LOUISVILLE, KY/FINDLAY, OH/ST. PAUL, MN – As is clear by the inclusion of MARV in our “Crew” section on our about page and on our “Let Them Be” design, our home/office/vehicle is an integral part of our operations at the Motorhome Diaries. It is “Motorhome” Diaries after all.

That’s why I wanted to take a moment to share a little more about MARV with you.

Since we hit the road we’ve done videos and posts about MARV – buying, watering, painting, adding graphics and stickers, removing gray and black water, etc. – and today another video joins their ranks: “Meet MARV” which was shot when we were all together in Indiana, in which me, Adam and Jason give a four-minute tour of MARV. This video should be especially interesting for those that we haven’t yet been able to step inside of MARV.

Keeping MARV running smoothly is crucial for this project. Before we bought MARV we had an inspection done from an area RV dealer, which gave MARV the green light. We’ve since changed MARV’s oil twice (in Denver and in Keene) and though I’d been wanting to change the oil in our generator for some time (it was beginning to idle roughly when initially started) we didn’t have the proper equipment on the road. I knew, however, that this was something that my old man could help me tackle when we got to Ohio so in the meantime we added oil as needed and used it as sparingly as possible. Post-oil change the generator now runs silky smooth (the dolly is in the pic as we used it to hold open the access door).

And giving MARV some TLC when in Ohio didn’t stop there.

• When we first hit the road my bike was locked to MARV’s already-shaky ladder. Not trusting this set-up (and not wanting to worry about ‘what if my bike and the ladder come off when driving?’ I later I stored my bike inside, but this ate up valuable real estate, so when in Keene on our way to Porc Fest I left it with some fellow Free Staters to use. When in Ohio though, thanks to me kissing a brick mailbox when backing up, the ladder was even further gone, so my old man and I (with the help of my mom) removed the ladder; covering all the new holes with silicone caulk and when dried, painting it to match MARV.
• Having a leak-free roof is paramount on any RV. Yet after being caught in heavy heavy rain in Virginia Beach I noticed that some of my clothes in MARV’s back corner closet were a bit damp. I realized that we had a small leak. Later, when sitting shotgun while driving through solid rains in New York I saw that some water was getting in there as well. (The thought is that allowing dozens of folks on MARV’s roof at our meetups in DC, Keene and elsewhere contributed to this problem so we’ve since vetoed such actions.) We toyed with the idea of buying buckets liquid rubber rolled onto the roof, but balked due to the ~$700 cost. Fortunately, we took care of this when in Ohio as well. It seems the previous owner tried to band-aid the problem by just applying caulk over the already-existing caulk (as evident by the thick, uneven layers of caulk). For this, the credit goes to my old man and Ryan, who removed all the old caulk with scrappers and applied new, top-of-the-line caulk (thanks for the donation dad!) to the seals between the front and end caps and the main body. Thus far, the inside of MARV has remained bone dry.
• Though we always take our shoes off when we enter MARV to help keep it clean, MARV does get dirty (I didn’t see the deputies at Jones County Sheriffs Department or those employed by the Canada Border Services Agency or Customs and Border Protection taking off their shoes). So, my dad gave Ryan an overview of how to use the carpet cleaner vacuum he and my mom own and Ryan went to work inside of MARV (the water from the carpet alone was black).

So, MARV seems pretty happy these days. Plus, we were recently contacted by Marty, a mechanical engineer who has worked around engines his whole life, who has shared a lot of information and suggestions with us to help keep MARV road-worthy, though we have yet to act on many of them due to budgetary constraints. Regardless, it’s great to know there are folks out there that care enough to take their time to share their knowledge with others out of the goodness of their heart, not just for us at MHD but for those helping others in whatever capacity – it really underscores the civil society that we advocate.

