Aloha! Blogging Is Hard Y'all!
We've had so many adventures since the last blog, it's hard to know where to begin. So I think I will just give you a run down of some of the highlights in quick, hopefully funny paragraphs.
Mai Tai, You Tai, We all Tai, Where am I?
We were all a little, what's the word, loopy, when we got into Hawaii. After what was about a 12 hour flight. Brian watched nearly every movie available on the plane.. I read an entire trashy novel(Finding Harry Winston?).. Some of the other band members were on our second flight from Milwaukee.. but we didn't really see them. So when we rolled into our hotel it was only 3pm Hawai'i time and it was like June our time we were ready to have a little cocktail and chill out. The open air bar at our hotel was serving 4$ Mai Tai's... So we all had one, which was surprisingly good and potent, and made us feel strongly that we should continue to partake in the island spirit. So after a few more we some how ended up at a really great restaurant and stuffed our selves.. We had a big group and it seems like there was a lot of time missing from the night.. did we wait for a table? Was I really trying to set the waitress up with Dougie? How did we get back to the hotel? So many questions! Apparently after Brian and I found our way back to the hotel, Griff made friends with some other bands and harmonicad( I know that's not a word) his way around the island. I woke up seemingly refreshed, though having no idea what time or day it was.. I decided to do some yoga by the pool and read another book.. I closed my eyes for a bit on a lounger in the shade, which quickly was out of the shade and into the sun, and suffered a heinous sunburn on my poor white skin. So much for the skin cancer prevention I wrote about in the previous blog. The TVP show on the military base was great... the boys rocked the house, and Emma and I only got a few fire ant bites on our ankles. The next day we drove around the island, got great mexican food at Cholos in the North Shore and took a dip at Sharks Cove. We decided the day after, since we had such a late flight, we should drive up again and have some of the famous "shave ice" at Masimotos(spelling, again?seriously?) So back up we went, first stopping to snorkle in the Hanauma Nature Preserve.. It was beautiful! We finally boarded a plane at 10pm to get home to our baby in Charlotte, Nc.. we arrived swiftly at 7pm the next night... I still have no idea what time or day it is.
Flat Tire on the Way to Frisco
... So I might as well admit, I put another scrape down the side of the trailer, while pulling into my parents property in North Carolina.. In my defense it was a narrow, angled opening.. but why I am still allowed to drive the car is a mystery. Does Brian really get THAT sick of driving:) I mean, what's another 800 miles here or there? Anyway, I now know what I'll be getting Brian for his birthday; body work.. and not the fun kind. The trailer has had some other issues, I don't know if it's just normal wear and tear, or if truly Airstreams were meant to be driven to a destination and parked for awhile..I think we probably push it to it's limits too often. But so far our trusty car(knock on wood!) seems to be doing just fine. with the exception of the flat we got while filling it up in Texas. And of course I was driving it.. it was weird though... it was like this pokey thing was just sitting at the pump waiting for me to pull up.. Maybe my Subaru is sending bad driving juju from it's grave because of all the hell I put it through(but who doesn't drive Subaru to death?) Anyway, our jack was broken ,of course, so we called our car service dude to come change it out. I was kind of hoping to learn a little about unhooking the trailer, and changing the tire, where our jack is in the car, how do I get the spare off the back of the car...etc.. useful info. But Brian informed me that me standing there looking at him was drawing more attention to our problems and that I should just go sit in the car.. Apparently in Man Land it is emasculating to have even the most minor problems with your automobile. I did what I was told so as not to insight any kind of testosterone fueled argument in the hot Texas sun.
We did finally make it to Frisco, Texas.. where we played for Farstar, the company that designed Brian's crazy awesome website. Kevin Lofgren and his family and friends are wonderful people and we have enjoyed spending time with them. I would like to point out Kevin, that you've done a great job with renovating your office, however, I got stuck in one of your bathroom stalls.. Brian was in the middle of one of his more sensitive songs, so I didn't want to yell for help.. I was forced to carefully slide my wineglass under the stall and then slide myself under the stall.. I think I may have lost weight on the road and that's what made this possible because it's certainly not my yoga practice, which has been seriously neglected.
After Frisco we drove out to Possum Kingdom Lake. It is an amazingly beautiful, huge lake. We were so excited to get camping.. We roasted hot dogs on the campfire.. and after Evie finished those off Brian caught a possum which he skinned and roasted.. it was really yummy, tasted just like chicken..haha. Seriously though, Brian and I love roughing it in our Airstream.. There is nothing quite like settling into bed after a long day outside and watching a movie on your plasma screen..then waking up in the morning and making your espresso then stepping outside for a moment to smell the fresh air, and stepping back into the trailer to check your e-mail. We love it. We drove into Aledo, Tx to play a gig for Jack Graves Jr. and his family and friends.. it was a great night, Evie had some older girlies to play with. During Brian's set she even favored us with a tune from Annie. This was one of 2 shows we would be playing for the Graves family. We drove back to our camp to sleep.. then the next afternoon they picked us up on the lake in their boat and we rode to their cottage. We played outside in the sun, toured the lake in the boat.. at one point we even spotted a great horned owl perched atop a dead tree on one of the limestone cliffs.. it was very cool. Brian played some songs for all of us on the boat that had been anchored in a cove. We then drove back to the cottage and were treated to some AMAZING fajitas.. We ate ourselves silly and conked out on the boat ride back to our campsite. It was a great day.
So here we are back in Frisco. We are playing one more show for Kevin Lofgren and his family. His daughter, Finley, and Evie have become quite the pair.. They wore fairy costumes to dinner last night. Today we're getting laundry done, Airstream and car cleaned and packed up and we will be heading to Ft. Hood tomorrow for a show with the First Cavalry. We look forward to more adventures and will be a little sad to leave Texas. Brian even mentioned that he could imagine living here in Frisco, so who knows. That's what makes traveling so fun and important, you never know what city you're going to stumble upon that could be your next home.
So from Hawaii to Texas, Mahalo Y'all.
