First trip in the Lowmobile-Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Dehlia made a major investment last month with the purchase of the Lowmobile, a Toyota minivan minus one rear seat for the bass. The purchase was timed to facilitate our second major tour out of the region, to do a pair of shows in southern Pennsylvania. For setting this up, many thanks to Sarah Bailey of Pinecastle Records, Davis Tracy of WDCVFM.com and 88.3FM Carlisle PA, Danelle Bowermaster, and the Steep Canyon Rangers for putting in a good word for us. We made an overnight stop in southwest Virginia, in Anya's hometown of Blacksburg, and arrived the following day in PA to an incredibly hot (102 degrees) humid breezeless afternoon at the Days Inn beside the 81. After settling in to our roomS (yes two rooms, NO ONE had to sleep on the floor this time), we made our way to the Good Life Café (www.goodlifecafe.com), a forward-thinking venue that combines organic and local food with live music (GREAT sound and sound engineering by Paul Wegman), as well as housing studios for alternative healing (music and sound therapy, massage, acupuncture). We were lucky to have a group of enthusiastic young people open for us (Bridge Ride) and a very enthusiastic crowd that made a listening-room experience out of a restaurant venue. (Did we mention the great sound?).

Disaster struck, however, just before the Good Life gig, when all the child safety features of the Lowmobile engaged simultaneously because someone tried to open a side door before the van was put in "park." Unknowingly, an unnamed band member tried overzealously to open the hatchback door and broke the handle. From then on, the bass and all the instruments had to be loaded from the side door. This was a good test of crisis management but Dehlia emerged unscathed and ready for a fun weekend of music and hanging out in Carlisle.

Carlisle is an historic town with people buried in the town graveyard that were dead before 1800. Tidy streets are lined with old brick homes complete with spires, cornices, arches, columns, and spandrels that give the town a beautifully quaint colonial look. Despite this rich history, we were disappointed to discover that their breakfast lacked grits and brewed iced tea (just Coca-Cola syrup), and that their biscuits tasted like small, hard hamburger buns. After returning south of the Mason-Dixon line (which is prominently advertised in that region) we made an emergency stop at the nearest Cracker Barrel to eat these fine delicacies.

The Days Inn kicked us out at 1PM (and we didn't even trash either one of the hotel rooms!) which left with us with the afternoon to kill before our 6:30 PM appearance at the Thornwald Park amphitheater. We tried a number of strategies for cooling off including a water fight (NOTE: you can't fill small water balloons in a drinking fountain) which ended up a little limp since we had only one water gun. In an attempt to stay cool we made our way to the Wal-Mart/multiplex theater/strip mall to watch a movie. This is not meant to be a movie review so I'll keep it short: "Zohan" is possibly the worst movie any of us have ever seen and we were kicking ourselves for passing over "Kung-Fu Panda." Regardless, we headed over to the Park and enjoyed Gary and Bill's great job in setting up sound for us in a challenging venue…a concrete box stage projecting to an outdoor environment. Many thanks to a repeat crowd of familiar faces from the Good Life show as well as a supportive and enthusiastic crowd filled with bluegrass fans of all ages (and even several different species, including dogs and a very strange thorny tree with enormous spikes growing off their trunks--thus the name Thorn-walled Park).

After a delicious dinner (Thanks Davis!!!) we headed down the 81 back to the land of corn and delicious corn products and concoctions. Rolling over Sam's Gap, Aaron remarked, "it's nice to be back in these mountains" and certainly it is. Back to a balmy summer evening on the front porch. Pray for rain!