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Sunday - 2/26/06
6:46pm
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Well I'm on the road finally. 600 miles in. I made it to central PA. Toward the west side if I had to be completely honest. I wanted to get to West Virginia but it just wasn't happenin'. I only got about 6 hrs sleep because of all the excitement so I stopped here in Somerset PA for the night. I will be able to do blog updates hopefully as I bought a wireless card. You say- "You bought something??"..."You don't have a job!" I know, I know, but I have to keep all you die hard fans on the edge of your seat, or seats, whatever the case may be (if there are more than one of you)(and I'm standing now so I don't count, although I am my #1 fan) (I'm hungry). The worst part of the trip so far was just going down to my sister's. It was snowing and a little slick but with the weight I'm toten' I was in pretty good shape traction-wise. Picture provided for your amusement-
I am sure I'm grossly over the vehicle gross weight, which grosses me out but so far the truck has been running fine (knock on "wood" or whatever this table is made of) So I left my sister's at 8am sharp, while my niece Libby had breakfast
Actually, I lied, she was eating dinner. I didn't have a breakfast shot of her. In fact from the looks of it she is eating nothing...which doesn't mean she is deprived of food, FAR from it (pause for my sister to stop laughing) So I got some gas and headed down 95 where I picked up rte 34 west. Rte 34 was a bit of a disappointment at first as it wasn't a highway as much as it was a cowpath. Well, not really, but it did cut through several towns where I had to stop for traffic lights. Aside from that rte 34 was a very scenic route. It wound along some river (I know, pay attention) I don't know what river but the scenery was pretty good although slow going. Of course I didn't take pictures. Let's take a moment of silence to enViSiOn how scenic it was..
ooooo...
aahhhhh....
Then I got on rte 84 west which took me into Pennsylvania which is pictured below
This is Pennsylvania......That's it, nothing else....Don't ever go there. Just kidding it is a little dull after a few hours but beautiful nonetheless. Full of woodlands and rolling mountains and hills. Trucks too, lots o' trucks. I drove past Lord's Valley in the Pocono mountains where my Aunt used to live. Very beautiful place. Stark, serene, an almost forgotten wilderness. She lived there until a few years ago and I went down once to visit her. I brought the VSO (of course) and set up in her living room. (By the way this happened a few years back, not on this trip) We used to vacation down there with the family. My most vivid recollection is of feeding deer who would come up and eat right out of your hand. Then you would club them with the blunt instrument behind your back and Wham-O! VeniSOn for dinner! No, not really, that's awful. Don't go thinking it's ok to club Bambi or anything now. When I went down to see my Aunt a few years back I brought my mountainbike. I lugged it off into the woods amongst the sounds of shotgun blasts (it was hunting season)(I know, great planning on my part)(the antler shaped helmet I was wearing didn't help much either) I didn't do much biking off road as it turned out that PA is the rockiest state ever. I got about 100 yards into the woods before I let out a "Bleeet!!" in disgust, pounded my hoof, and turned around and went back. After spending several weeks in the hospital from the gunshot wounds, I ended up riding my bike around her neighborhood (which was very huge)(a conservation community mainly housing cottages for summering) The area had such a quiet beauty to it which was a little eerie actually. Eerie Pennsylvania. Overall a good trip. So back to this trip, which was more or less adventure-less so far which may be a good thing. I took a couple more roads, routes 81, 76, and 70, which is where I am now. Below are a few pics from the road.
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So here I am, hungry, tired, and blogging. I loaded my VSO stuff into my hotel room for security reasons. It was kind of a pain in the neck but you gotta do what you gotta do. At least I have someone to share the extra bed with me.
Well I'm off to eat some of the leftover lasagne my sister made for me last night for dinner. It was really good, I can't wait to eat it...is there a microwave around here? Heck I'll eat it cold...at least my feet aren't cold anymore...oh wait, they are *&$(*&%$*&%
To tell the truth I don't even care about eating, or being here....I just want to play...it's been over a week since I've played and it's really getting to me. I hope I don't forget how to do the VSO...Could you imagine? I walk into Roland and stand there like a moron not being able to play it anymore...I assure you that's not the case..I can't wait to rock out. I'd set it up now if zoning laws hadn't prohibited it. If I am inspired, not too tired (and if you're lucky) I will update once more before I hit the sack. I have a bit of ranting to do, re: Truckers
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6:53pm
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Oh my blog...my sister is so cute...here I am thinking "How on earth am I going to eat this lasagne with no utensils?"..."with my hands?" Luckily I looked in the lasagne bag she packed for me before I went galavanting off to find a fork, spork or stick to eat it with. Needless to say...she packed some plastic forks, and not only that, some napkins, granola bars and even animal crackers...not the little red boxes, but still... What a gal, my brother in law is one lucky guy. I should have known she'd have the foresight to predict I'd need utensils, and animal crackers.