ST. PAUL, MN – For those of you that religiously check the MHD homepage for new content, you may be asking yourself “What the hell happened to Pete?” No, I didn’t get locked up again and Jason and Adam have yet to off me and dispose of my body along some lonely stretch of road, I flew to Minneapolis/St. Paul (aka the Twin Cities; I clarify here as, back in the day, when at a Fear Factory show a couple of hours away I told bandmember Dino that they needed to come back to the Twin Cities more often and he said “Twin Cities?”).

Allison with Sara Dreke Eyre and Tom Eyre in St. Paul

At the airport I was met by my girl Allison Gibbs (who you may remember from our run-in with the Jones County Sheriffs Department, recent video about the Ladies of Liberty Alliance, and more), who had just flown in from DC. We were picked up by my Aunt Kathy and Grandma, and in addition to seeing them and my bro Tom and sis-in-law Sara (whom Allison and I stayed with) and seeing each other, the reason for our visit was the wedding of one of my good buds from high school and undergrad (one of the last of our crew I figured would settle down) and my 10 year high school reunion (where I learned a number of folks had been following MHD and made sure they knew of our Oct 2nd meetup). And I played tour guide a bit (Como Park, Summit Ave. and Grand Ave., the Walker Sculpture Garden, Mall of America, my old stomping grounds in Eagan, etc.).

Pete and Allison at James J. Hill House

Since Allison has a real job (working as the director of outreach for the Campaign for Liberty), she had to fly back last night, but I’m going to work remotely for MHD through this week and meet Adam and Jason on Friday in Nashville, in time for our meetup there, which is being co-hosted by the Nashville Liberty on the Rocks.

So, while I’ll be working as usual (editing video content, writing blog posts, responding to emails, etc.) I won’t be with the rest of the crew. But if you live in the area or are familiar with the area and have some story ideas I can cover while here or for the guys in eastern TN please let us know by leaving your suggestion as a comment. Thanks in advance!

LOUISVILLE, KY – When at our meetup in Indianapolis this past Monday, I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Zimmerman, who dropped some knowledge about an incident that went down in Indianapolis a few years back that pitted the Indianapolis Baptist Temple against the IRS (and soon enough, agents from other federal law enforcement agencies). Having been on-site as a reporter with the now-defunct SierraTimes.com during the siege, Paul had first-hand experience. I tend to think I have a decent knowledge on such incidents so I asked Paul if he wouldn’t mind giving an overview of the event to point to yet another example of the fact that government is an institution based in violence – that if you don’t pay them off they’ll come after you with guns.

And in fact that’s what happened.

Thanks to Todd Grotenhuis (and his lovely wife Andrea) for setting-up the Indy meetup and facilitating this connecting with Paul. Keep fighting the good fight!

When at the http://motorhomediaries.com’s Indy meetup we ran into Paul Zimmerman, a fellow fan of freedom who, as a journalist, had first-hand knowledge of a siege a few years back that pitted the Indianapolis Baptist Temple against the IRS in yet another example that showed that government is an institution based in violence – that if you don’t pay them off they’ll come after you with guns.

LOUISVILLE, KY – A couple of weeks before we were slated to be the Chicagoland area we received an email from fellow freedom fighter John Delano who noted that we “might be interested in interviewing” Daniel Lakemacher, who, he told us, was in the military but since enlisting had taken a radically different view and in fact, started a site called WarIsImmoral.com. After checking out his site I got in touch with Daniel and found that John wasn’t lying – Daniel would make an excellent interview.

A week later he drove to  Jackson, WI to hang (where he learned that the meetup there had been canceled), came back the next day for our Milwaukee meetup, then joined us a few days later at our Chicago meetup. It was just before that last meetup that we were able to shoot his interview (hat-tip to our bud Arno for manning the camera) at a nearby park and as you’ll see, it’s damn solid.

In the video Daniel shares his personal journey – from working at an insurance firm in downtown Chicago to enlisting in the Navy post-9.11 to discovering the ideas of liberty and encouraging others to “think for themselves” – in what I can honestly say is one of the most compelling interviews I’ve have the privilege to capture and share. I have no doubt that Daniel will inspire others in and out of uniform to face the reality of their actions and quite possibly, result in a paradigm shift so that they live morally.

