The National Tea Party Express Bus Tour!

The tour stopped in Las Cruces last night... the ninth stop in their cross country tour and they said the crowd here was the largest to greet them so far! The buses were scheduled to arrive at about 6:00 p.m., so Joanna and I went to the park at about 5:30. To our surprise and delight, the parking lot, which can easily hold several hundred cars, was already full. Happily there was a lot across the street, but it soon filled also. We were later told that more cars were arriving, but finding no place to park were leaving. Such are the perils of living in a small city.

The rally was held at Young Park, a pleasant grassy spot in this desert community. People brought their own chairs, or like us, blankets to spread on the ground. Some said the crowd could have been as large as 2,000, but not wanting to inflate our estimate, we guessed it at about 1,400. Nice folks, all, well behaved and friendly. It was entirely non-partisan and well attended by representatives from all segments of our varied population - including this gentleman with the goatee, whose hat says "España"

Excitement peaked when the first bus arrived and many ran to greet them. There were three buses in all - two painted like this first one. Also, there was a vehicle with a satellite dish for originating the Fox News Channel report, and a vehicle from the NBC television station in El Paso, Texas (our nearest TV city).

At one point, people with signs were asked to line up at the front of the crowd for all to see. There were hundreds! Here is just a sampling:

Not surprisingly, there were a lot of Fox News Channel fans among the crowd, like this Viet Nam vet.

Naturally, when Griff Jenkins showed up, he was surrounded by fans wanting to meet him and have their picture taken beside him. Like this guy, who obviously is not a supporter of the President's policies.

Early on it was hot, but as the sun lowered in the sky, the crowd spilled over from the shade, into the sunny areas.

It was already dark when Griff set up to do light and sound tests, so Fox viewers never got to see our crowd. Joanna snapped Griff enjoying a moment with the crowd.

It was great fun, but this old man got tired before it ended and we left a little after 8:00 p.m. The tour is in El Paso, today, just over 40 miles south. Then they head on a long (600 miles?) ride to San Antonio.

They asked all of us to join them in Washington, but assured us that if we could not go, we would be with them in spirit because they surely would represent us on September 12. Godspeed, Patriots! You mission is sacred to us!