Trip to New Hampshire – Bryan's Blog

We just got back this week from a trip to New Hampshire. The purpose of the trip was both to vacation and to attend theFirst Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival which was a <a href=”http://freestateproject.org/”>Free State Project</a> get together. To see all the pictures from our trip, <a href=”http://www.bryanandlianne.name/gallery/New-Hampshire”>check out our photo album.</a>

We left around 1:40am on Wednesday morning, the 16th of June, after picking up Lianne’s mom, Kathy, to tag along on the trip. Special thanks go out to her. She was a huge help on the trip. It’s tough when the kids outnumber the adults, and Kathy evened the odds for us. The plan was to get four or so hours of sleep the night before, and get to the motel by around 4:00pm. Instead we got about 90 minutes of sleep, and because of a flat tire near Hartford, we didn’t arrive until about 7:00pm.

Once we settled into the motel room, and pried Jaron away from the Cartoon Network, we headed over to the campsites and playground to see what was going on. There we met another FSP couple from PA, Jim and Cathy, who had a four year old playing in the park. I also mosied over to the campsite and met another couple from VA, as well as Dawn and her two daughters. I chatted politics and got some information about Dawn’s sightseening plans for the following day. Then we learned our first lesson about northern New Hampshire. Once the sun goes down, it gets cold. We were stil dressed in our shorts and tees and had to head back to the motel.

<h3>Sightseeing</h3>
The following morning, Thursday, we somehow managed to get up and ready by 9:30, just in time to meet the crew for the trip to the <a href=”http://www.findlostriver.com/”>Lost River.</a> That visit was a blast, and it was fun getting to hang out with some fellow porcupine parents and their kids. That afternoon, Kathy, Jaron, Ava, and I played some mini golf. Then Lianne, Jaron, and I spent some more time at the play ground where we met another couple, Mike and Amanda. They are from Massachusetts. One thing I noticed about all of these folks is that they were ready to move, or had already moved. It was exciting to see the plan in action.

We woke up Friday to a wet and chilly morning. We had already decided to visit the <a href=”http://www.heritagenh.com/”>Heritage Museum,</a> which was indoors, so the weather wasn’t too much of a concern. The museum was pretty neat. It’s an interactive type journey. You start in England in the 1600’s and slowly travel to modern New Hampshire. I learned a couple of neat facts, but the coolest was the story of a British sympathizer in the late 1700’s who moved to the Fort of William and Mary because the local residents of his town had pointed a canon at his front door. There was also an exhibit about the famous NH town meetings which was particularly interesting to me.

Once back at the motel the weather cleared up a little and we headed back to the park. We met up with Jim and Cathy and Mike and Amanda again, as well as some other parents who had just arrived. We had good discussions, and somehow I became famous among the kids for spinning the merry-go-round. I wondered at the time if merry-go-rounds were illegal in Virginia. I have never seen one here, and we all know how dangerous they are, sheesh.

We eventually took the kids back to the motel and got them ready for bed. We then left them with Grandma and headed back to the campfire to see what was going on. We noticed a couple of people sitting away from the fire and started up a conversation with them. We ended up with a few more folks and the topics of discussion were varied and informative. During our trip we heard a lot of new ideas and concepts. We talked about unschooling, refusing social security numbers, <a href=”http://www.dancingrabbit.org/biodiesel/”>running your diesel engine on vegetable oil</a>, and just about everything else under the sun. Let me take this opportunity to describe the group of individuals we saw and met there who describe themselves as FSP’ers. We found that most porcupines have some pet peeve for liberty, whether it is gun rights, home schooling, civil liberties, or taxes. There wasn’t any one demographic group that stood out, although I did notice a lack of minorities. I figured there wouldn’t be a huge representation, but I was hoping for more. Other than that there were young couples and old, singles, kids, hippies, bikers, businessmen, and everything else under the sun. Despite the differences in focus, liberty and freedom were the common themes. It was awesome to see the reality of the Free State Project, and to talk with people who have already made the move. This thing is real and it will happen.

