I left Berkeley, CA this afternoon (from the East Bay Headquarters) and picked up my fabulous carpooler Ella.Ella and I both grew up in cities on the East Coast, and so nether of us had experienced many State Fairs and we were both so excited to check it out!
Before I left on this trip, I had lunch with my dear friend Sarah and she was laughing at me because I was gushing about how exotic and amazing the state fair sounds to me ("They have championship wiener dog races, Sarah--actual statewide CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!" I exclaimed). She was amazed at how little I had been exposed to this culture which was quite "boring" and familiar to her and how truly fascinated I was by the very things she thought were totally lame....
Me: "What exactly is a tractor pull, anyway?"
Sarah (whipping out her trusty blackberry): "You know, that's something I've always avoided since it sounded so boring; but you're excited and now I'm curious-- Let's look it up"
(this is one reason I love Sarah--one reason among many)
Sarah (quoting wikipedia): "A competition using tractors and large trucks to pull a heavy drag along a 'track': tractor pulling is very popular in rural areas. Usually the drag offers progressively greater resistance as it is pulled. It can be a great spectacle, and although the vehicle produces a great deal of noise and smoke and throws dirt everywhere, it doesn't actually travel very far."
Then Sarah and I cracked up laughing and I nearly had corn chowder come out of my nose--not pretty!
So now I am seriously fired up and ready for tractors!
We made it to Reno after about 4 hours of driving and went straight to the Obama office. It was a nice space, with lots of little offices and a larger meeting area. They were running a training which looked very interesting and was quite well-attended, but we rushed off excitedly to the Nevada State Fair.So Ella and I arrived at the fair and we didn't see any tractors, but we did see a bunch of horses and cows and sheep and snakes and cool rides and guys in cowboy hats and Republicans and corn dogs and even some vegetables! We took a short stroll around to get oriented and had a snack (OK, truth be told: Ella had the veggies and I had a hot dog--a guilty pleasure but perfect at the fair).
We registered voters at the booth shared by the Obama folks and the Washoe County Democrats. The women staffing the booth were so kind to us and spent time talking us through the Nevada voter reg process and pointed out some important things that are different from California. For example, in CA when a felon finishes his parole, s/he is automatically eligible to register to vote, but in Nevada people have to request something allowing them to reregister to vote after a felony conviction and it takes several months to be approved. Another example of a difference is that in Nevada there is "Early Voting" which starts October 18th, which we don't have in California. And they have slightly different forms here...
Anyway, tons of fun!! and more to come. Just wanted to let you all know I'm safe and sound, sleeping in a family home in Sparks (outside Reno, kind of a suburb I guess--very nice neighborhood with beautiful houses and yards). My host family is so nice and gracious--they are Obama supporters and they actually volunteered at a recent event that Obama had for invited guests (250 people I think) from the labor/union community). One of my favorite things about the Obama campaign is the opportunity to meet such amazing and excellent human beings--no one joins this movement for the glory or to feed their ego--we do it because we are moved to do so. We are all just doing our part of the work that we all know needs to be done. Tonight I will fall asleep feeling profoundly grateful and proud to be part of this positive change.
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