North American Tour Journal
Day 5
November 14, 2011
Phoenix, Arizona

Sam, the tour bus driver, woke me up at 4:30am to get $600 to put gas into the tank so we could make it through the desert. He then talked my ear off for an hour about the fact that he is really a bass player and not a tour bus driver. I’m hoping he is a really good bus driver for at least the next few weeks…
Since I had only slept an hour, I decided to try to sleep while the bus was moving. It only lasted a couple of hours until we reached the next truck stop for coffee.

A stray dog walked up to the bus as we were unloading ourselves and Mark Burgess grabbed some leftovers to feed it. I was fortunate to get a great picture of it.
We crossed the Arizona border and started debating whether to go sight seeing and view a big hole in the ground or not which would take us off the direct route. Unfortunately, Neil got out voted and we elected to take a shorter detour through scenic Sedona. The “shorter” and much more scary detour through the cliffs later had    me changing my vote to the crater and sitting in my seat praying and breathing heavy which doesn’t occur very often.

I just called our band manager, Tara, who resides in Phoenix. I needed her to go purchase several things that we neglected to bring with us from home and a high powered fan that we left in Dallas. She has also lined up, with the help of a great friend, a house to hang our hats for a short time and take showers. She has been an amazing help with the tour and we are excited to meet up with her soon. I’m also excited to get another much needed shower, especially since the bus toilet is full, we ran out of running water and the floor of the bus is as sticky as taffy at the moment.

We drove through Flagstaff and simultaneously watched an AC/DC documentary on TV and took pictures out the window of the magnificent scenery in Sedona. The drive down the steep slopes of the Sedona mountains was treacherous, but at the end, worth it. We stopped near the bottom and walked along a river and took some more pictures. The detour cost us about two extra hours and we finally arrived at our friend’s house to take showers and soak in the warm winter sun outside in Phoenix. Two hours later, we arrived at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix and at first sight I was a bit dejected at the size of the stage and the club. For a Monday night, however, we received a great welcome, had a decent turnout and the energy of the crowd was impressive. Our set is getting much tighter and we sounded great except for the fact my guitar continued to go out of tune for some strange reason. I’m going to have John re-string my Gretsch before the next show. We signed some autographs after the concert, loaded the tour bus and waited for Sam, our driver, who was scheduled to blast us off at 3:00am. Tara, our manager, provided us with food and drinks for the journey and we all hugged her goodbye. A bus wash and more fuel was on the agenda before heading to California. Here we come, Los Angeles!

J
xxx