<h3>The Porcupine Festival</h3>
The next day was Saturday, the 26th of June, and I was looking forward to hearing the speakers and meeting some fellow fsp-christians emailers. Amanda Phillips, the FSP president, started things off with a moment of silence. We all stood and observed a brief moment of silence and Amanda said something like, “We observed that moment of silece for the death of socialism, statism, collectivism …” The rest of what she said was drowned out by the raucous cheers that rang through the building. It almost brought tears to my eyes. Jason Sorens spoke next and talked about encouraging people to move into NH by focusing on the community of procupines that are already there ready to support them in your new life. He also took some questions and responded to one about people who want an income tax by smiling and saying, “And, I’m sorry, that’s just not going to happen in New Hampshire.” This brought another round of cheers and applause.

Then a constitutionalist state representative spoke. It’s refreshing to see that kind of passion already in elective office in NH. During the break following his speech I finally met some some fellow fsp-christians. Patrick and Edwina were there. We had a good discussion with them, and it’s a neat story how they managed to find a great place to rent as a direct result of the fsp-christians yahoo group. I also met Varrin, who’s a white dude! 🙂 I just assumed that with a name like Varrin Swearingen, he was Indian or something.

In any case, after the break, the <a href=”http://www.gonh.org/”>Gunowners of NH</a> spoke, and I was impressed with the fact that they are actively working on repealing the concealed weapons licensing laws. This would make it legal to carry a concealed weapon in NH without a license. During the lunch break we had lunch with Mike and Amanda, and Varrin. We ate, as we did the entire trip, at a local restaraunt and enjoyed good food and excellent conversation.

After lunch James Maynard from the <a href=”http://www.nhliberty.org/”>New Hampshire Liberty Alliance</a> spoke. I am most impressed with their social outreach program. They are working not only to increase liberty, but to increase charity as well. As James pointed out, this is something that often lacks focus among libertarians. They are providing private school scholarships, and raising money to restore some historical New Hampshire flags. Next came a speaker from the <a href=”http://www.cnht.org/”>Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers.</a> He was great, and spent most of his time talking about reducing zoning laws and property taxes, both topics which are near and dear to my heart. It sounded like they have a solid organization going that is already making a difference. Lastly, this hemp-guy spoke. He talked about the <a href=”http://www.globalhemp.com/”>industrial uses of hemp</a>, and I learned a great deal. Basically, marijuana that people smoke is genetically altered to increase it’s TSG content and provide a high. Industrial hemp has only very small amounts of TSG, and it can be used in an incredible array of products from clothing to food to building materials. It is better for the environment, and cheaper to grow that the products we use today. Unfortunately, thanks to the federal government, we are not allowed to grow hemp in the United States. We have to import it from other countries, such as Canada, in order to manufacture hemp based products. It is ridiculous that the government bans hemp growing in the name of the Drug War, and yet we are allowed to grow tobacco, which isn’t nearly as diverse a crop.

After the sessions we spent more time chatting with fellow porcupines, and I eventually talked Lianne into going to the nearest WalMart, which was about 35 minutes away. Mike and Amanda went with us, and they are really a cool couple. We’ll definitely keep in touch with them, and we look forward to seeing them again in the free state.

Sunday morning was the much anticipated Porcupine church service. Varrin and I set up nearly 40 chairs, not knowing exactly what to expect. It turned out that it was a little tight and we had to add another row. The preacher, Garrett Lear from <a href=” http://www.thewelloflivingwater.com/”>The Well of Living Water Christian Fellowship</a> was excellent. He promoted what he called the “Free Church”. His church did not incorporate with the state, and it is not classified as a 501c3. They are truly free to be the salt and light that we as Christians are called to be. He encouraged us to be givers when we moved to NH and not takers. The most memorable moment for me, however, was singing “How Great Thou Art”. I can’t really describe what happened, but it seemed as though every person in that room was singing as loudly as they possibly could. I know God was pleased, and it was awesome to exercise our freedom of religion with fellow porcupines.

<h3>Heading Home</h3>
Right after the service we hit the road for home. We stopped at <a href=”http://www.cannonmt.com/”>Mt. Cannon</a> on the way back, rode the tram to the top of the mountain, and had lunch. We then swung down through Manchester and Nashua because I wanted to see New Hampshire city life. Unfortunately, I think that little jaunt cost us some serious time though, because we didn’t get home until 5am Monday morning. I ate so much junk on the drive back trying to stay awake, that I didn’t feel so hot either Monday or Tuesday. Other than that, the entire trip was a complete success. It was beautiful country, we met some neat folks, and it was especially encouraging to see people joined together in heart and mind for liberty, both in this lifetime and in the next.

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