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

Long drive for someone with nothing to think about...

99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer...



The drive from Lake Tahoe to Yellowstone was a long one.










We passed through carson city, Reno, a bunch of Nevada desert, and a bunch of Idaho farms. We stopped for the night at "craters on the moon natonal park" which is basically an open field with some weird volcanic rock formations. It wasnt as exciting as the name made it sound. The next morning we got up early and made our way to Yellowstone through the grand tetons!















6,000 miles worth of dead bugs....

Lake Tahoe

Hey-oh-Lake-Tahoe:

Lake Tahoe lies on the border between California and Nevada and it happens to be the largest lake I've ever seen. It's fresh waters stretch out as far as the eye can see as if trapped by the majestic Sierra Nevada mountains. Nick and I arrived just before dusk and were able to watch a glorious sunset from Cave Rock park. Though a popular ski-resort in the winter months, I'm willing to bet summer at lake Tahoe is equally as beautiful. We spent the night with our couch surfing host, Jacob. His place was somewhat of a common room for friends and travelers.






Upon our first meeting we found our hosts preparing body suits and protective eye wear for their upcoming venture to Burning Man. That night we laid upon Jacob's trampoline and watched the Perseid Meteor Shower. After spending the previous night sleeping in the car we were ecstatic to crash on some couches. The next morning we would begin our trek across Nevada.

Yosemite

Hi, My name is giant sequoia, my interests including: growing, branching out, hanging with tourists, and getting my picture taken. Come check me out.


We arrived to Yosemite after dark, and drove hours through construction to the other end of the park, to find that all campsites were full. So we parked on the side of the road and slept in the bear-safe car. The next morning we awoke in a strange land. Unknown to us we had driven the night before through some of the most beautiful scenery you could imagine, and found ourselves in the Grove of Giant Sequoia trees.






























On our way back out of the park we saw some sweet ass mountains, and a huge waterfall, that we climbed to the base of.

































A few hours of driving on winding roads up and down mountains later and we were in Lake Tahoe!

San Francisco

Bay Area!

Whooaaaa, Get it San Francisco!

Me and Josh Drove in late Friday night, braving the fog into the city center. From there we met up with John and his partner Pat, who lives up near the Castro. From there we met up with Sarah Stahl and her friend Jessica, who lives in Novato. We spent the night with Sarah,













and then woke up to go meet up with Pat and John, and go see Golden Gate Park. From there we went to Dinner with Sarah's cool ass dad, and step mom. It was great to have a home cooked meal. We had to get well rested because the next day we were going to visit the "full house" house.













From the Full house house we went and saw fisherman's wharf.

























It's a Tony Hawk Level!













After that John made pizza, which was awesome. Our last night in San Fran we played at Kimo's with Era Escape. We had a great time. Era Escape was bad ass, and they brought a party out on a Monday night. We spent the remainder of the night chilling with the lovely Sarah and Jessica, in a super fun all ages setting. The next morning we were scheduled to head back east, but a family of dragons had scorched his famly's farmland and he needed to go home to see if they found the burried treasure. So he stayed behind while me and Josh continued on to Yosemite. Get ITTTTT

L.A.

We drove in my car in LA
with a dream and my cardigan
welcome to the land of fame excess,
am I gonna fit in?

We met up with Amanda Cameron in North Holly wood after getting pulled over for not properly entering and existing the carpool lane.
We hung out there, being super hip for a good part of the afternoon. Then we drove to Venice beach to visit Brett Hardin. We got to experience all the weirdos and the underground crime ring of the Boardwalk. We got some bangin Terriyaki in the international food closet, then we took John to the airport so he could fly up to San Francisco. Me and Josh kicked it at Brett's place for the night. Next morning me and Josh got up early to drive up the coastal route to San Francisco!

Huntington Beach

Oh hey its Josh (dictated)
Our first stop in Huntington Beach was a venue called The Blue Cafe.
As we sat in the parking lot waiting for the venue to open in order to
unload our equipment we were unable to do so because Nick left his keys
on the driver's seat and locked them in the car for the third time.
After AAA arrived and unlocked the car for we met our couch surfing host, Anesa.
She came to our show at the Blue Cafe because she is awesome.
The gig was super tight, like toatz tight. The following morning we checked
out the U.S open surf competition which was gnarly.

San Diego

A Whale's Vagina:

Me and Josh's first experience in California. We saw the pacific ocean for the first time and experienced it's cold temperature, and gold shimmering appearance.

Katy Perry's "california girls is still stuck in my head".






















We also experienced our first in n out burger, and yes we got it animal style.

At night we hung out with our cool couch surfers and their roomates. the next morning we got some swanky breakfast at some swanky breakfast place, then got a free tour/photoshoot through Balboa park.













Huntington Beach Ahoy!

