Seattle....the continuing story (and more)

Ok, so here I am typing once again.....especially since I had a specuial request for an update from a recently engaged relative :-) So, last time I was typing, I was just arriving back in Seattle on a thursday night after a wonderful day of ridinging and island hopping around seattle. That evenng my counsin's boyfriend and his roomate were kind enough to put me up for the night. I was good times.......the next morning I awoke early and headed back home....or to where my home was parked for the week. So I got on the roas around 8AM and of course had to stop at one more coffee shop (which came highly recommended) on the way out of town. It was called Vivace cafe, and yes, it was yet ANOTHER amazing coffee house in Seattle, thus further convinving me that I will sometime in my life live in the coffee city. This particular cafe had the italian vibe, my bike wold have been right at home there amidst the the tables and and espresso machines.....I probably would've tried, but the ducati dealer finally convinced me that ducatis don't run on espresso...but they sure ride like it ;-) Anhow, the drive back was so beautiful, I know I say that about so many places, but when you're cruising down the highway, past the beautiful seattle skyline, with tress all around, the birght morning sun, the sound of the wind rushing past my helmet, and a perfectly clear Mt. Rainier setting the backdrop......it's just one of those things. So, I got back safe and sound, didn't get pulled over for speeding (becasue I wasn't of course) Upon arriving back in Kennewick, the first thing I find out is that our ring master was in a motorcycle accident over that past week. A very harrowing reality, basically a woman wasn't payoing attention and ran a red light, and ted plowed right into her. Totalled the boke, he would've been too except that he had a helmet on, wihch is essence saved his life. But, he was still badly injured, but with the aide of pain killers he hasn't missed a show yet. (although the pain killers have made for some interesting ringside narratives) In any case, he's recovering quite well and we're blessed to have him around. We did 5 shows over the weekend in Kennewick. There's really not much to do there besides shop and go to the local wineries. According to my coffee shop scale....kennewick was barren except for a starbucks, and it was a drive-thru one at that. So, after our last show on Sun. (which was finally a strong one for my chops) We did the normal routine of packing everything up and moving on to the next town, which brings me to Nampa Idaho. Nampa is a little city right outside of Boise, the capital. I have to say this week, if I had to sum up I would call it a housekeeping week. Pretty much all of the stuff that I didn't get to lsat week, and even some long pending projects were finally completed. For example, I've been wanting to make my place a little "home-ier" so I finally got around to buying and installing a wireless doorbell. Also, my bead curtain from philly, finally got that put up; fixed the shower curtain; I even put out my awning for the first time! It downright flattered the motorhome, made it appear to be a serious place of residence :-) So we were parked at a place named the "horse park" where, as the name suggests, they park horses, or more accurately, park the trailers and put the horses in stalls. But, even though it smelled like growing up in MI, we still had a good time, I even made one of my fav dises (pitachips and canellini bean dip) for a b-day party early in the week. Ok, enough for tonight, thehy're closing the place up. Maybe more tomorrow, pending a non-encrypted wireless signal... do widzenia.................. also, got this from my friend meghan, I guess I'm a little of everything...........

