Day 13, Year 4: US Election-Big World News
Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Weather: Sunny Day; Rain Showers in Late Afternoon
Location: One 15 Marina, Sentosa Island, Singapore
It was a busier day on Windbird than we had hoped for, but it was productive. Early in the day Mark was emptying the jerry jugs of diesel on deck into the fuel tanks and discovered a blockage on the starboard side. Fuel just wouldn’t go in. The fuel hose leading from the deck to the tank goes through our main salon closet, so we had to take everything out of it to check for the problem. The problem was an old hose that needs to be replaced as it was collapsing, but the problem led to a major
cleaning and reorganization of “stuff.” So we worked, went to the pool for a swim, and I continued to work on naming photos.
It is now 10 pm here on Tuesday, November 4, but it is 9 am on Tuesday, November 4 for most of you reading this log. It is election day in the US, but this election is of more interest than most for people from around the world. We will be watching the election results starting tomorrow morning at 8 am, your 7 pm, here at the marina. CNN International begins the coverage at 2300 UTC. And we’ll be there! In the meantime, some cruisers have been listening to the BBC and getting the early results.
This evening we went out to the Vivo Center to get some take-home sushi for dinner and to do a little grocery shopping. When we returned, we were informed by our Australian friends on Shirena that the tiny little village of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire, a traditionally republican stronghold, went 15 to 6 for Obama. Hart’s Location, another New Hampshire early voting station also went for Obama; 17 Obama, 10 McCain, and 2 write-in’s for Ron Paul. Mark and I have been in the tiny little room
at The Balsams resort hotel where the folks at Dixville Notch vote in the first few seconds of election day (just after midnight). The Balsams is a grand old resort in the expensive but rustic New England style and the folks there haven’t voted for a Democrat since 1968. We’ll just have to wait and see if their vote is an indicator of the results of this election. We have been overwhelmed with the interest in the election in this part of the world. Everywhere we went in Indonesia, people would
ask us about the upcoming election and about Obama. From our observation, he has become a symbol of hope for the world, so we will certainly be anxious to see the results of this election. I think our son, Justin, summed it up best in an email he wrote this week to friends and family announcing the fact that he’s going to be dad. He wrote a little about becoming a dad and then he wrote a lot about an experience he and Jo had attending an Obama rally in Albuquerque. “It seems funny to write more
about politics in an email than about the fact that I’m about to have my first child, but the fate of the child is out of my hands. Its life will unfold as it is meant to. However, the fate of the country it will be born into is in all of our hands. Here’s to hope!”
