Tour Diary – Albuquerque, NM (June 20, 2010)
(Jason Lent has forsaken the island paradise of Hawaii to follow us around for a few months. I have happily placed the tour diary in his capable hands. It should bring a new perspective to our ramblings.)
I woke up in the backseat of the car in a truck stop somewhere in west Texas. I pointed the car down the asphalt artery cutting through the wasteland and set my sights on the horizon. The low standing shrubbery stretched to distant hills on both sides. Cutting north from I-10, the roads passed abandoned junctions where cinderblock shells and rusted metal trucks slept forever under an intense sun. At some of these junctions, a few well-kept homes would be visible off the road but there were no signs of life. Plans to spend the night in Roswell, NM were abandoned upon arrival. The sign at the bank put the temperature at 103 degrees but it actually felt much warmer. The GPS told me that Albuquerque was 200 more miles up the road. I decided to push on after a hilarious hour spent at the UFO Museum where most of the exhibits look like science projects done by 8th graders. I loved it. With the end of the tour in sight, I’ve been listening to ‘200 More Miles’ more and more. The spirit of the song has taken on new meaning as I push towards 12,000 miles of driving since the tour started in March. When it was written, the band was still driving themselves from show to show and I’m sure they spent some nights sleeping in the car like I did last night. It was their dream, their adventure. I know that feeling now. The venue tonight was a large, beautiful sounding theater. The audience was superb. A three-song encore wrapped an excellent night of music in a charming town.
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