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Seattle 2

So, last time you tuned in, I had just arrived at Kennewick and had FINALLY found the arena, which apparently in Kennewick is called the convention center. So, that noght, I got everything set up and working by about 3AM. So, since I didin't have to report to work until 4:30PM Fri., I had planned to take the week riding up in Seattle. That afternoon I left and made the 220+ mile ride up to my aunt and uncles place in Seattle. I have to say, that I thoroughly enjoyed my week up there. It was nice to be out and about and travel a bit. The ride wasn't too cold with the new coat purchased only 2 days before the trip, but the most grueling part of the trip was actually the seat on my bike. You se, there to types of riding positions on bikes, the sport or the touring. Well, since mine is of the sporting variety, lets just say that my gluteus minimus was not too happy by the end of the ride, but I got there safe and sound and there were no close calls, even with the moderate rain in the snoqualmie pass. So, got there monday night, had a great baked chicken dinner (prepared by aunt Lynn of course) and also had the pleasure of seeing my long lost west coast cousin Janine and her significant other known as Dan. Now, Dan is an IT guy at a company, but not just any company....a COFFEE company. So, needless to say, I always something to talk about with anyone in the coffee industry. (and he had lots of insider info!) All this I file away for my future coffee house business aspirations........you see, I've been taking notes at all these coffee houses I've been visiting around the country. The way I see it, most people experience coffee in its various forms and creations in their native town, plus one, maybe two towns in any given year. Well, I've averaging about 1 new chain/mom&pop coffee joint a week, that combined with my international coffee travels and amateur baking status makes me a potential triple threat coffee entrepenuer........although I should learn how to roast the beans first I suppose. Ok, back to Seattle; Tues. was the day Janine showed me a native's perspective of this northwest city. We spent most of the day in the expeience music project, wihch was quite the experience. We only paid half price with a coupon to get in, and I'm not sure I would have paid the full $25 admission, but it was something to experience. With the digital audio guide we got to see hand written being described by the artists themselves, the history of hip-hop, the history of guitars, and even learned to play a guitar. A lot of hands on stuff and info, but once agiain, not sure if it wold have been worth the full admission. The rest of our day consisted of checking out the Pike Place market (even though it was closed) Buying a pumpkin spice latte at the first starbucks in the world, saying hello to the freemont troll, checking out a nightime city vista, perusing used CDs at a place called the Warehouse, and dinner at the local Red Robin. It was a good day. Wednes, I spent catching up on sleep and practicing, (since it was rainy anyways) and also visiting the local Ducati dealership, which is where I finally.....finally found some saddle bags for the bike. You see this purchase became necessary when I shoved everything for my road trip into my backpack, and on the ride up the weight of it on my shoulders gave me nice numb tingely feeling in my wrists. Plus, I never have enough storage for laundry and groceries. Then that evening I arrived at the Seattle youth hostel and checked-in followed by a delightful cafe mocha and apple pie at Cafe Ladro near by. It was a disorienting experience staying in a hostel in the US, all my previous hostel experiences have been in Europe......so it was interesting to see how the US does it. In any case, the bed was clean and there no smelly people in my room (you're laughing, but that happened to me one night in Berlin, and it's not a pleasant experience.....trust me) The next morning, woke up, checked my mail and such on their in-house wireless, and then left to check out the pike place market followed by a day-trip around the local islands. So, here I am walking in the market, when this girl offers me an apple sample after which she asked if I was with my bike (I had my riding jacket on) and we got to talking, well it turns out her boyfriend was working at a coffee shop down the street and was an avid rider. So, after a bit walked down there, got a great cafe mocha and the down low on where to ride around the islands. In the few years he's had his bike he's put 40,000 miles on it, and it's a sport bike! There are definately 2 kinds of riders, I consider myself in the 2nd. Anyhow, finally got on the road and top the 1st of 3 ferries for the day. It was such a beautiful ride over. In some ways it was very similar to the Surrey ferry in VA, but these ferries are much bigger and have larger and more luxurious passenger compartments. Anyhow, it was a short 30min hope over to Whidby island where I basically just set out in a direction and rode. Just beautiful scenery, everything coastal you picture when you think of the northwest. Although, I had to be very careful because there was actually a fair amount of moss and wet leaves on the road, which on a motorcycle is baaaaad news. So, after some exploring my gastric acids were sending me messeges I couldn't ignore and I stopped in a little hamlet named Langley. It was a quaint little town with a summer tourist spin on it, but was able to find a hearty no-frills local lunch at the Doghouse tavern. After ordering lunch I put a good dent on their in-house puzzle until the food arrived. I have to say, the locals in the bank I knocked over were right, (ok, so I didn't knock over the bank, just took some cash off of the plastic leech, since I'm STILL living off of it) they do make one heckuva burger and fries. Following this gastronomic adventure, I wandered the town, snapped a few pics, and mounted the bike to ride up the island toward the Greenbank farm where, island rumor has it, is the best pie on the island. Well, upon arroving, the first thing I noticed was that it looked like the pictures AND it had nice landscaping (something that anyone who has worked in this field can duely appreciate) After doing a mini wine tasting of the local varietals, I tried some the pie, and yes ladies and gentleman, there is good reason why it is famous..........it's not Pennsylvania Dutch, but it was good. So, by this time is was getting cloudy and cold and I needed to reach Seattle befire it got too late, so I headed up to catch the Pt Townsend ferry, after which was a beautiful ride down the peninsula to catch the Bainbridge ferry. I stopped in Paulsbo, a little Swedish town which good coffee. Ok, dead battery= more next time.....

