beautiful, funny, sad & true

June 29th was homecoming day. We slept at Breanna’s uncle and aunt’s house in Meridian, Idaho, but we had arrived so late the night before that everyone was either already in bed or pretty much comatose in front of the television. The morning was when we actually got to socialize.

Say hello to Breanna’s nephew and two nieces.

Kids kinda freak me out, especially when they’re either little, or if there are lots of ’em. Doesn’t matter how cute they are (and these kids are VERY cute), they still make me feel really anxious and weird. So I kinda kept to myself for a while, reading and then coming back in and out, or talking with Breanna’s uncle and aunt. Their house was great; it’s a shame we didn’t get any pictures of that too. Her uncle cooked Swedish pancakes and bacon and sliced some cantaloupe for breakfast, which was all completely amazing. They were very open and generous people, and I hope our paths cross again.

The drive back was beautiful and remote. Idaho and Eastern Oregon are sort of interchangeable in my mind. Every once in a while we’d pass a lovely ravine. . .

. . .or mountain (I THINK that’s Mount Hood). . .

. . .but for the most part, it looks like this.

The landscape went from greenish yellow to brownish yellow, and we went from the high desert down into the rolling hills. There are actually signs stating things like ‘now entering the Pacific Time Zone’ and ‘now crossing the 45th Parallel.’ We stopped to eat in Pendleton, at a great little 1950’s restaurant called the Main Street Diner. The way we found out about the diner was priceless. We stopped in at a convenience store to buy some water, and I asked the young guy behind the counter, “Is there a good cafe here in town?” The guy’s response was, “Uhhhh. . .for food?” Justin turned away and tried not to laugh.

After our lunch, ‘we continued on’ (Lewis and Clark’s phrase), and the temperature climbed and climbed all through eastern Oregon. I tried to take a picture of the thermometer when it read 108 degrees, but my camera’s battery was completely dead by then, so I wasn’t able to. By the time we thought to try with Breanna’s camera, the temperature had fallen to a mere 105.

The windows of the van were unpleasantly hot to the touch. We would roll them down if we wanted to take a a picture, but other than that, we kept the air conditioner turned on full blast that day. We passed what appeared to be a tree farm, in which all of the trees looked exactly the same, and were planted the exact same distance from each other, and were in plots of land that were perfectly square. On each side of those plots was normal Oregon desert. It was like, yellow desert/LUSH FOREST/yellow desert/LUSH FOREST/yellow desert. How’s that for a verbal visual aid?

Interesting.

Finally we got to the Columbia River, which is when we really started to feel like we were close to home. If you’ve ever lived in or spent much time in Portland or northern Oregon, then you know that the Columbia is the lifeline for this part of the world, and there’s something comforting about looking over and seeing that huge river beside you after you’ve been away from it for a while.

The last couple of hours we spent listening to Kathleen Edwards. If you haven’t heard her music before, you owe it to yourself. I now completely associate her music with road trips, because the first time I heard her was on last year’s trip to Nevada. Her songwriting is strong and catchy, and brutally honest. She’s really one to watch for. And her music is perfect for long, open roads.

True to form, it also started to get cloudy as we got nearer to the city, and by the time we pulled up to Breanna’s place, there was thunder and lightning, and big, threatening raindrops.

We took some end-of-the-trip pictures. . .

. . .and then I packed my stuff from the van into my own car and raced home before the rain really started. I just barely made it, too.

A trip is never really over until the rental car has been returned. This van served us so well, and was the perfect road trip vehicle. It was flawless, and quiet, and comfortable in all the heat, and it even got good gas mileage, even though it was pretty crammed full of people and their stuff.

Parting thoughts about the trip:

1) Justin and Breanna are amazing, and sweet, and talented, and genuine, and I’m very proud to call them my friends.

2) I can’t wait to hit the road again. This country has some breathtaking landscapes.

3) I want a better camera, dang it.

4) I need to work on my gangsta pouts and poses.

So that’s it. Trip’s over. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled witty and insightful blog, already in progress. . .

OneYearAgo

Day Two consisted of us driving from Breanna’s aunt’s house in Salem, Oregon down to Redding, California.  I did the lion’s share of the driving, all the way from Salem to the first rest stop after the California border, when Justin took over.  Although it was a clear and sunny day, Mt. Shasta was almost completely hidden by haze until we were practically right up next to it.  The little town of Mt. Shasta City is really pretty, and we only drove through it long enough to park and switch drivers, but I would love to explore it sometime.  Northern California is so pretty.  So I drove from there to Redding, where we had Gig #2.

I love that both Breanna’s and Karlee’s names are misspelled on the sign.

Karlee is none other than ViolinistKarlee, who plays with us often when she’s here in PDX, which is where she goes to school.  Her parents live in Redding, and they very generously welcomed us into their home.  There were many wildfires burning in Northern California at the time (there still are, as I’m writing this more than a week later), and the smoke in Redding was thick and acrid.  It was actually very uncomfortable to breathe outside, so we spent the whole time inside talking and eating.  Karlee made these amazing ‘wraps’, her own special fried potatoes, and an amazing grape salad.  Then it was time to leave for the show.

Karlee (on the left) cracks me up in that picture.  Don’t be fooled by her sweet and innocent exterior; just under the surface lurks a straight-up gangsta who can’t wait to pop a cap in yo’ ass.  I just look constipated.  What, you think we gangstas can’t have a little trouble wit da stool once in a while?  Sheit.

