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July 31, 2007 : Long Beach to Phoenix Today Lori and I left L.A. - YIPPEEE!!! We're embarking on a 20-day, 14-gig, 5-state tour for the month of August that we have affectionately dubbed the 'Sweat Tour' for obvious reasons. We're going to drive through parts of the country we've never seen, play gigs at places we've never heard of and stay with people we've never met... what an adventure! Don't worry mom... we've packed plenty of water, extra motor oil, maps and pepper spray. I decided it would be fun to create a blog where I could post my thoughts and experiences along with some photos taken along the way... and when I say along the way I literally mean 'along the way' since we have challenged ourselves with taking as many photos from our moving car as possible to try to catch the feeling of what it is to drive across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. So here goes... August 1, 2007 : Tucson, AZ : Plush Bar Played the Plush Bar... Cool local spot... Discovered Kilt Lifter beer :-) ... Namoli Brennet rocked and was a gracious hostess... Tucson was hot and sticky but we loved it... August 2, 2007 : Gilbert, AZ : Wildhorse Ranch Rescue Fundraising gig for the Wildhorse Ranch Rescue... incredible group of volunteers from all different walks of life all brought together by these animals in need... it was an honor to support Kim and her wonderful cause! They've really got it all... 10 rescued horses, 24 barn cats, 1 gay Dingo and plenty of miniature, camouflaged, venomous scorpions - YIKES! August 3, 2007 : Prescott/Cottonwood, AZ : Kactus Kate's Man, it's breathtaking in these parts! Dramatic skies... red mesas... monsoons moving across the afternoon skies... enjoyed meeting Dick Peterson of the Kingsmen... seeing old friends... got a real taste of the local night life at Kactus Kate's in Cottonwood... they love their Kareoke and darts... August 4, 2007 : Gallup, NM : Coal St Pub LOVED Gallup!!! Terrific people, enthusiastic crowd, cool historic hotel, beautiful hiking... if the Pacific Ocean was just 1000 miles closer... here we are striking poses at the famous El Rancho Hotel where many a movie star stayed on historic Route 66...
Good beer... great handmade Indian jewelry... beautiful churches... thanks to our hosts Ginny, Mauro, Kevin and Apollo... Lori kept wanting to stop and play poker at all the casinos dotting the highway from Gallup to Santa Fe - driving across Indian reservations means there's a casino about every 5 exits... Grommet and Ninny, you guys would be in heaven!!
Thanks go out to Rhea, Shannon and Troy... playing Tuesday night before Kareoke was a little hairy but we made it...
Today we drove 6 hours from Albuquerque, NM to Lubbock, TX and played a gig the same night - WHEW! Parts of the drive were beautiful and parts were just long... we passed through Muleshoe, Sudan and Earth to name a few of the dozens of little towns that dotted the highway.
Another day, another town... on the 9th we made the 7 hour drive from Lubbock to Austin and fortunately we didn't have a gig the same night - WHEW! We did eat the best BBQ in Austin at a little hole-in-the-wall on the east side of town called Sam's BBQ... it's in a dilapidated old shack and you don't want to look too closely at anything inside but it's a landmark that's been there 30 years and has even been written up in the Washington Post... unfortunately we were so tired that we forgot the camera but take our word for it! We were fortunate to have Austin local Sarah Glynn sit in with us here in Austin as well as 2 shows in Houston... we were also lucky to be housed a couple of nights by another local musician Suzanna Choffel along with her roommate Rachel and their kitty-cats... played to a great crowd at The Hole in the Wall on the 10th...
Cozy little spot where you can even BYOB... great owners with a strong passion for music... great vibe...
Well... Lori forgot the camera, but fortunately the Bud Girls had theirs so this is the only photo we have from the gig at Chances...
Thanks to Chris for putting us up for a couple of nights... the Opening Bell is a secret spot and a cool find...
Galileo is a great venue: food, bar and staff all top-notch... we'll be back! We also discovered a local hot spot called the Red Cup, which is owned by a coop of 6 folks who run this eclectic coffee house with great coffee and tasty eats.
Today we left Oklahoma and started the 11 hour drive to Colorado... closed our eyes and picked Goodland, Kansas as an overnight spot to breakup the drive... there's not a whole lot to see along this route so Lori drove while I worked... gotta keep 'em thinking I'm still in California!
Today we only had to drive 4 hours to get from Goodland, Kansas to our gig in Estes Park, Colorado... and it was a MUCH nicer dirve! I'd never heard of this town but it's a great spot just 1 1/2 hours above Denver so it's a lcoal getaway.
Our 14th and FINAL gig - WE MADE IT!!! Another great surprise spot hidden in an old warehouse. Terrific vegan desserts - m-m-m-m-m!
Our gigs are done and our butts are tired - time to put the pedal to the metal and get back home! Today we were in 3 states and it was our longest driving day of the entire trip... we started the day in Glenwood, CO and 11 hours later we laid our heads down to sleep in Mesquite, NV...
Hitting the road for home!! This is how you look after 21 days of driving with 11 hours of driving, 4 hours of poker and not enough sleep the night before... Well... we made it! What a long, strange and wonderful trip it was... we met so many great people, made new friends in new places, played lots of music and had a blast doing it. I can't say we'd do it all again, but we'd do something similar for sure!
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