Thanks again everyone for reading, and caring...this blog has definitely given me a connection to all the folks back home who are interested in my progress...or blogress if I could be so repetitive.
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9:32pm
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Repetitive. Ok I gotta go to bed soon but let's take a moment to applaud all the filthy truckers out there.
"Mother Truckers"
Alrighty then. Hoorah! So I'm driving along dealing with these dirty and devilish delivery demons speeding past me all the way down Rte 81. This one trucker really stood out from the rest. He was head and shoulders above the dandruff, in a rig that had to have been 48 years old at least. On a good day. Which was definitely not today. I'm driving along thoroughly enjoying my trip, my music, and myself when this deadbeat comes out of nowhere behind one of those giant ultra-suburbans (you know the SUV, Supremely Useless Vehicles)(I know I have an SUV, it's actually a VSOSUV, but please don't take away from this rant) In truth, the rant isn't about the Suburban at all, it's about the lowlife trucker. Or truckers, but in this case trucker...what a mother trucker. This guy comes out from behind some suburban that shall remain less. He comes flying past me down this hill doing 160, vibrating like a whale shaped shoehorn spoon dangling haplessly from a lear jet, filth and debris wasping behind not unlike pig-pen (the one from the peanuts)(not the grateful dead one)(though the driver looked a lot like him) He comes whizzing past in all his anti-glory down the hill, into the little valley and then back up the hill on the other side. The only problem with this besides his B.O. (which I'm guessing is overpowering) is that he has to go up the hill on the other side of the valley we're all delightfully traversing. So this truck obviously has serious mechanical issues judging by the greasy slug trail it's leaving, not to mention the smoke, which I'm sure is solely responsible for any greenhouse effect we all share.
(Photo is exaggerated, his truck wasn't this nice)
So naturally, due to countless mechanical issues (and I'm sure the dizzying intellect of the driver) the truck has a hard time getting up the oncoming hill. So he slows down about 10 mph per 10 yards and starts to wheeze up the hill like a demented version of Thomas the train engine or more aptly "the little engine that couldn't" So I pass the freakin' moron going up the hill (mind you I'm minding my own business, going a steady pace of 70 the entire time because some of us aren't blithering idiots) So up the hill we go, I'm passing him now and we come to the top and I pull right after passing him and he pulls into the left lane (a truly defiant/smelly move) and passes me down the hill, leaving me once again to bask in my own vomit from the stench of the fumes coming out of the thing (I'm praying to drive by a sulfur mine at this point)(or a pig factory) So his offensive and completely offensive maneuver has one grinding fault that I will discuss shortly. Not yet, but shortly, ok, I'll discuss it now, well not right now, but soon. In fact I'll discuss it right this very moment- He passes a couple cars who are in the right lane (not wrong, but right)...(he is in the wrong lane) and the only trouble with this egghead move is that now he has to go up the inevitable hill again, and slows down as described before. Trouble is, he's in the left lane, so cars start passing him on the right, and he's stuck there, causing chaos for all involved. So I pass him on the right, come over the hill and start the whole charade over again until I finally decided to kick it into overdrive and lose him in the mini-vast expanse of my rear view mirror, which reads-
Idiots may be closer than they appear
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Monday - 2/27/06
3:28pm
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Well I was going to leave this morning in a westward direction but the forecast for the Pittsburgh area was for snow and ice. I went with my gut feeling (as I have been lately) and stayed here at the hotel for another night. I'm glad I decided to stay as I was watching the weather channel earlier and they said there were numerous accidents and a few of the routes in the area were closed for a few hours for the very same reason. The highways in this area are quite curvy. Weaving through the mountains up and down. Just traversing them in fair weather yesterday with my VSO loaded up was a little unnerving. So instead I slept in, or more like took a nap a little while after I initially woke up. I was exhausted, and still am a little. I haven't got much sleep due to the excitement of this whole ordeal and am looking forward to sleeping like a rock tonight. Tomorrow I plan to get up early and pack VSO in my truck (more on that later)(another reason I'm glad I stayed) and I will try to make it to St. Louis where I have a place to stay with friends of friends, (or friends of relatives really) for a night or even longer if I want. This person used to be my cousin's big brother in his younger years and I believe was a minister at one point. He graciously offered me a warm bed despite the fact we've never met. I am really astonished at how helpful people have been. My family and friends have really been there for me and I hope they know how much I appreciate it. Mapquest informed me that the drive from my hotel to St. Louis will be roughly 10 hours, which is a long drive, but I'm up for it having been relaxing for a bit now. The drive will be a lot better as I'll be through the mountains a little further west and its a gradual downhill from there, or at least flat into corn country. It may be a boring drive, not too much to look at. I remember having been in the area on vacation with my family visiting relatives in Michigan. It was pretty endless...farms and fields for as far as the eye could see.
