driving across America in a borrowed taxicab. This attracted significant press attention, and Newsham was able to send Tocdaan enough money to build a guest house to accommodate some of the many people who wished to visit him. On September 11, 2002 Newsham launched "Backpack Nation", a program in which backpackers bring donated funds to help people that they meet on their travels. He rapidly raised $20,000 (of which half would fund the travels of the "ambassadors" of Backpack Nation and the rest would be given to the "compelling Situations" that they found). The disbursement did not go smoothly so, in 2004, Newsham changed his process and invited backpackers to submit candidate recipients for which readers could vote. He selected twenty stories for selection and the top five each received $1000 donated by Newsham. In January 2005 he solicited more stories, from which he selected a shortlist of twelve to yield four $1000 donations. On June 1, 2005, the $4000 was disbursed and in September Newsham recognized that with no progress towards a project infrastructure Backpack Nation was too dependent upon his efforts and put the project "on the back burner". 2006–07 – "The Beach Impeach Project" Newsham spent the entire year of 2006 taking notes for a book he intends to write. The working title: "One Free Ride -- A year behind the wheel of a San Francisco taxicab." But in October 2006, Newsham veered away from the book project and threw himself into the movement to impeach US President George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Six months before the November 2006 election (which gave the Democratic Party control of both branches of Congress), San Francisco's elected representative Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, had famously said that "impeachment is off the table." Many Americans, including Newsham, passionately believed that the Bush administration should be held accountable for its misconduct in office, and considered Pelosi's "off the table" declaration to be an enormous—even unconstitutional—blunder. Early on the clear, calm morning of January 6, 2007—just two days after Pelosi was sworn in as Speaker of the US House of Representatives—Newsham and a crew of volunteers outlined the message "IMPEACH!" in 100-foot letters that stretched for 400 feet across the sands of San Francisco's Ocean Beach – "Pelosi's backyard." At the appointed hour, a crowd of 1,000 people ranging in age from elderly to infant—men, woman, kids, combat veterans, people of color and