THE HOLLER, TN – The morning we were stopped by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department (and put in chains and later a cage) changed things for me and the rest of the MHD crew. Back then our plan was to make a few stops that day before attending a meetup in Nashville, Tennessee. We were then going to hang out with a bunch of our libertarian technogeek friends at Nicole and Mark’s piece of land named “the Holler.” Sadly, we didn’t make it there since we went directly to Birmingham, AL where we planned the response to our assault and did a lot of media interviews. It was one of the big regrets of the trip but luckily we had another opportunity during out “Return to Jones County” tour. We arrived there on Tuesday the 25th and after Adam got MARV parked we sat down for some pizza made primarily from ingredients grown from their land. Speaking of the Holler, Mark illustrates where it’s name comes from:

I’ve known Nicole for a while because we both run in free-market circles and are tech nerds. This was my first time meeting Mark whom Adam and I now consider a good friend. In addition to our hosts, we met many of their neighbors (pictured above) who for various reasons have moved to rural Tennessee. What I found interesting is that everyone knows their neighbors and there is a tight-knit community despite very little government meddling. This was a great example of the voluntary society we advocate because it thrives despite government action.

In addition to rounding up the neighbors, Melissa came out to visit (pictured below). She was the organizer of the Nashville meetup we had to skip but is hosting a meetup for us tonight with Liberty on the Rocks. It looks like chances are good that we won’t be getting arrested so we’re all looking forward to meeting local libertarians and maybe listening to some rockabilly.

You can view more photos and videos from Adam’s and my trip to the Holler here.