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3:44pm
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How unstoppable is the VSO? Answer- Very. Did that come out right? Not sure if that's a double negative, or a double positive. I'm pretty sure, but not positive that it's a reverse double negative which simply means - leave it alone. Since I decided to stay an extra day I just had to unpack the VSO around lunchtime as it was just sitting there blinking at me, on the bed like a fair maiden in wait. The stupid thing is like an erector set, able to be reconfigured and modulated to the purpose at hand. I wanted to jam out and work on some of the scores for the folks back east (I like the way that sounds) So I set it up thinking it would be at least a moderate pain in the ass. To my surprise I set the thing up to suit my needs in about 6 minutes. No joke. Without the cumbersome light show, and the not-so-but-still-pretty-cumbersome task of setting up the PA speakers rally shaves minutes, even hours off my usual setup time. This enhances the theory I always live by- Strive for things that are way out of reach, or too much of a pain in the butt and you'll end up going further than you initially thought you could, and when you are used to doing it the hard way, anything short of that is a piece of cake. This theory applies to music, blogging, or any of life's endeavors which seem at least partially insurmountable. Back to my point, which is blog gone by now..I set up the rudimentary elements of my musical apparatus (nice) and got it to work just fine for what I wanted to do minus the fog machine, bubble machine, and silly upright hula dancing. The usual setup of the VSO involves attaching heating pipe as a stand, used to support all the lights and accessories, which does take a few minutes to set up. With the assembled assembly of pipes and clamps I have worked into the system in erector set fashion I was able to come up with the following configuration-
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If you can't make it out in the picture, I clamped my switching pads directly to my chair which worked out really well. Well within reach yet out of the way. Above all- easy to set up. This is another reason I'm glad I stayed another night here. I would never have come up with this particular configuration in the space/time continuum otherwise provided. This setup also lends itself really well for when I set up outdoors in the warmer locales, playing out of the back of my truck, which means I don't have to set up for hours to play outside, merely minutes. This is also the official beginning of "the chair" concept which involves mounting VariOuS (close enough) things to the chair. Triggers, sensors, feelers, wheelers, dealers all will be incorporated with a reckless abandon, or more accurately an intuitive vigor. I was able to set it all up and play through the headphones and finish a few odd score pieces needed for the folks back east. (God I love that) After that I wailed out for awhile. I'm glad room service didn't pop in, I was making some pretty obscure guitar faces after a solid week of not playing. My feet are cold...I'm going to the pool. Gotta love that too.
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9:02pm
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Ok I gotta go to bed soon but I wanted to take the time for another odd-servation. This hotel I'm at is apparently hosting a convention [possibly] called- PWLTCRFHAAT, or People Who Leave Their Cars Running For Hours At A Time. Days even, and this isn't even a Days-Inn even. When I arrived Sunday night there was a Jeep Cherokee sitting outside the side door running. For hours...sorry, Four hours. 4 hours I unloaded the VSO and it was sitting there idling. (the Jeep not the VSO)(that was idle)(or Idol more like. When I went out for dinner it was in the same spot running. Then later on when I went out to my truck to get something it had been turned off. I thought it had run out of refined and chemically altered naturally occurring microorganisms from billions of years ago (gas) but this morning I went out and it was sitting there running again. When I got back from lunch/getting gas/checking my tire pressure (how responsible am I) it was still running. Whoever owned it must have fueled it up down the street only to park it in the same spot sitting there running once more. This Jeep isn't the main offender to our environment. The real culprit in this case is the "Fun Tours" tour bus outside my room.
This piece of crap has been running for days. Seriously. Every single time I go outside it's sitting...idle. Is this cost effective? Does it really need to be kept warm by continuous idling? Is the driver in there waiting as the passengers vacation for a couple days at the hotel? Wouldn't it be cheaper to get a room? Did someone just forget to shut it down? Should I go turn it off? I can't figure this one out. I want to climb aboard the bus and ask the schmoe in charge just what the deal is. I guess it's not hurting anyone but it seems completely unnecessary. Ok I'm too tired for this...
I hate winter. Actually I love it. You might say it's a glove/hat relationship.
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Tuesday - 2/28/06
5:59am
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