This connection with Daniel is just another great example of how we rely on the info that YOU have to put out a better product and introduce more people to the ideas of a voluntary society. Keep ‘em coming!

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Last Friday we were in Chicago for our second time since we hit the road. Like our first time in early-April, much thanks goes to our buds Arno and Richard Lorenc. Arno, currently wrapping up his MA in Architecture at Illinois Tech, opened his apartment to Ryan and I as a place work and crash (Jason stayed with a friend) and found parking nearby for MARV while Richard, the director of outreach at the Illinois Policy Institute identified the venue and nailed down a drink special ($20 for all-you-can-drink from 7-10pm) even though he himself couldn’t make it as he had to be out of town on business.

Just before the meetup Daniel Lakemacher and I walked to a park two blocks east (no, not that type of walk) where I interviewed him about his application for conscientious objector status from the Navy (stay tuned for the vid!) since he believes WarIsImmoral.

The meetup itself went really well. It’s difficult to know for sure as some left early and others came later, but I’d guess that through the night about 40 people attended the meetup – a very solid turnout. And a couple of freedom fighters – Bernard Chapin and InkyAtari – asked Jason and I for quick interviews of our own.

Thanks also goes to Nic Hall, who I met at an IHS seminar in 2006 and who now works for the Sam Adams Alliance, for being the point-person at the meetup location and to my brotha Dan Wilk (the best personal trainer I know) for getting Arno and I some grub and drinks and for hosting the after-meetup-shin-dig.

On Sunday afternoon Joey Young drove Adam from Jackson to Arno’s place in Chicago and we jumped in MARV, scooped Jason up from a nearby Starbucks where he was working and headed southeast towards Indy.

Looking forward to our Return to Jones County leg!

For more Chicago pics view this album from our Facebook Fan Page (note that more pics, including some group shots, will be added soon).

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – It was a sunny morning on May 14th. I was behind the wheel of MARV driving northeast on I-59 in Mississippi. Adam was sitting shotgun and navigating. Jason was in the back sleeping. We had had a great meetup the night before in New Orleans (here and here) and were making good time to meet a couple of friends for breakfast before heading to Nashville for a meetup that evening. All that changed when Deputy Atkins of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department pulled us over. And though Atkins soon admitted that the reason for us being stopped – that our vehicle had temporary tags from New Hampshire – was cleared, he and his colleagues detained, arrested and threw us in a cage for 10 hours and as seen in the video below, thoroughly thrashed our home.

Fortunately, others (including Allison Gibbs featured below) did not stand by idly but contributed their time (300-500 phone calls to the jail, sheriffs department, attorney general and others, etc.), treasure (to help cover the cash bond we needed to pay to secure our release from their cage, motel room, etc.) and talent (letters to the editor, outreach to those in their networks, recommendations to us, etc.). Not only did this have the immediate and very-real benefit of helping us, but it demonstrated something that still makes me teary-eyed when telling this story to this day: the willingness of others to stand for what’s right. I trust in the good-nature of people to help those in need – it just so happened that our time of need came due to the actions of  those who wear a badge and who claim to act out of a desire “to protect and serve” us. The very significant take-away for others who face such rights-violating actions is that they are not alone – there exists a community that will support them.

We advocate freedom and responsibility. We believe individuals should be free to act so long as they don’t initiate force against someone else. What this ultimately comes down to is the fact that we were not harming anyone and that, for some reason, those active with the Jones County Sheriff’s Department believe simply because they have a badge they can violate our rights and not be held accountable (i.e. telling Adam he’s “going to jail” for filming).

