Back East

Well, we are now headed back East, and this time for good. I'll have to make this short, as I'm writing from our show in Phoenix, AZ. Actually, it just ended, and we are to now embark on a 7 hour overnight drive to Albuquerque. Not that it's anything we can't handle. In fact, Maguire already entered the Quik Trip in as a stop on our route, so I think we'll make the drive with no problem.

As for California, it was by and large an overwhelmingly great experience. We made some new friends, met up with some old ones we hadn't seen in a while, and had a good time regardless. We ate at IN and OUT, Greg ate a 4x4 (or course). We ate Del Taco. We were treated to a night at a casino resort and Greg at liver and onions. Yes, he is not one to shy away from a culinary challenge. After our show in Hollywood, we watched one bum do karate, and another one smoke crack at a bus stop. I think I preferred the karate.

Anyhow, it's pack up time, then snack time, and then driving. I'll write again soon.

California

Well, it's been a hectic past few days, but I do believe things are about to calm down a little bit. Although, the new transmission was a huge deal, we've been having a few other minor problems that have just been adding insult to injury. For example, when we stopped for gas in KS, the wind was so strong that it blew the door open with such force it bent the front panel of the van. So, now the passenger side door is inoperable. Great. That's convenient. Then, our trailer door decided to fall off the hinges. Luckily I noticed it and we were able to repair it easily, but it could have been disastrous. And, just when we thought we were in the clear, we opened up the trailer yesterday to find all our equipment covered in a layer of dust. Perhaps we should stay on paved roads from now on.

But enough complaining. Although the drives have been pretty taxing, things have been pretty good. After the KS show, we stayed with Greg's good buddy Jesse in Boulder, CO. The views were amazing, and with our lack of AC, it was good to get into some cooler air. The next day we navigated our way through the mountains to our show in Utah. The crowd was small, but it was a good vibe, and also good to play a show again with everyone feeling a little better. Knowing we had a long drive ahead, we woke up at 7 am the next day to make our way to Fallon, NV. Now, it just so happened that we needed to take a combination of state roads to get there. Some of them were paved. Some, much to our surprise, were not. There were plenty of cattle crossings, as they have lots of open ranges in the area. For part of the trip, we were on a road called the Extraterrestrial Highway. In general, though, it totally blew our minds just how open and unpopulated this area of the country actually was. We stopped a few times for photos and such, but I don't even think they can come close to capturing how crazy things were.

In other news, we rolled up to the Nevada show plenty earlier and finally met Seth and Andrew. They're the guys who worked really hard to make all these west coast shows happen. It was a good time. Andrew's parents fed us, gave us a place to sleep, and then fed us again. I think we all benefited from the much need rest and repair.

So now, it's off to CA and maybe a music store along the way. Somehow, Greg managed to break all his cables last night, and take a nice chip out of the back of his guitar. Perhaps we need to calm down a bit.

The New Transmission

Well, things have gotten interesting lately. We finally met up with the Little Compass dudes in TX, and things have, for the most part, been going very well. I have to say, Texas was pretty good to us. At our first show with LC, we played a Catholic College and enjoyed pizza and soda. Not bad after a 9.5 hr drive from Little Rock, AR. Then next day, we drove through the desert from San Antonio to Lubbock. We passed cacti, oil pumps, and expansive cattle ranches. It was hot, as our AC is broken, but it was enjoyable just the same. The show in Lubbock was great, and it's been good to actually play for some people here and there.

So at this point, things started to get a bit interesting. We had had some problems with the van stalling out the other day. After that, it had trouble going into the lower gears. So we took the van to get checked out in Lubbock. The guys were helpful, but since it was a weekend, they wouldn't be able to start any work until Monday. Weighing all the options, we decided to not go to Waco, and instead, drive up to Oklahoma City to get there for the show the next day. We drove almost all the way to the City that night, treated ourselves to huge, yet reasonably priced dinners at Montana Mike's (aka Oklahoma Omar's), and crashed for the night.

Well, the next morning, the van was not happy. We tried to drive up a slight hill to get on the interstate, and we just couldn't make it. Greg had to roll it back into a parking lot. We unhitched the trailer and gave it another go. This time we got onto the highway, but it topped out at about 30 mph. So we had to pull over and get towed. We spent the rest of the day getting pretty bored at a Wal-Mart. Eventually, the LC guys came to pick up our trailer and us, which was a huge help. We were able to play the show.

So, I should hurry along as it's almost time to head out today. The guys at Cottman Trans were super accommodating, and finished our trans rebuild in a day. So, we were able to get on the road last night, and make it just in time for our show in Lawrence, KS. The downside was, Maguire came down with so type of terrible digestive ailment, and was severely under the weather. I have give him a lot of credit, though. We got up there and played 3 songs with us. I think he's feeling a little better today, but we are still all going to be looking out for him.

Alright, we that's about it. We are off to Colorado. I'll post again when there's more time.