Politics from my bicycle seat

In 2016, my wife and I happened to be taking a drive across the country in our 35 foot fifth wheel trailer. Our destination was to visit our daughter and her family in Michigan.

While traveling in this manner, you have occasion to meet a variety of folks from other parts of America. Mainly we stayed in both recreational vehicle parks and state or national parks. It’s a great way to really see and hear how people live and what they think about the country.

Well, we got an earful as we talked and shared a laugh or a beer with our temporary neighbors. People are mostly friendly and want to get to know you, especially when you have a California license plate on the back of your trailer.

As retirees we get to travel around our beloved West and now and then we do longer ventures, such as camping in Maine and crossing into Nova Scotia.

This period of time was before the election of Donald Trump as President. Like many Republicans, we had our reservations about this flamboyant TV star of a program we had never viewed. All we knew was that his opponent, Hillary Clinton a Democrat, was not nearly as likable as he was. She would not be caught dead talking to some of the folks we met and liked along the way.

The more we listened to the men and women in Michigan, Wisconsin, South and North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Utah, the more we realized that Donald Trump could relate to these people and they to him.

Many of the men we met were either small-business owners or former or current employees from Ford or GM. Many were “lifelong Democrats.” Most had never voted for a Republican, but they were sure going to the polls and voting for Trump!

I remember remarking to my wife as we motored along on I-90 that we had not seen a single “Hillary for President” sign anywhere along the highway. We had been noticing farm after farm with barns or tractors adorned with “Trump-Pence” signs in the front of their properties. It was remarkable!

I even used our cellphone to call our son in California to tell him that this guy Trump is going to win based on what we had been seeing and hearing for the last 30 days. He said, “Dad there is no way. The polls have Hillary leading by 14%. She is running away with it. Trump doesn’t have a chance.”

I agreed it was probably just my imagination; Trump was certainly not a politician and didn’t know how to campaign compared to the sophisticated Clinton machine. What was I thinking?

Well, the rest is history. When we got back and it was election night, my wife went to bed early and told me to do the same since Hillary was going to win. I stayed up to see by how much Trump would lose. I woke her up and gave her the good news.

I couldn’t help but remember how all those folks we had met months before had all done what they said they were going to do. They voted for Trump!

Now it is October 2020. Here we are again thinking about an election, only now Donald Trump is the incumbent. Another lightweight, career politician is his opponent. This time around, we are not in our trailer traveling the highways of this remarkable country because of the coronavirus scare.

Instead, I’m riding my bike around the area where we live. I’m a cyclist. I’ve been riding for many years along the roads and bike paths of Southern California. What I have been observing lately that reminds me of those times on the highways of the Midwest in 2016 are the number of Trump signs in the front yards of rural and suburban houses, both large and small residences.

I see palpable momentum building over the last two weeks that wasn’t there before. For example, today I rode by a house that last week had a small Trump for President sign in front. Today, it has two signs with American flags posted on each side. There are now more houses on this same street with Trump signs or flags flying.

Even in a blue state, people really care about this election. People like us, who have our Trump sign in our front yard, want the world to know that we think there is a better way for our country. We are going out on a limb again. We think this country is in for another surprise. We think Trump is going to win and win big!

Bob Crisell