Seattle

Ok, so for those of you read the blog (and consistently remember the address ;-) ) you will realize that I haven't written for awhile, that is due to the sheer fact that I've been busy.........busy travelling, busy celebrating various events, bust performing, busy practicing. So, now I will try to catch up. last time you tuned in to my musings I was leaving bozeman MT and was heading to Spokane. So we got to Spokane which took the better part of a monday. It was a beautiful drive, but there were lots of hills, which translates to slowing going and more strain on the engine parts, BUT, the stop midway at a Cracker Barrell for lunch made the second leg a breeze. How can you not enjoy your drive after a meal with southern gravy over everyhting...mmmmmmmm So we got to Spokane, they weren't ready for us, so we held up traffic until they devised putting us in a holding parking lot until they were ready. So, like any avid emailer person in the 21st century, I climbed atop my RV to sit and surf the web, and I have to say, it was a pretty fast connection. After a bit, we were finally parked and able to set up electric water and such, which I've finally started to get the rountine under my hands. It's amazing how a thing as simple as efficiency makes me ecstatic these days. I guess it's the little things that mold your lifestyle that you learn to appreciate. In any case, the week at Spokane flew by. Went out to eat a couple of times at the season ticket, once for a birthday and another time for Josh, our sound guy's going away party. Not the grestest food or drinks in the world, but their "pitcher's mound" nachos is one of the biggest plates of nachos I've seen on the planet. Anyway, the shows flew by, but the highlight of the week was my aunt and uncle driving all the way from Seattle to see the Fri. night show. Plus, I got to trapse around the city with them all day fri. We quickly dicovered that Spokane is a nice little town with no shortage of coffee shops or gourmet food joints. So, aftrer some exploring and some eating, we happened upon the groundskeeper for the hotel they were staying at. The conversation started out with our desire to find Gonzaga university but, we ended up with friendly and expert advice...turns out that he not only was the groundskeeper but moonlights as an organist at the local cathedral, and he recommended that we check it out as well as the Manatoe park. So went up the hill to this enormous building which turned out to be an episcopal cathedral that was the largest west of the missippi when it was constructed. As you can see from my Pbase pics, it was just beautiful inside, and the thing that set it apart from all of the cathedrals I've experienced in Europe was that it had a wood ceiling instead of the usual stone vaulting that one sees in typical gothic and post-gothic cathedral architecture (I only know this because I did a report on it once, although I got an F on it because the teacher thought I had plagiarized it, when in fact I had just never written down the page numbers of my sources, and was too lazy to go back and find them; yet, with out any proof she still F'd the paper and forever damaged my view of her character) Ok, so after meeting the janitor and discussing what I do, he invited me to come and play in cathedral the next morning.......well, what trumpet player in their right mind would turn down the chance to have such an acoustic and beautiful space all to themselves. So, the sat. morning (even though I had 3 shows to do that day) I rode my motorbike up the south hill, and had an awesome mocha and Italian crepe at the Bittersweet Bistro (I'll elaborate on this fine establishment at another time, also special thanks to Jennifer Olsen for the pic) and then went and played in the church for about an hour. What an experience, the only music I had there was the hymnal, although it was episcopal, I played the ones that I knew, and it all just seemed to fit, one of those moments where, if possible, everything is in harmony, everything working together, making sense, not knowing why, but it just does and appreciating that fact. In case you didn't know, cathedrals are generally in the shape of a cross, so I just stood in the middle and played......what a way to start a sat. morning. So, the rest of the day went by quickly, it was a little painful for my lips, you see I had bit my lip on thurs. night after the show when I grilling and smokingsome meat outside my RV after the show. But, on mon. it started feeling better and healing up. But one big positive thing that happened on sat. is that I finally, finally invested in a winter leather riding jacket, it it had to be providencial, you see I was leaving for seattle on mon, so the bike shops would be closed sun. and mon. and I had a very small time frame and limited funds. So, I found a jacket that fit, was the right style, AND it was on sale. ding ding ding, I had a winner. Anyhow, that night we celebrated Josh's leaving us, and then sun. morning was my normal rountine of waking and listening to the previous week's WCC 10:45AM service. We had our two shows, the lips were a little swollen, but much much better than last weekend. The shows flew by, and I wrapped my cables and hoses, put my bike on the back, and make the shoert 2 1/2 trip to Kennewick. Well, it was supposed to be short, but when you're stupid like me and didn't follow anyone or get directions to the venue, well then you have to stop and ask for directions. Well, after 2 gas stations attendants (and different gas stations mind you) and a la quinta front desk clerk (we ended up talking for about 45min) Ok, it's late and my battery is almost dead......more tomorrow

