We are back home from Canada and so happy to be home. Reflecting on the whole thing, we had our good times and our bad times.
First the bad: We made a lot of money but we spent a lot of money- so we pretty much broke even. We also got stressed, overworked, and killed one of our cars.
The good: We have established ourselves as musicians! We both feel much more confident about our music and art, Amber is singing out louder and stronger. We wrote somewhere around 6 powerful folk songs that we are proud of and excited about. We have developed our own unique style. Amber has found a beer she likes - which is news because she hates beer - she discovered that she enjoys St. Andres Bohemian Style Lager. We also have new names - I'm Uni, and Amber is Indigo - these serve both as stage names and as names that we have given ourselves to signify our rebirth/growth as artists. I think most importantly, we left here feeling like amatuer kids "still learning" and came back real musicians and now since we feel that way, and put off that vibe we are automatically reguarded as such by others.
We have done a lot of visiting here in Ohio. Everyone is happy to visit with us but also no one is too excited to hear about our antics. Mansfield is still a drag, just like when we left. And it seems some family members wish I would get an engineering job and we would settle down, get a house, have a kid, white picket fence, etc. I don't think they quite understand us. Or want to. Whatever- we're quite happy in our bohemian-style instability. And even so it was nice to see everybody.
Oh and we also did a lot of visiting with Brandon. Such a cool kid. We always love talking to him.
The whole Canada thing also gave us a puh to want to go back to West Virginia, finally, where Lori and Robert have just bought a building. Long ago when we first heard their idea of buying a building, we were a little afraid and favored just vending out of a tent at festivals only, but we have since let go of those reservations and we are preparing to put everything into this. Now we will have a location in a building and tents so we can do both. We will all be living in the building, and working in the building, and playing in the building. So very fantastic!
Well as soon as we get our pay check we will be paying some bills and hitting the road again. West Virginia here we come!
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Ode to Abner (and how we got home)
After a hard winter in Canada we have returned to Ohio!
Windsor to Toronto:
We left Windsor headed toward Toronto with a half a tank of gas and $7. About halfway between Windsor and Toronto (Woodstock maybe?) Abner the stationwagon began sputtering and smoking. We were not close enough to have it towed back to Toronto or to Ohio. After a couple hours of freaking out on the side of the highway in the freezing cold, we decided to have it towed to the nearest gas station and check the fluids. Used my check card to buy 2 quarts trans fluid and 3 quarts oil and $20 of gas even though i was pretty sure there was no money in my account. Fingers crossed, we jumped right back onto the road and made it back to Toronto... very slowly.
Stayed in Toronto for a few days to rest, admired the city, and went to open stage at ren cafe to play some originals we wrote, but list was full. Decided to wing it and try to drive Abner the station wagon back home to Ohio. Got paid too.
Toronto to Ohio:
Packed the car full to the brim. Bought extra oil and trans fluid, dozen doughnuts from Coffee Time. Made it all the way to the border: no car trouble! Got hasseled at the border about all the 'stuff' we had packed in there. Apparently we should have checked our laptops and stuff with customs? whatever. They eventually gave up and let us by. Into New York (yay!) transmission began slipping and started smoking (boo.) Began pouring it out just as fast as I poured it in, so we would drive for 15 min, then it would smoke, and we'd stop for a half hour to let the trans cool.
This carried on all through New York and Pennsylvania, and into Ohio. Finally, outside of Cleveland, we began to feel sick from the fumes, and it was breaking down about every 5 miles. To add to the situation, the engine cooling fan stopped working and it began to rain. We called a tow truck to get us the rest of the way to Crestline and much to our delight we made it under our towing limit by 2.4 miles! :)
Abner is past due for a retirement. Love that car, and Amber and I have a feeling it was just holding on for us. Kind of like it was running supernaturally. We put somewhere around 6000 miles (we think) on it since we recieved it for free. Well anyways, here's to Abner! Whether we were sleeping in the back, writing and drawing on all the interior with markers, hauling our guitars around, cussing and smacking the dash board because the dam thing stalled everytime a stop light turned green, or recklessly choosing to drive it for another 2000 miles on another crazy risky trip after claiming it was ready to be junked (over and over again). Goodbye Abner the stationwagon! You'll be missed!!
Windsor to Toronto:
We left Windsor headed toward Toronto with a half a tank of gas and $7. About halfway between Windsor and Toronto (Woodstock maybe?) Abner the stationwagon began sputtering and smoking. We were not close enough to have it towed back to Toronto or to Ohio. After a couple hours of freaking out on the side of the highway in the freezing cold, we decided to have it towed to the nearest gas station and check the fluids. Used my check card to buy 2 quarts trans fluid and 3 quarts oil and $20 of gas even though i was pretty sure there was no money in my account. Fingers crossed, we jumped right back onto the road and made it back to Toronto... very slowly.
Stayed in Toronto for a few days to rest, admired the city, and went to open stage at ren cafe to play some originals we wrote, but list was full. Decided to wing it and try to drive Abner the station wagon back home to Ohio. Got paid too.
Toronto to Ohio:
Packed the car full to the brim. Bought extra oil and trans fluid, dozen doughnuts from Coffee Time. Made it all the way to the border: no car trouble! Got hasseled at the border about all the 'stuff' we had packed in there. Apparently we should have checked our laptops and stuff with customs? whatever. They eventually gave up and let us by. Into New York (yay!) transmission began slipping and started smoking (boo.) Began pouring it out just as fast as I poured it in, so we would drive for 15 min, then it would smoke, and we'd stop for a half hour to let the trans cool.
This carried on all through New York and Pennsylvania, and into Ohio. Finally, outside of Cleveland, we began to feel sick from the fumes, and it was breaking down about every 5 miles. To add to the situation, the engine cooling fan stopped working and it began to rain. We called a tow truck to get us the rest of the way to Crestline and much to our delight we made it under our towing limit by 2.4 miles! :)
Abner is past due for a retirement. Love that car, and Amber and I have a feeling it was just holding on for us. Kind of like it was running supernaturally. We put somewhere around 6000 miles (we think) on it since we recieved it for free. Well anyways, here's to Abner! Whether we were sleeping in the back, writing and drawing on all the interior with markers, hauling our guitars around, cussing and smacking the dash board because the dam thing stalled everytime a stop light turned green, or recklessly choosing to drive it for another 2000 miles on another crazy risky trip after claiming it was ready to be junked (over and over again). Goodbye Abner the stationwagon! You'll be missed!!
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