Tour, Summer '14

There are several dates missing from this tour, and I'm going to be working on filling this out from memory since it's now been about a year and a half on and we've had another tour since then, so bear with me!

Day 1 of Summer Tour '14, part 1- A prologue

I'm taking a break from packing to write this introduction.  To be honest, I hadn't even started packing until I got back from the eye doctor about an hour ago.  That's how The Rackatees roll, yo.  If we took this shit seriously, it'd all be over very quickly.

 

This is our second little tour in a year.  The first was a trip down to Florida by way of Tennessee, then back through New Orleans and up into Cape Gerardeau (or however the fuck you spell it).  That was a dope time for sure.  Ol' Blurps served as a trusty enough steed, but she's sitting this one out.  Something about rolling across the South West in late June in a massive warwagon without air conditioning just doesn't seem that appealing.  For this haul, we've rented a Ford Escape.  We didn't get insurance on the thing, so hopefully no drunk girls back into it in the parking lot after any shows.  We're also not allowed to cheech it out.  Lame!

Hopefully this hangover shakes off soon.  I'm going to actually finish packing, get some cash money out of the ATM across the street, and then we are off.  I will keep you lovely people posted on the shenanigans as they unfold.  Denver, here we come.

Day 1 of Summer Tour '14, part 2- Recap

 

June 20th started off in the dumbest of ways.  An ATM ate all of Kolin's money and AVIS (or should I say 'ANUS'?) gave us a spin on the ol' credit card roulette wheel.  All there is to say about that really is thank you Mom, thank you Landon, and we're probably going to take dumps in the console of this Kia:

We finally made it to Denver, and that was rad.  The show was really dope.  The Windemeres and the Mostly Don'ts were awesome. Solid dudes.  Thanks for the bass cab.  The coolest part has to be the Pratt, KS crowd that's migrated out west to Colorado.  It was like a high school reunion up in there.  Look:

Yes, that's Stacy hiding between the Steves.

The First day of tour was basically awesome.  Hopefully it continues to remain as such.  Right now, as I'm typing this, we are killing hangovers with hearty breakfasts and then we're off to Salt Lake City by way of Wyoming.  That should be exciting... 

Day 2 of Summer Tour '14- SLC Not-So-Punk

June 21st, the first day of summer!  

We left Dan's friend's house and headed towards Salt Lake City around 9 o'clock this morning.  Thanks Dan's friend, and thanks Dan!  You're a real stand up dude and getting even more drunk on boxed wine with you was a pleasure.  We'll be seeing you again soon!

We spent the biggest part of the day rolling through 'Why? Oming'. I mean Wyoming.  But seriously, why?  Worst. State. Ever. The coolest thing to happen was when we stopped in Rawlins to scam on some truck stop showers.  Korey and Kolin got it done right.  I chose to bathe in the bathroom sink.  Bad choice.  I was treated to the real-time commentary of a trucker giving the poor soul on the other end of his phone a run down of every movement he was having. Killer.  But seriously, Kansas is way cooler than that place.

Some of Wyoming was really gorgeous, no lie.  It looked like this:

But mostly it looked like a windy, awful, rude-person-inhabited hell.

Utah, in spite of everything my father's ever told me (happy birthday, Dad!), is beautiful. check it out:

The last leg of the drive was pretty awesome.  It's too bad the pictures can't really do it justice.

Moving on.

Salt Lake City is awesome if you haven't heard.  Good city.  Good people. All of the polygamy jokes we cracked once we crossed the state line aside, Jesse at the Shed Shred is a great guy.  Here's the digs:

And one of the sweet artwork inside:

 

A good show, indeed.  LSDO and The Hung Ups were legit.  A pretty good time for an early all ages show.  Well met, Salt Lake.  Well met. 

We also spotted this guy runnin' around:

Doesn't he look a lot like TJ when Krysta fucked his hair up that one time?  

We really thought it was the one and only TJ when we saw him take off and fly away.  Just like a pigeon. Weird.  But no, I'm sure he's still in Lawrence playing Dark Sliders or whatever he's into these days.

Day 3 of Summer Tour '14- Fear and Loathing in Reno

June 22nd

After cleaning out a hotel mini-fridge's worth of booze the last time I posted, A LOT has happened.  But not really.  We drove across Nevada which is basically just a giant desert with secret military bases that house UFOs in them.  Most of what we did involved trying to out-fart each other. But Nevada is pretty much a big desert, and we drove across it all damned day.

Endless miles of this:

 

There is one redeeming quality to all of the downtime you have on your hands in cross country drives:  long discussions about the exploits and tribulations of Grammy Award Winning Artist Scott Stapp.

Scott Stapp:

Say what you will about his music, but Scott Stapp's life is a majestic train wreck of depravity and degradation.  We spent a good hour googling stories and interviews and laughing until we cried at all of the crazy, awesome shit Scott has done.  We love you, Scott.  Roll Tide.

Reno is a strange land.  One in which you can eat flimsy, watery tacos in a Casino for the cost of a gas station condom and then see one of America's five best auto museums next to a derelict lot strewn with empty 40's and shoes.

The most beautiful thing about this jewel in the desert is that its grittiness belies the fun you can find there.  The show at Jub Jub's was awesome.  We got nice and wrecked with the locals after they slam danced to the set.  Not a bad Sunday night in northwest Nevada.

I think it means "fuck your day":