I think I like Bozeman

No, Bozeman is not a person, on the contrary, it is a quaint yet modern little college town nestled against the rolling mountains in western montana. It's quiet sunday evening, and I'm sitting in a mission style sofa seat with my order of a medium pot of hoikjichaasledisfa (I couldn't pronounce it, so it's my closest recollection) tea in the Homepage cafe. This is one of the nicer cafes I've been to in my miles traveled thus far. The cafe resides on the main street here in Bozeman, a street where the memories of small town america survive in the form of renovated brick facades sport a modern retro flair. Just last night I was at the Baxter hotel where there was some great live music. The story goes, one of the guys the blues band came to our 3:30PM show and loved the band, thus he invited the band to bring their axes (translation for non-music....our instruments) and sit in that night. So, at approximately 10:38PM mountain time I piled into a van with 10 of my friends and we went to the Baxter. There were two bands playing the joint, a hippie/ska band upstairs and the blues band around the bar downstairs. Well, upon arriving, we didn't who was where, and proceeded to pay money to go experience the band upstairs. Well, what do you get when you listen to a ska band for more than 10 minutes....everything starts sounding the same, and all the pretense around you comes into to clarity and seems trivial. So, we went downstairs to the blues band, and immediately you just know, know that there's life in the music, you can feel it. It was, in the end, a good time had my all. The band announced us, feel the celebrity status coming on; some of the guys sat in with the band, made me proud to be who we are, circus. It's funny, I was just talking to one of my friends the other night how circus people refer to everyone else as civilians, in the same vein as the military do. Whether it be conscious or not, there's something about traveling to a different town every week and entertaining people for a living that separates you from the average....civilian. In any case, we left at 2AM, visited the Pita Pit, devoured a souvlaki pita, and called it a night. It was a good end to a good week here in Bozeman. To briefly recap the week for everyone; we arrived late wednes., had sound check, meeting, and opening night on thurs. The show that night was followed a corporate party throw in honor of ? (I don't really know, but the food was good) Then fri. morning took a tour that drummer friend Justin hooked up for us. We toured the Gibson plant and witnessed firsthand how their guitars are made. Ate lunch at a hip place called the Garage, and ithad amazing food. Then, I took the afternoon to drive around the town a bit and check out the local music store and motorcycle shop (I've been searching for a new mouthpiece and trumpet that's more suited to this gig as well as a leather motorcycle jacket so that I don't turn into a frozen (yet lickable) human icecycle on my future bike trip to Seattle. Neither destination was 100% successful, but I did learn some new things. Sat. basically rolled out of bed, warmed up my chops, ate some golden puffs (in milk of course, what? you think I'd eat them plain? bleh) and played 2 shows and then celebrated at the Baxter w/ the blues. Today woke up, listened to last week's service at WCC, and then got ready for work (ran out of water in the middle of my shower), played a show, then went out for a late lunch the drummer and one of the clowns at our favorite little place, the Garage. Tomorrow we all head out to Spokane, from the looks of the yahoo maps, they have a lot of coffee shops, although the quality of them remains to be seen. You know, I've been finding out that can pretty much tell the vibe of the town by the amount and quality of its coffee shops. It's an interesting phenomenon, perhaps I shall start cataloging them.....hmmmmm, maybe, well I leave with a picture of this week's view from my door step......until next time

Snow in October?

