Derry, NH

I spent many weekends this fall semester canvassing for the New Hampshire Campaign for Change based out originally out of Manchester then Derry then Raymond. My transitions kept showing how the campaign was transforming even further into the grassroots with each week as the election approached. Raymond is only a town of 15,000 people, but yet we had a huge office out of an old furniture store, which showed the great support for the Democratic ticket in New Hampshire's reddest region (Rockingham County, but it went blue in 2008!) With the Democratic ticket of Obama, Jeanne Shaheen, and Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1) winning all of these counties, we know that our work really paid off.

These journeys became more and more epic as we got closer to the election. Usually riding up in a unstable, speeding van, we would dash up Route 93 to Exit 4 for Derry or to Exit 7 to Exit 5 for Raymond. In Derry, we grew particularly fond of a local diner called Sundae Delite. The place is a true down-to-earth diner with the some of the nicest owners in the world. Besides being huge Democrats, these people would go out of their way to make sure that they could get whatever we wanted. In addition, their sandwiches, which are incredibly delicious and made in front of our eyes, are crazy cheap with my favorite the light rye tuna melt costing a mere $2.50.

Due to the great atmosphere and amazing food, we had to take a return trip to Derry before the end of the semester to cap it off. As we crossed the NH state line, we were reminded that all of the rain that has fallen in Boston the past 3 days froze in NH creating a spectacular ice storm (This is a link to a bunch of ice storm pics http://www.boston.com/news/local/gallery/121208_readersweatherphotos/). Trees were split all along Route 93 creating huge traffic jams statewide. This storm also knocked out power to over half of the NH customers including the area around Exit 3. Before taking the backroads into downtown Derry, we were scared that we would arrive to a powerless Sundae Delite, thus negating our 45 minute drive. However, downtown Derry somehow never lost power like the surrounding regions, and we gladly pulled into Sundae Delite. The owners were just delighted to see us, and they were a bit surprised we had made the trek up. They had lost their power in the ice storm and were going to be living at the restaurant until the power was restored, which is not supposed to happen until Wednesday.

Even despite these awful conditions, they still treated us like the first family. Upon arrival, two large plates of popcorn arrived on our table, which we devoured upon site. After our meals arrived and were devoured in record time, cups of their swirl soft serve ice cream arrived on the table for each one of us. This give and take relationship signifies the core of NH values where each of us are giving to each other in the spirit of humankind. So if you are ever in Derry, stop by Sundae Delite and say hi from the Tufts for Obama.