Posted By:
MAF Blogger Danny
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November 27
2355 Hrs
Barstow, CA
Hotel room in Vegas

We arrived in Barstow BARELY on time because we hung around Bakersfield for a long while after the rally had ended. The first thing that happened was we got into the parking lot and saw NOBODY! I was pretty panicked at first…

Then I got out of the bus and the security guy for the outlet mall we were holding the rally at told me I was at the wrong parking lot! He directed us into the middle parking lot, where we were supposed to set up, which we had to leave the parking lot and drive a little further down the block to get into, and then take this short little driveway into where it expanded into a larger parking lot with enough room for our bus. There was a small crowd waiting there, and we waited about 20 minutes and started late because people who were trying to get in didn’t really know that they had to drive around to the back in order to find us. Joe walked out to the street so he could direct people, and after a dozen more cars or so made it in, we decided it was time to start the rally.

We had a really great crowd, with a blue star mom and lots of kids. I really liked the diversity I saw in Barstow, we had lots of Hispanics showing up which is something that I like to see, personally. And one thing about Barstow, which you don’t see at every MAF rally is LOTS OF KIDS. I don’t know how the word got around that the Barstow rally was the little kids making Christmas cards special event, but that’s how it turned out.

I had to put out extra construction paper and fish some un-signed cards out of the boxes because these kids were really enthusiastic. They all wanted to make cards, they all wanted to hold flags and wave, and it was just a real treat for everyone there to watch the kids interacting with each other and with the cards they were making so creatively. I picked a couple of cards that I liked a lot and found out which kid made them and told them how awesome they were. One card that struck me—I thought it was jus adorable – was this one that Annie, Age 7 made. It was backwards first of all, which was just cute, and on the front it said “Jesus love you” but instead of the word the O in love and you it had little hearts. And on the inside, when you open up the card it said “I love you” and had a little picture off to the side, with Annie’s name and her age. It was just the cutest thing ever. With the kids around, Mary had a field day with her camera. I kind of felt sorry for the kids because they had to stand forever while Mary takes endless pictures.

The Barstow police department came by and dropped off a stack of cards, and also two of the employees at the Holiday Inn ® that was across the street came by and told me how they had put cards out for several days in the lobby and the guests staying at the hotel were signing them. So they had a big stack to donate, and they told me they would continue the practice and mail more cards to our office so we can get them to NY and hopefully to Iraq!

Again we mingled far too long at the end of the Barstow rally, but we just had to, it is so amazing talking with Americans about why they support the troops, who they know who served and why they all say it’s so important to give our servicemen and women as much thought as we can this holiday season. Seriously when we get to talking with people after a rally, exchanging cards, e-mails, hugs, and words of gratitude, it is easy to lose track of time. Luckily we were still able to make the drive to Las Vegas at a reasonably decent hour, thanks to none other than Chris Walker our fearless bus driver man (he is a machine)

I am staying with the MAF family in the New York Hotel (yes, this pretty much sinks our budget for the rest of the trip, but hey, it’s Vegas) and we absolutely cannot wait for the rally in Henderson (just outside of town) tomorrow morning! The responses and sentiment we have been getting from everyone all along the way is really encouraging. And Debbie Lee has said several times how she feels like this her favorite tour that MAF has done, because it’s just ALL ABOUT SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS.

E-mail any questions/comments/corrections to mafbloggerdanny@gmail.com. Thank you for reading