So, I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on my roof; nothing unusual about that. Then the temp started dropping, and kept going, until it was snowing, but not laying, then it got colder and started laying on the ground, and now it has tirned out to be quite a snowy day. There's a snow warning for up to 4 to 8 in by tomorrow morning. Snow in early October? The trees here haven't even finished turning yet. The earliest snow I remember growing up in MI was early November. So, now this is totoally throwing off my seasonal kilter, don't get me wrong, winter is my favorite season, but am singing Christmas songs before halloween. Craziness I say, craziness. Right now I'm sitting here at a coffee house in Billings again since they have high speed wireless and decent coffee. Tomorrow, if all the roads around here aren't closed, we're headin to Bozeman for our next weekend of shows. Should be an interesting time, since I hear there's more to do in Bozeman, we're having some semi-dressy PR party, and the arena is in the middle of a college campus. Anyhow, hope all is well out there in cyber world, enjoy your warm weather if you have it

monday monday

well, it was a busy weekend of shows and such, and now it's monday.....and a rainy monday at that, but I got to sleep in, which I only got to do on holidays as a teacher. So, I'm a very happy boy. Although, this past weekend I wish I would've had a new pair of lips. I don't know if it's the american water or just the fatigue of the show setting in, but it was a challenging past couple of days for the chops. I am looking into getting different equipment, a mouthpiece where the edge isn't as sharp = more endurance and less swelling, but I think a more commercial style horn will also aid in getting the brighter sound I'm going for in this gig. Ok, so enough about equipment stuff, what have I done since thurs? Well, I finally got my freezer and refrig stocked. One night after a show, I finally got tired of seeing my cold food storage bare, so I made a much needed run to Walmart and bought as much food as I could stuff in my backpack (you have to understand, when you have a motorcycle w/out saddle or tank bags, you have to prioritize your trips to the grocery and laundry) So, now, I have lots of frozen veggies and meat. I've been finding out that you definately have to think differntly when living out of an RV. You're much more conscious of what store, use, and waste. For example, it's going to be weird from now on where I leave the water running the whole time, and it'll feel strange when my sewage just goes where it's supposed to and I don't have to empty it myself, or more importantly I won't have to worry about those dreaded leaks from the bottom of my vehicle. It is definately possible to keep oneself busy fixing things all the time if one so chose, but then when would I have time to ride the bike? Speaking of which, 6 of us won't out on our motorcycles to a movie last night, I enjoyed the ride back almost more than the movie. All of us were on bikes, to it was 4 BMWs and 2 Ducatis, quite fun, it's a taste of what it'll be like tomorrow (everyone with a bike on tour is going for a ride, so there will be about 10 of us rolling w/ varying bikes, should be fun) But the kicker is, it's been a while since I've been able to get mail from VA, so I've been riding around with a temp plate that ran out 9/22. Oh well, no one has seemed to notice yet :-) We had a party Fri. night. It was a going away party for one of the acts leaving the tour as well as a "yeah, we're back in the US" party. Good times, and i found out that our group has a 14ft gas grill that travels w/ us wherever we go. So, than that, not too much new, we open in Bozeman thrusday night, but are allowed to park till wednesday afternoon, so everyone is hanging here in billings until then, hence the 2nd party of the week tonight (basically it's just an excuse to fire up the grill and use up the leftover meat from fri. ;-) ) It's also tuned quite cold here, when we arrived, everyday was in the upper 60's and 70's and now they're calling for possibility of snow on wednes.! I'm doing my best not to do the ice cycle dance on my bike, but it gets mighty cold when the ambient temp is 45F. Oh, and as for the Tim Hortons/Panera debate, I'd have to say yes, Panera does have a loafs up on Tims, but the fact that Panera hasn't caught on everywhere yet, and Tims is everywhere in Canadia, makes me miss Tims. Although as rachel astutely pointed out, even though Panera doesn't have the pastries, they oh so much more.....including soup in a bread bowl and free high speed wireless internet! Anyhow, enough of my rambling for today (although it didn't take me a week to post this time ;-) ) trzymaj sie i na raza