Alright... so with all the crazy ass driving this is the first chance I have had to take a short breather in a coffee shop to play catch-up.
First things first lets get to the rest of day 5. We learned a really valuable lesson that day. NEVER trust Google Maps for driving times or distances between locations. As I had previously mentioned, we left Phoenix around 4a.m. or so. This was purely based on google maps reading out as the drive being 14 hours between Phoenix, AZ and Austin, TX. This was HORRIBLY wrong. It took us 18 driving hours to make this trip... PLUS we lost an hour changing over to the US Central time zone. We ended up rolling in to Austin at 11:30p.m. We were not ready for what was in store for us. We had called around 7 and talked to the bartender Tim who assured us that it was no big deal, and that they would shift around the bands to accomodate our dumbasses who were still 4 hours out at this point. We arrived to a different story. Tim had us talk to the soundguy Billy of M.O.D. fame. Who told us there was NO WAY we could play because we were supposed to check in at 8. We respectfully bowed out appologizing for our idiocy in trusting google maps and proceeded to say goodbye to Tim on the way out. This was the launching point for one of the most intense shouting matches we have ever witnessed as a band. We heard everything from "THERE IS NO WAY THEY ARE FUCKING PLAYING" to "DON'T BE A DICK, THEY DROVE ALL THE WAY FROM SAN FRAN-FUCKING-CISCO". This went back and forth between the bartender and soundguy for a good 20 miniutes prior to finding a resolution... they would let us play the following evening, which we were fine with because it was a driving day anyways. Tim jumped on the mic and appologized to the bar for the shouting match and explained that he and the soundguy were best friends and although a fistfight almost happened, they didn't really mean it.  We then drove to Denny's for some of our least favorite late night eats prior to moving the van to the back of the lot which looked like a quiet spot to sleep in the van for the night....
Day 6 began in a very odd fashion. The "queit spot" in the parking lot ended up facing a fully functional high school. The first bell shook us from our slumber around 8 or so... which was followed by a pledge of allegiance first to the US... then to Texas (yes... they really do that) followed once more by what was so far our favorite quote of the tour: "We would like you to now take a moment of silence for prayer, or to meditate or do something silent that will not disturb or distract your neighbors." We somehow managed to all fall back asleep and arose somewhere around 10 moved the van to the front lot and had breakfast... you guessed it... Denny's. I'll skim down this next section as it isn't really all that interesting but included an oil change, a trip to the doctor for our sick drummer, and eating lunch. Our next stop was Waterloo's Record store where we caught a couple of songs from the Riverboat Gamblers prior to opting out and going next door to the bar for a couple of beers. Immediately following we took off to the venue where we showed up a couple hours early as there was no way in hell we were going to be late 2 nights in a row. We set up, and had played a good set to a decent crowd. Thanks to Mike for allowing us to crash that evening and shower up for our long drive.
Day 7/8.5 - At this point, I have joined Eric in the land of the sick people. Most of the day I slept thanks for my amazing bandmates who picked up my driving duties. We left Austin, and didn't stop. Eric and Ben made it all the way to Mobile Alabama... then Eric switched with our night time pinch hitter Mt. Whitney who managed to drive for 9 hours straight until just past downtown Charolette, NC. Eric took over at that point and he and I finished the 4 hours till where we currently sit... in Richmond, VA. Tonight we are going to try and jump on a show here in town at Nara Sushi with our friend Mike Hale who is playing a show with his band In The Red.... we figure even if we don't get to play, we'll get to hear some kick ass tunes.
Until next time....