Time to get off the road.
We’re taking it as a sign and pulling off for the night. The road has not been our friend today. The morning brought us the van search in Indiana, and tonight on our way out of Erie, two big deer ran in front of us and one caught our front right bumper, bending it under so it’s touching the tire. Loooong day.
That aside, the gig in Erie was a blast tonight. Great people, and we even had a local sit in with us on harmonica and he rocked it (Nice job, Nick!). Met a guy who makes percussion instruments, met a hula hoop instructor who performed during our set, and had an all around great time.
On to Boston tomorrow after we get the bumper repaired… G’night!
Goulash, please.
We’re just pulling out of Willoughby, Ohio after enjoying an early dinner at one of our regular stops on tour, Europa Cafe. Visiting with the owners, John and Anna, is always a highlight of these trips. Anton and I (Russ) enjoyed the goulash with a side salad. Fred and Beers had a special order of rice and German sausage, and Mario had the wiener schnitzel, which he had there on the last tour. This place is incredible, as John and Anna make everything from scratch, and you can taste it. I had a piece of their Berlin Square chocolate pastry for dessert and we chatted with John about the tour for a bit before heading out.
We also managed to book a gig tonight in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Erie Ale House, where we played last year. We should be there around 8pm for load-in and playing by 9. MUSIC!!
Well that was fun.
Hello from Indiana, just east of South Bend. We just got back on the road after a little visit with the local state troopers. We drove by the two troopers parked in the median, and we were going the speed limit, so we had no concerns, and they didn’t pull out… Anton is driving and he watched in his side mirror as they disappeared over the horizon. About 5 minutes later, the officer in the K9 unit SUV was riding our bumper. He put his lights on and pulled us over. The reason he gave us was that we were “following too closely” a truck in front of us, but there were no trucks anywhere near us, and Anton is a super safe driver. The cop ended up ordering us out of the van, pulling all of our bags out, searching through everything for over an hour. After that fun delay, we were back on the road with nothing other than a written warning for following too closely. I guess being in a van with Colorado plates and instruments now puts on the watch list. Yay.
We’re headed for upstate New York, with a plan to either grab a good dinner and a hotel for the night, or maybe find a last minute show somewhere. Last night in Chicago was fun… super short set, but a supportive crowd and a nice dinner with friends after the gig. We recorded some of the show, so we’ll get some MP3s up here on the Backstage for y’all soon.
More from NY later…