Check me out in front of Washington D.C.’s Jefferson Memorial on the last day of the Cover America Tour road trip last Wednesday. The pink garage sale-bought sunglasses are pretty stylin’, huh?
After three and a half months on the road, I am oh-so-ready to be in one place. So in homage to the nomadic life I led on this health care reporting adventure, I offer a glimpse at some of my most recent facebook status updates (in reverse chronological order):
Pauline is headed back to NYC after 3.5 months.
Pauline is driving on the back of the RV outside of Arlington.
Pauline costs $2255/month to house, feed and keep healthy.
Pauline is enjoying the quiet after the storm in the twin cities.
Pauline just waited on line with Mitt Romney to get into the Xcel center at the RNC.
Pauline is capturing video in North Platte, Nebraska.
Pauline is surrounded by Democrats in Denver.
Pauline is in albuquerque.
Pauline is being followed by bats.
Pauline is sleeping under the red rocks and who-owls of southern Utah.
Pauline just really loves being back in the bay. Even if it’s only for a few days.
Pauline thinks she broke her right pinky toe doing capoeira in Portland. Now the feets are even!
We traversed a total of 17, 620 miles this summer. I’m embarrased to disclose how many miles to the galon “aqua box” ran on. Too bad you can’t report on the American health care crisis and fight global warming at the same time.
We’ve driven up through the heartlands, west to the Rockies, down along the pacific coast and then east through the Southwest. Finally last week, we found ourselves at the Democratic National Convention.
The first night, I watched a small group of protesters huddle around ex-Dead Kennedies star Jello Biafra, who read them bedtime stories inside the “freedom cage,” a permitted protest area just a stone’s throw from the Pepsi Center.
Each morning we caught up with delegates to video tape their perspectives on what is and is not working about the health care system.
We saw Chuck D and Jim Hightower encourage an SEIU crowd to “fight the power” on Wednesday.
And Thursday night I had arena passes to see Obama speak at Invesco Field. I was impressed with the diversity. Sitting next to me was a middle-aged Latino guy who muttered about Obama’s girls being “hams.” In front of me were two well-dressed African-American men who said “Yessir” every time Obama made a poignant remark. Next to my friend Abby, a white 40-something man stood up and screamed “yeah!!” when Obama said we can all agree that gays should be able to visit their hospitalized partners.
The start of the RNC in St. Paul, Minnesota this week hasn’t been as smooth-sailing as last week in Denver. With the landfall of Hurricane Gustav on the Gulf Coast, more than 300 arrests of protesters and journalists on Monday, and widespread scrutiny of John McCain’s pick of Governor Palin for VP, I’m very curious to see how the rest of this week pans out.