Tommy drives the Straight Talk Express, John McCain's campaign bus.
He's been with the bus since it left Belen on Sept. 11. He's been back home for just one day since then. He's an unpaid volunteer.
"I closed my business," he said. "I own a restaurant, and my manager is struggling along to keep it open while I'm gone. I own a television production company, and I told my clients not to talk to me until after the election."
A large teddy bear wearing red, white and blue sat in the front window of the bus next to Tommy while the other riders talked of travel, everyday life and memories as we drove to our first stop on the campaign trail.
There was some teasing among the veterans from the Marines, Navy and Air Force that ended in friendly threats of being hit with a cane.
Everyone sat in comfortable leather furniture onboard the bus, and there was a small kitchenette with an NRA pamphlet on the counter that read "Don't believe in Barack Obama."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Lee Ellis, from Atlanta, told me he grew up on a family farm and always dreamed of flying jets in the military. Ellis joined the Air Force right after high school and flew F-4 Phantom bombers in Vietnam. When he was 24, he was shot down, captured and sent to the same POW camp as John McCain. He said he came home from Hanoi on the same airplane as McCain.
Ellis said he supports McCain now because of his experience in Hanoi. He remembers when McCain refused an opportunity to get out of the camp.
"Sen. McCain set the example for the rest of us by making a tough decision. He said, 'I'm not going to participate even if it costs me. I'm not going to help you out. I'm not going to be disloyal to my teammates.' This motto of country courage has been around with him for a long time," Ellis said.
After the war, Ellis developed leadership programs for the Air Force. He then bought his own farm, because farming brought him peace. During his time in the POW camp, Ellis said he spent a month thinking about farming and buying land. He made a game for himself, daydreaming how he could own as much land as possible.
"I started with 40 acres, and by the end of the month, I owned the whole county," he said. "I didn't have to pay any taxes. I could set my own prices, but I figured out my cattle, pastures, planning, harvesting and just kept spending."
Knox Nunnally, an Iraq war veteran from Texas, came to Albuquerque to volunteer his time on the Straight Talk Express. He said he backs McCain because the senator stands behind the military.
"John McCain initially got my support and still has my support because I think he is the best person we have to run this war," Nunnally said. "From the very beginning, when no one believed that we could win it, he stood by us and believed that we could win. He stood by us in our time of trouble, and I'm glad that we can stand by him in his time of trouble."
Our first stop was in Los Lunas, at a restaurant called TJ's. A few families met us outside to talk to the team and pick up McCain-Palin yard signs. Inside, the team drank coffee and walked around the tables to speak to patrons having breakfast.
Debbie Weisman said she was glad the Straight Talk Express stopped by for a chat.
"It's good to know they're out there. McCain needs all the help he can get right now," she said.
The next stop was Larry Luna's barbershop in the South Valley. Inside, Luna showed the team a photo album of his most popular hair styles, while one young man stood in the back of the room shaving, watching our conversation in the mirror.
"I'm here to ask you to vote for my roommate," said Frank Gamboa, who approached each person he spoke to with a determined smile on his face, shaking hands with everyone.
Gamboa and McCain have been friends for 50 years, since their college days. He said they met freshman year in the Naval Academy and decided to room together for the next three years.
Outside of the academy, their career paths did not cross, Gamboa said. When McCain's plane was shot down in Vietnam, Gamboa was on a ship in Korea.
"He never talked about Vietnam unless I asked him," Gamboa said. "And I didn't feel comfortable asking him. He seemed more interested in his current life ...."
Gamboa, a first-generation Mexican-American, was born in California, where his parents met during the Mexican Revolution. He was in the Navy for 34 years.
"I rose to the rank of captain and I commanded a ship," Gamboa said. "I was the first Mexican-American to command a ship in the Navy. I did that twice, and then they gave me seven ships to play with."
Gamboa said he spends as much time as he can with his granddaughters and is busy working on a memoir.
"I don't know if that's a hobby or a chore," he said, "Right now, I'm arguing with the publisher. They want to cut it in half. It's 325,000 words. Fourteen chapters. It's a great American saga - that's what I tell the publishers."
Though not everyone we met on the trail agreed with the Express' riders, most people were respectful of their visitors.
When Ellis spoke to some men eating breakfast at Los Compadres, Tom Christiansen sat in silence.
He later told me he was not going to vote for McCain because of the senator's support of the Bush administration's policies.
"I lived in Arizona for a long time while (McCain) was a senator," Christiansen said. "I didn't agree with him then; I don't agree with him now. I don't like his policies. I voted Republican my whole life, and I decided this time I'm not going to .... I don't see why we shouldn't give (Obama) a chance."
Lee Dickens, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Albuquerque, said he is permanently stationed on the Straight Talk Express.
"Everyone here has a story," Dickens said. "It puts a different light on what we're doing here. People think of you as a political figure, a Republican or Democrat, instead of what we really are - people. Americans caring about other Americans."
Dickens said regardless of what happens Nov. 4, the country should do away with labels and move forward together.
"I don't care what your color was, your nation was, your religion was, what your preferences was. I don't care," he said. "That's the thing that America needs to remember - no matter who wins this election."