Arizona

Feenicks

On our way to Phoenix we made a pit stop in Tuscon, to check out some Mexican food that Greg Nix recommended to us. We didn't spend much time in Tuscon, because there was a monsoon in the area, and the weather was cold and gross.
So we continued on to Phoenix. Our gig that night was just north of the city in a town called Glendale. It was a really fun show, we got to play with some interesting other bands, and the show was pretty early so we got to head to our couch surfers house pretty early, to get a good night's sleep.


Beautiful Arizona

Our couch Surfer in Phoenix, Tim was super helpful, he told us a bunch of cool stuff to do on our way to the Grand Canyon. First stop was a guitar center to buy a new keyboard stand, because mine was somewhere between Phoenix and El Paso.
From there we took a scenic rout through Sedonna, one of the most beautiful landscapes ive ever seen, then we drove up some mountain in some forest, and got to an elevation of 8,000 feet. Arizona is a really really beautiful state. The landscape changes from dessert to forest and back really suddenly, its crazy.
Tim told us about this lava cave to stop at on the way. He gave us very specific directions to get there because its kind of hard to get to. We had to drive down this unmarked dirt road for a few miles, then get out and hike through this weird, creepy, mossy, barren looking forrest for a bit. As we arrived to this clearing in the forrest we noticed this strange haze about 2 feet off the ground, and this pile of rocks in the middle of the clearing, as we approached the rocks we realized we had found the cave.Inside the cave was about 20 degrees colder than outside so this haze was sort of accumulating outside of it. So we climbed our way down into this small drippy crevice in the middle of this creepy forrest armed with nothing but two flashlights.





It was pitch black within 100 feet of the cave opening. It slowly opened up into these huge dingy corridors, that seemed to lead on forever. We spent about an hour walking through them before finally reaching the end. Great afternoon of cave exploration. Next stop the Grand Canyon!!

Grand Canyon

We got to the canyon right at sunset. We frantically drove to the edge, and jumped out to see it before the sun went down. IT WAS HUGE!! It was awesome to see it right at dusk, it was really foggy, but really colorful. From there we went to get some dinner. Then we found a little campsite, ans had a nice time hot-boxing the tent before falling asleep. The next morning we got up early to hike the canyon. We made it about half the way down, but decided for the sake of time to head back up so we could make it to San Diego at a reasonable time. We spent twice as much time getting back up as we spent going down. It was a steep, sweaty, mule poo dodging hike, but it was totally worth it.

New Mexico

Goodbye Texas! It's been real...

So we drove from El paso to Las Cruces, made a crucial stop at Sonic...

I love sonic.


















From there we drove to Deming to meet up with my fellow flower shop employee Mariya. We hung out at her place for a little while, while she was on break from her job rescuing falcons. From there we drove to Florida mt. where we hiked around for a while.














We attempted to enter a canyon, but it was closed. As we were about to leave a nice gentleman in a truck suggested we stop at a little rock plateau at the edge of the valley on our way out. While climbing the plateau I almost stepped on a rattlesnake.


It was a scary situation.











We finally precipiced the plateau and with us we had brought John's drum kit. So we had ourselves a little drum circle jam session atop this rock ledge as the sun set over the mountain behind us. It was O U T O F C O N T R O L.


After we were all drummed out, we headed to our camp site for the night. The camp site was called city of rocks, and it literally was a city of rocks. It was so cool. We met up with Mariya and her friends at the campsite, and had a splendid time hanging out by the lack of campfire (there's no wood to burn in a desert!) The next morning was spent summiting the highest rocks in the city of rocks.














It was during this time that we saw a tarantula!


EEEK!!











New Mexico was a super awesome time! Next stop Phoenix.

El Paso

Suuuper cool town. El paso is this great town built on a the side of a lttle mountain just across the border from the Mexican city of Juarez. We forgot to take pictures during our 2 day stay, but we got a chance to do some awesome stuff.

Our first night there we stayed at the Mesa Inn, a great little budget hotel... Before bed we attempted to drive up the Franklin Mountain, to get a view of Mexico at night. The view is beautiful, the lights seem to be endless.

The next morning we hiked up to the pinnacle of the mountain. Upon summiting we noticed a thunderstorm just on the other side of the mountain coming our way, so we raced back down before it hit. The views at the top where breathtaking.

We were pretty tuckered out by then, so we went back to meet out couch surfing hosts Daniel, and Meredith. They live in this kick ass mansion that over looks Juarez. It was nuts! They were super nice, and really fun, and they took us out for Mexican food.













After that we met up with Angel, the man behind rockonelpaso.com , He booked us for the show that night, and invited us over before the show to hang out. Angel was one of the coolest people we've met. He was super nice, and he might be the best booker/promoter that we've had the oppertunity to work with. He is all about building and helping the music scene in EL Paso.

We went to the show together from there. The show was at the Garage Tequila Bar, a garage themed mexican influenced bar on the main drag in El Paso. We played with Rafa Pistola, and another band that I never found out the name of. Both bands were crazy fun, and we really enjoyed there sets. It is really cool how strong the Mexican influence is on El Paso, and its music.

So we got back to the Mansion pretty late, and went to bed. We woke up at 10:00 to get the hell out of Texas.