After the show, we went back to Karlee’s place and ate (I really should say ‘gorged ourselves on’) ice cream, pretzels, otter pops (made from real otters!  I’m lying.) and various other delectable treats while we watched DVD’s of Planet Earth.  What an amazing show.  We watched the episodes about mountains and about caves.  The cave one was particularly riveting.

Then we all crashed and went to bed.  Find out what happened in the morning in the next installment of. . .ON TOUR.

This past week was one of the best and most memorable of my whole life. I had the opportunity to tour with Breanna and Justin through the American West, and let me just take a minute to say that it was a total blast.

The cast of characters:

Breanna

Justin

and me. :)

Breanna and I both took hundreds of pictures on this trip. After I get done with the entries for the individual days, I’ll post another entry called ‘Best Pictures of the Tour’ or something. But you’ll find that out for yourself soon enough, I suppose.

So here we are, van packed, ready to hit the road.

Somehow it became our ‘thing’ to pose for every group picture twice; one in which we pose normally and the other in which we pose ‘gangsta’. Yeah, I don’t know what’s wrong with us either, but it did make for some funny pictures.

One other thing that’s important to know about Breanna and Justin is that after a year of friendship, they recently started dating. This, by the way, is awesome and gets my full blessing.

Okay, so on with the story. We started the tour in Eugene, Oregon, at a pizza place with a cosmic theme. We shared the evening with a duo from Los Angeles called Homesick Elephant.

They were really great, and super nice people as well. Their music was very influenced by Simon and Garfunkel, in a good way. One of their songs is entitled “Ghost of Philadelphia”, which is actually a phrase that Justin had randomly said earlier in the day, so we both kinda perked up and looked at each other when they sang that line in the song, as if to say, ‘Did they just say that? That’s so weird.’

One of the waiters had a very funny and effeminate way of inhaling through his teeth while he was thinking of something to say.

For example, when we asked him about good places to explore, he answered, “Well. . .sssssss. . .try going downtown–” which Justin and I immediately adopted and incorporated into our own speech patterns for the rest of the trip. The three of us walked all over downtown, and went shopping for clothes at Buffalo Exchange, but somehow we ended up empty-handed.

There were two guys in the audience who kept making me laugh. One guy was drunk by 5:30, while we were arriving and setting up. He came in to have some pizza and sober up, but he kept having difficulty sitting up straight, while dealing with his duffel bag at the same time, so I kept trying to surreptitiously take a picture of him. Here’s the only one that actually came out:

There was another guy who sat right up front and clapped for an uncomfortable (and slightly creepy) length of time after every single song. You can see what I mean from this picture:

He seemed a bit loaded also, but harmless enough. He was just a little bit weird, that’s all I’m saying. But the night was a blast, and the show went off without a hitch. Afterwards, we backtracked and drove an hour back up north to Salem, to stay at Breanna’s aunt’s house.

It was the perfect way to start a tour.

OneYearAgo

My friend is out of the hospital and back at home, with her cat, a bunch of new furniture and a whole new lease on life. I can’t even tell you how relieved that makes me feel.

Next week I’m taking time off from work to go on tour with Breanna and Justin. We’re playing in Eugene, Redding, Reno, Torrey (Utah) and Nampa (Idaho) by way of GrooveFest, next Friday. Very exciting. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to write from the road, but I’ll at least take some notes, and some pictures, and get online whenever I can. I’ll still be able to send text messages to Twitter, at the very least.

Went out with JBJ last night to see Jenny Conlee of the Decemberists. That was the plan, anyway. We got there and the show was cancelled. Plus, the third guy who was supposed to join us got there early, ate dinner by himself, then found out that the show was cancelled, so he left. Bummer! It was supposed to be BoyzNiteOut/NoGurlsAloud. Oh well; it still was, there was just one fewer Boy, that’s all. Good times, and good jambalaya, were had while we kept taking care of each other. That’s a little inside joke for you long-time readers, by the way.

I took the day off from work today, so that I can go to my friend Dori’s wedding at the beach.  The ceremony is going to be on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  I’ll be playing accordion.  They had a bonfire last night, but I had to give it a miss because of bad planning on my part.  I hadn’t arranged a place to stay, and I’m kinda broke again this month, so I thought I’d just go over today.  I’m really looking forward to it.  It’s kinda cloudy, but it’s supposed to be nice.  Road trips are the perfect environment for Sigur Ros’s music, so that’s what I’m going to bring.  That and a few compilations that I found, but haven’t had a chance to listen to yet.  I’ll try to take some pictures, but since I’ll be playing also, no guarantees about that.

Last night I was invited to join Andrea and CellistSkip out at the Edgefield winery.  It was a nice surprise for all three of us.  It was also quite possibly Andrea’s last Portland show, so I jumped at the chance.  She’ll be moving to Europe in a little over a week.  I’m totally happy for her.

Since the highway goes right by the hospital my friend is in, I’m going to stop in and surprise her on the way out of town.

Great paté, Mom, but I’d better motor if I’m gonna get over to the hospital and the beach.  (That’s a reference to the movie “Heathers”, by the way.)  It’s my own way of saying I have to go now.  Gotta eat breakfast, take a shower, find something nice to wear, throw my accordion in the car and head out.   I’m bringing my backup accordion this time, because the wet ocean mist and breeze would ruin my good one, and my backup one is perfect for things like this.  It was an inexpensive instrument, so I don’t worry about what’s going to happen to it.  Not that I’d want it to get run over by a train or something, but I think you know what I’m saying.

Wait a minute; what am I DOING?  I have to go.  I’ll talk to you later.