Jones County Sheriff Department Violates Rights of MHD

Though we were all threatened with multiple offenses, in the end we were each charged with just one – Adam with disorderly, Jason with resisting and me with possessing a beer in a dry county. I won’t go into details here (for more click here) but it’s important to note that on June 24th, through our lawyer, we pled “not guilty” and now have to appear in court on Sept. 10th. This made us change our entire itinerary and head south, so en route we’re now scheduled to have meetups in Indianapolis, Louisville, Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, possibly Birmingham and Laurel (in Jones County).

We’ve already heard from some people in our network that plan on joining us or helping us in some other way and we thank them in advance for their support. If you have the time/interest to help, here’s how:

Join us in Jones County!

• Our trial is Thursday, Sept. 10th at 1pm. It will be held at the Jones County Justice Court, which is located at 402 Central Avenue, Laurel, MS 39440.
• Connect with other lovers of liberty on our Facebook Fan Page to coordinate travel and/or split hotel/motel rooms.
• We’re having a meetup in Laurel on Wednesday, Sept. 9th from 7-10pm. Join us!
• Have you had similar experiences thanks to those working for the Jones County Sheriff’s Department? Let us know if you’ll be in the area so that we can interview you.
• Do you have media contacts in the area? Let us know so we can proactively reach out to them.

Connect with us online!

• Help cover our fuel costs to get back to Jones County so that we can hold those who so willingly violate the rights of others accountable.
• Have you had similar experiences thanks to those working for the Jones County Sheriff’s Department? Share them at JonesCountySheriff.com and empower others to stand up for their rights.

The crew of the Motorhome Diaries feels it is important that we all stand up for ourselves and our rights. The more exposure this case gets the less likely rouge police agencies will be able to get away with victimizing peaceful people. We appreciate all of you who had our back and we hope to return the favor one day.

CHICAGO, IL – When in Jackson, Wisconsin we had the opportunity to meet many of Adam’s friends, including Joey Young, who took some time to sit-down with MHD and share some of his background. Fresh out of high school Joey enlisted in the U.S. Army, a decision he now states that he would not make thanks largely to thinking for himself and having discussions with Adam Mueller and his attendance at the Campaign for Liberty’s Regional Conference in St. Louis.

I was excited to hear this and believe it is becoming more common, as more and more military personnel are joining organizations such as Oath Keepers, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Campaign for Liberty and visiting sites like AntiWar.com where there’s a community of other moral, principled, peaceful individuals.

CHICAGO, IL – Well, it’s Thursday, and that means another one of our classic Thank You Thursday posts/videos to thank those that’ve helped keep us rolling over the past seven days. As is clear in this week’s edition, a lot of individuals and organizations fall into this category. I have no doubt that the video – which touches on our four meetups, our second round of sponsors including the Students for Liberty, the Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA), Gadsden.info, Sakal CAI and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a change to our crew lineup and more – will keep your attention better than my writing, so check it out!

DETROIT, MI/WINDSOR, ON – As we noted about a week ago (here and here) our RV MARV was searched and we were interrogated by individuals working at the federal level for two different governments. We had taken a wrong turn onto a road leading to the Ambassador Bridge when in Detroit and were unable to turn around.

It cost us over four hours and a usurpation of our rights. We were questioned because I admitted to being a gun owner. We had not aggressed against anyone yet our freedom of movement was non-existent and our property rights (including of our person) were ignored (and laughed about).

And YOU pay to support this?

Think for yourself. Visit the Free Agent Network and its social networking component, Agorist.info, the Mises Institute and Free Talk Live.

JACKSON, WI -When in Jackson, Wisconsin visiting Adam’s family, I was able to sit-down with my girl Allison Gibbs. Allison, who many of y’all know know from our run-in with the good folks at the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, Transforming MARV, and media outreach prowlness, is the director of outreach for the Campaign for Liberty and the founder and president of the Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA).

In this video Allison details her unique personal journey to the ideas of liberty, her rationale for the founding of and the mission of LOLA and then touches on how you can help them get off the ground to advance the voluntary society (hint: it involves a calendar…).