Jon Stewart "Sanity" Rally Prompts Cross-Country Journey

Ron Honn and Vicke Adams stand in front of their bus to Washington, DC from Stillwater, OK.

/ CBS/Ryan Corsaro

Springfield, MO - When Jon Stewart announced his "Rally To Restore Sanity" in Washington, D.C. this weekend, Ron Honn wished he could be there.

"I thought it would be really cool to do go that," said Honn.

But Ron isn't a college kid in a dorm watching Comedy Central. He's a 52-year-old resident of Stillwater, Okla. And that's 1,300 miles from the nation's capital.

So when his girlfriend, Vicke Adams, asked him days later what he wanted for his birthday, he told her.

"He said 'I want to be on the mall, at the rally,'" Adams recalled.

So she rented a bus and hoped she could find 20 people to ride with them across the country, enough people to make it financially possible.

Three buses with 121 Midwesterners travel 24 hours to the "Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear" in Washington.

/ CBS/Ryan Corsaro

Today, they're on one of three buses carrying 121 people who wanted to join Ron and Vicke and head to Washington. Some were from Stillwater, some came from the western part of the state -- even some folks from Kansas.

"It was an incredible outpouring," said Vicke. "Something I never expected."

Their caravan is traveling through nine states and left Friday morning at eight a.m. -- they didn't arrive outside Washington until five in the morning on Saturday.

Ron Honn's reason is simple for wanting to embark on such a long adventure.

"We've had a lot of anger the last couple of years and not a lot of fun," says Honn. "I think it's an opportunity to have a collective voice for sanity."

The sanity he wants to return to is the one he saw signs of two years ago, before angry town hall shout-downs and signs invoking Socialism and Hitler started popping up at political rallies.

Luxmi Bhakta, an American citizen from Zimbabwe, celebrates one year of citizenship by traveling to see Jon Stewart.

/ CBS/Ryan Corsaro

"We've got to learn to talk to each other and not be crazy and angry and let that be our only voice," Honn explains. "So if this provides us an opportunity to walk back some of that anger, it could only be good for America."

Obviously a few of Ron's neighbors agree. After a lunch of fried chicken, fish and ribs at Ryan's Buffet in Springfield, Mo., all 121 of Ron and Vicke's followers headed back on the bus for an afternoon straight-shot down Highway 44. Most of them found out about the bus trip from a press release that was sent to local news outlets when Vicke became worried about filling the bus.

Soon they were sitting together, many only knowing one or two others on the bus, sharing iPods, Wi-fi connections, and pleasant conversation - a caravan of strangers looking for comic relief.

Most of the travelers are over retirement age. Many are women. One retired woman named Luzmi is celebrating a year to the day since she became an American citizen after moving from Zimbabwe to America.

"I'm going to Washington with a lot of sane people," she says, laughing with her seatmates. "Since coming to America, I've seen a lot of crazy people."

She's referring to the cable pundits and radical voices that the rally is expected to satirize. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's late-night anchors, announced the rally to not only be for "restoring sanity," but as Colbert's character hopes, "and/or fear."

"He's making fun of, in a good natured way, the way we've escalated our rhetoric at one another," says Honn, who plans to get right back on the bus with his fellow Oklahomans as soon as the rally ends. That means the trip will be a full 60 hours, with sleep only on the bus.

"We'll hopefully get a catnap, but we've got work on Monday morning, and we've got chickens and dogs and cats to feed," he says.

Vicke's glad so many people could join Ron and take part in her birthday gift to him. She hopes the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" will be a memorable one, not only for Ron and the rest on this bus, but for a country steeped in an uncomfortably hot political climate.

"Sometimes lessons are easier learned if you can do it with a sense of humor," says Vicke.

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[JBinVA]

Stewart put on a great event with a needed message. A little sanity would be a good thing.

[paulaprestonb]

I am SO proud of our Stillwater, OK residents for making this happen!

[newerdeal]

wjksea , Hey alot of people wonder if the Koran is a warlord book or a peace and love book.

Or both ?

Sane people protest wars. Even if they are Obama's wars.

[newerdeal]

dibbs977 , Ask the boys yourself who they would rather be for trick or treat.

Warlord or peace and love dude ?

Do you think peace and love will get them treats so they do not have to trick ?

[newerdeal]

wjksea , Are you one of the not sane people that hates trick or treat ?

And I can't help it if the boys like the warlord better than the peace and love dude.

That's the way boys are ?

[wjksea]

Are you one of the troubled isolated people who sits at home and plays ...what's that computer war game? The one where the players collect their armor. Sanity...hmm, well about you. You sound detached and living in a bizarre world.

[newerdeal]

So I asked the boys, who wants to dress up like Muhammad ibn ?Abdull?h the prophet, peace be upon him, for trick or treat.

Lots of the boys raised their hands.

Then I said cool, who wants to be old school Muhammad ibn ?Abdull?h and have a sword and say death to the Infidels ?

All the boys raised their hands.

I then asked who wants to be new school peace and love Muhammad ibn ?Abdull?h and have out flowers ?

None of the boys raised their hands.

Old school Muhammad ibn ?Abdull?h wins.

[wjksea]

Get out of whatever cult you are in before they have you kill yourself the next time a comet passes earth.

[dibbs977]

Why do you spread such tripe---which is just made-up?

[jab232]

I'd be interested to see a crowd count of the sort you did for the Glenn Beck Rally--where you flew over and took pictures. I thought that was the only data based estimate of Beck's rally. I'd like to see every rally on the mall measured that way.

[wjksea]

Glen Beck largely rouses the me generation, yes remember the 70s me generation. The baby boomers who were out for me myself and I and as they age and morph into uncool geezers, they still are out for me myself and I.

[DLee4144]

You have so missed the point. Since I went to the Sanity Rally and missed Beck's show, let me officially concede that Beck had 700 times as many people as we did. Now can we sit down and try to talk things out? This is not a contest. This is about compromise to make things better for all of us, and hope that the message travels the few hundred feet and somehow manages to creep into the Capitol building.

[RobAla]

I haven't seen the list of conservatives slated for this event. Non-political event? The weekend prior to the election? Hosted by left wing political comedians Stewart and Colbert, and left wing MTV? This has nothing to do with politics? Both the left wing progressives and the right wing conservatives have a right to free speech. But please be honest about this event. Also, I there are a variety of positions on what makes up sanity. A record breaking $1.3 trillion deficit for the year, resulting in a staggering national debt of $13.3 trillion, is not exactly what I call sane. I am all for fun, but we are in a serious mess - and this election is no joking event.

[wjksea]

What impresses me is your outright intellectual dishonesty. I listened to the CEOs present and former of some of the largest corporations saying after the crash of 08' that it would be at least 5 years and that they wouldn't want to be the next president. Aside from the politicians and the extremists, there are people behind the scenes that understand what's at stake and what needs to happen to fix it. Then there are those like yourself that are victims of dysfunctional ideology and listen to the people who want power and represent the minority who don't have a vision and frankly hate our constitution. They are in life for themselves and like a tick will suck from any host they can till they kill it.

[andrewjsacks]

Sanity equals voting Democratic.

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
Jon Stewart "Sanity" Rally Prompts Cross-Country Journey..

tr?s bien, apparemment "Jon" est aussi pr?t pour servir les bonnes causes, comme ce rallye par exemple, c'est bien meilleur que de mettre les gens dans l'embarras, bravo "jon".

"I'm going to Washington with a lot of sane people," she says, laughing with her seatmates. "Since coming to America, I've seen a lot of crazy people."
mdrr....au revoir