Cincinnati and east

We drove into Cincinnati, with just enough time to fix my passenger side window before our gig. We spent about an hour fixing the window. We ended up hot wiring the window motor from the battery with a modified instrument cable, and a piece of tinfoil.

















After a slight ordeal, we played a bad ass show, and headed homeward.

We stopped in a wal-mart parking lot just outside of Pittsburgh to get some shut eye. We pitched our tent in a nice grassy island in the middle of the parking lot. the next morning was funny to say the least, as we woke up surrounded by cars full wal-mart shoppers.

From there we went to Pittsburgh for a hot second, and then headed back to Philadelphia!!

See you soon!

Chicago

We drove into Chicago with the big bean in our sites. We asked all around town where the giant metallic bean was. We eventually drove to millennium park, home of the giant bean, and had a nice time experiencing the bean.




















From there we went to our gig at the elbo room. It was an awesome venue, with a great sound system. The other bands were super nice also. We had a GREAT show.













Then we went out for a deep dish pizza, and discussed some big topical issues.

We retired for the night, with hopes of getting up early to see more of chicago the next morning.

We woke up a little late, but still had some time to grab some Billy goats Cheeseburgers before heading to Cincinnati.

Millwaukee

Milwaukee

So me and Josh wake up in the hot wet mosquito infested camp site to a text from John's friend, Richard the flight attendant. The text said something like "we are on a flight to Milwaukee, see you at 12." So me and Josh packed up and headed for the city. After a pit stop at lake michigan we headed to Richard's dad's house, which is just outside of Milwaukee, which is where Richard grew up. Richard's dad was an incredible man. He has been playing viola all his life. We talked to him briefly about music, before heading over to Richard's Sister's lake house.

Richard's sister and her husband (Linda and Steve) were incredible hosts. We Spent the entire weekend with them, eating amazing food, and going out on the lake swimming, and wakeboarding (or attempting to).























Richard's nephew was also there on Saturday night, and he happened to be a drummer, and he happened to be throwing a party that night at their house, so we brought our instruments in the basement, and we played a little concert, and then we had a big jam session.














Most of the people at the party where musicians also, and they were all incredible. We had a really really fun night.

The next morning we woke up to pancakes and bacon, and concluded our visit with a pontoon ride out on the lake.

Next stop Chicago, for our first gig as a full band again!

South Dakota

South Dakota, midwest plains

Just south of central Dakota, it's the southern most of the Dakotas. Situated between nothing, and absolutely nothing, it is home to 4 things: Mt. Rushmore, Wall Drug, the badlands, and Sioux falls.




















Mt. Rushmore, by far the most over-rated mountain-side rock carving in south western South Dakota.














We did however stumble upon a dinosaur park in nearby Rapid City, which may have been the highlight of the trip. Built over 50 years ago it houses life like sculptures of some pretty sweet prehistoric beasts.














Halfway between the only two cities in South Dakota is a town called "Wall Drug" There are as many home-made billboard advertisements for this town as there are inhabitants. Wall drug is to a town as a puddle is to a lake. Except imagine the puddle had some sort of weird chemicals in it. So we stopped in wall drug for a quick look around and some food. There isn't much more I can say about Wall Drug.

Just outside of Wall Drug is the badlands national park. The badlands are these strange formations of soft rock that poke out from the Dakotan plains. It was one of the stranger things we've seen thus far.














On our way out of the park the old GPS told us a quick way back to the interstate, which had us turn down a dirt road that had a sign posted which read "High clearance vehicles only". We proceeded down this road knowing that we didn't have a high clearance vehicle. Perhaps we were feeling a little bit over confident in the volvo. After traveling 20 minutes down this road it became apparent why it was intended for high clearance vehicles only. But with some strategic driving we were able to make it all the way to then end of the road, which was unfortunately in the middle of a prairie, and not the interstate.

So we made it all the way to the other side of South Dakota, to the huge metropolis known as Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls is the biggest city in South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming combined. And it has a population of 300,000! Our couch surfers for the evening were among our favorites from this trip. Two roomates Sarah and Sam, and there friends entertained us for the evening with their fun personalities, and their pet chickens.

The next morning it was time to get the hell out of South Dakota. On to the beautiful land of Minnesota. We drove 9 hours through corn and wheat farms to some nasty mosquito infested campground just outside Milwaukee WI. We braved rain and heat and mosquitos till dawn.

The next day a surprise awaited us in Milwaukee...

Nebraska, and other nothings

7500 miles deep.

Soundtrack:

Here's a glimpse into what music we have been listening to in the car:

Katy Perry - California girls: This song has haunted our minds and ears since the beginning of the trip.

Maps & Atlases - Perch Patchwork: Math has never felt so folk

M.I.A - Maya: Like a round-house kick in the face, of infectious euro pop.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca: What the fuck!?

Bjork - all: Iceland's finest.

Beatles - various: It's crucial...



special shout out to:

Marmalakes : http://www.myspace.com/marmalakes
We played with these guys in Dallas and have been listening to their CD ever since. Check them out!

Denver

We camped just outside of Denver in the Rocky mts
space was tight in the camp site, but we made dew














So we get to Denver Right?
we made our way to the downtown mall area, it was super cool.

We met up with my cousin Jeremy Make who was an inspiration for our trip. Just a few years ago he went on a cross country tour seeking out art and making a documentary. His trip however took place in a golf kart. Keep an eye out for his documentary it comes out in a few months. It's called Kart across america. http://www.kartacrossamerica.com

While in Denver we tried to carry on the Papyrus Like You name, by playing a duo show at the Lions Lair... it went ok I think.

The next day we went to boulder to check out some hiking, we go to the top of chataqua mt. as it started to pour, but all in all it was tons of fun.

The next morning we left Denver in search of the giant heads of past presidents.

Yellowstone

It's THE national park; overflowing with geothermic activity.

We saw waterfalls, and mountains, and meadows, and creeks, and geysers, and hot springs, and canyons, and forests, and lakes, and foxes, and bison all in one afternoon.

By the time we got to Old Faithful, the sky started to cloud up, and by the end of the day, it was pouring rain, but we still got to see some crazy sh!t.

Old Faithful was anti-climactic... Insert joke here














The hot springs where bad ass. Mother nature's hot tubs. They are these crazy steaming bubbling deep puddles.



















One of the coolest things I've ever seen. There are boardwalks built all around them, because the ground is so thin near them, if you were to step on it, you could fall through into a boiling chemical water rotten egg smelling death.

We drove all the way to northern tip of the park, then we drove another mile just to pass the border into Montana. That makes 17 states so far!

On the way back down, we drove past some bison on the road.
It was at that moment that we really started to miss John...

We drove south in the pouring rain looking for food, and a place to sleep. After 3 hours of driving through NOTHING we stumbled upon the town of Pinedale, and after searching for 30 minutes we found the last vacant motel room in Pinedale.

Joint effort blog by Nar and JC