LAWRENCE, KS – Doing a project like Liberty On Tour has its ups and downs. We get to meet and chillax with awesome people and see the land (aka “country”) while advocating voluntaryism through outreach, meetups and videos but it is a lot of work. It’s only natural to have off-days, but lately MARV – 1/3 of LOT’s crew – has been acting up a bit. For example:
- Last Thursday after shooting content for a couple of stories in St. Louis MARV died in an intersection. The next day we were back on the road with a new crank shaft sensor and $550 less in our budget. And at their request, we left the folks at Tom’s Truck Repair with some literature from LOT and our advertisers.
- On Friday night, after a panel discussion at the Show-Me Institute and a meetup down the street, we drove 30min. and parked at Harrah’s Casino to put us closer to our next stop – Denver. But, when Adam attempted to exit MARV to play a few hands of poker while I slept we found that the door wouldn’t open. A metal piece inside the lock had sheered off. The next morning, after taking a cue from Dukes of Hazzard to enter/exit MARV, we picked up a new lock mechanism for $76 from an RV place just outside of Kansas City.
- Last night, after joining a fruitful Liberty Restoration Project meeting and grabbing a bite with Brad Spangler, we hit the road – eager to put a dent in our 10hr drive. But that wasn’t in the cards. One of our rear tires blew out almost as soon as we left town. This morning we creeped a mile and a half to Dale’s Service in De Soto, KS, borrowed a 20-ton bottle jack and impact wrench and swapped out the then-mangled tire with the spare. Dale requested $3 – his cost to dispose of the tire. We offered him more (as it was a huge help) and he finally agreed to take enough to cover a meal. He agreed that government was too big and invasive.
- As I write this MARV is at D & D Tire Inc. in Lawrence, KS getting two new tires (another of MARV’s rear tires, which we had gotten last year, isn’t in good shape and we have to replace the spare). We decided it’d be a good investment to get new tires. And it’d provide us with a piece of mind and keep LOT on rolling. Per the prices we were quoted I’m guessing this will be about $450.
So, we had a little talk with MARV, and hopefully now things are straightened out. You’re part of the team buddy – we need you!
From Adam and myself – a huge thanks to everyone who stepped-up and donated to get a LOT t-shirt – it has really helped make these issues more manageable.
That crack on the sidewall is what’s called a separation. I’ll order a shirt and donate next month to help counter the expenses.
Oh crap. I guess my donation definately came at the right time. I hope you convinced MARV to not let you down again.
Looking at your itinerary, it would seem that you could take quite a bit of load off MARV and save money on gas by going straight from Salt Lake City, go south on I-15 to Vegas, and then further down the 15 to San Diego, then take I-8 east to Phoenix, instead of driving through northern Nevada, into Cali and then down south. probably too late to make those changes now though.
Hint on driving through Northern Utah/Nevada: when you hit the Utah/Nevada state line at Wendover, you can visit the training area where the Enola Gay crew practiced their bombing runs for dropping the A-bombs on Japan.
Look into the warranty on the tires. That sidewall issue is one of materials/workmanship, not wear.
Are you guys going to be passing through Auburn, CA? It’s on I-80 right between Reno and Sacramento. I would love to meet you guys.
@Kinley & Ralf – thanks so much guys. We’ll put it to good use. We just made it to Denver/Boulder so hopefully all those issues are in the past now.
@Gene – thanks for the suggestion. You’re right – that route would have made more sense but since we had originally planned for San Fran the current route worked better then. We are planning to stop in Bakersfield before we arrive in San Diego as some folks who work for the Kern’s Co. Sheriff’s aren’t exactly helping the community. Thanks for the Wendover lead – I bet we can come up with something to cover that:)
@Tim – yeah it could be. Could also be their age – we bought them used last year (so no warranty paperwork & they’ve since been disposed) and dry rot/wear may have been a factor. Thanks for the suggestion though – I’ll keep it in mind for future tires.
@Seth – that’s a possibility. Or perhaps you’d want to cruise up to Reno and join us for some on-the-street-activism? We may stop there for an evening as we have a couple of contacts and we hear it could be fruitful.
No problem, Pete.
I have another suggestion for you: it looks like you will be taking I-15 North from San Diego to Vegas. You’ll be passing right by Riverside, CA, home to a rarity: an actual storefront libertarian bookshop (Renaissance Books) owned and operated by a person who attended the very first LP convention. Gary Chartier also lives in the area. Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation also lives close by. It’s quite a hotbed.
I miss looking out my window and seeing MARV. Life is empty without him.
Thanks Gene! We’re going to hash out that leg of our schedule today – see what we can fit in the drive from Bakersfield to San Diego.
Ian, MARV misses being parked on your property but we’ll continue to post some pics of him to mitigate the separation:) He says to tell ya that he’ll be back soon!