago it was dammed by the local utility for power but just a few years ago that dam was no longer needed and the creek returned to its natural flow. To further the cause of fossil creek state environmental leaders and local officials urged the state’s congressional delegation to push legislation making the creek protected under the wild and scenic rivers act. Such a designation would protect the area from development and provide local entities with funds to manage the area. Sen. John McCain introduced this legislation in the senate and all of the people we talked to about fossil creek have praised him and his office for their efforts.

Eventually at night we made our way to the Grand Canyon. This is my first time seeing this true wonder of the world. The majestic size of this natural creation cannot be placed into adequate words nor do the countless pictures I’ve seen properly suggest the enormity of this place. The snow that lines the upper reaches of the canyon and encircle it makes the scene even more special. Its a treat to see it now at sunset and look forward to sunrise.

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By Lee Ross

We had a different kind of beautiful for Arizona today. And one I didn’t expect.

Before that though we made our way west through the small towns of Holbrook and Winslow. And yes there we were standing on a corner in this old route 66 town. In fact two corners have stores dedicated to selling stuff from this famous rock and roll locale.

On another corner is a statute dedicated to Jackson Browne who penned the famous words in “take it easy” and sung by the Eagles. Also there is a brick mural showing a girl in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me. Kind of a neat stop.

The beauty that surprised us came on the road to Sedona. Here on Highway 89 we made our way down through the Coconino National Forest It looked like they had about six inches of snow and as we moved down past 6,000 and finally 5,000 feet in elevation the snow turned to rain. But what a sight it was up there.

All of that beautiful mountain snow made for a nice albeit long trip as we were stuck in a caravan of cars going down the mountain. Nonetheless, we made it safe and sound and ready for day 13 tomorrow.

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By Lee Ross 

We started this morning at the bus depot in Albuquerque and then moved our way about 15 blocks to the very popular Barela’s Coffee Shop.

The family-run restaurant is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and we were quite pleased to have been welcome there this morning. Throughout the restaurant are write-ups that have been done over the years talking about the wonderful food and atmosphere. One article said that anyone who is anyone in Albuqurque goes to Barela’s.  It even suggested that if you didn’t know where your stockbroker was — chances were that you could find him at Barela’s.

Another clipping said that the rule about good restaurants holds true for this spot–being that the less prententious looking a joint, the better the food. I must say that team AA hands down says the best food we’ve had on this trip has been in New Mexico.

This is my first trip to this part of the country and it is quite beautiful. The drive to Gallup was something else with the mesas and mountains in the distance.  Arizona should be just as wonderful. We’re on our way!

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