Saw the Beastie Boys last night at the Wiltern. Show was off the hook and pretty crazy (meth in effect nearby). Mixed crowd, very few LA poseurs (they were on hiatus). Basically instrumental set (no words, but played with real instruments). Closed with a couple hits and a monster ‘Sabotage’. Hung with Vince and his friend Rick, good times. Props to Jenny for the shot above.
Ok, so I departed Albuquerque and all seemed fine. Flagstaff for gas, again all according to Hoyle. Roll into Laughlin and the trouble begins. I check into the Golden Nugget, no n/s rooms. I can deal. Bed is a foam pad, pillows suck, lotsa poolside noise, again, I can deal. Flip on the A/C and it starts pumping out hot air, controls are set to cool, adjustments are made, still hot. GN staff can’t move me to another room, can’t send someone up to repair or look at it. Basically after that it’s a blur. I checked out immediately and drove out of town, total time spent – 1/2 hour. Drove back to Arcadia that night setting a new personal one-day driving record of 762 miles. Needless to say I plan to rip the GN a new one in letter-form.
Not much to report on the drive from Golden to Albuquerque. Nice scenery but not alot of actual human activity except for almost getting hit head-on by a car carrier. Got the first rain of the trip and used a ton of cel minutes. Other than that, a very basic day with no real news. Here’s a picture of the sky:
Note: I’ve reclassified all the Road Trip posts under the new Road Trip tag.
By far the busiest single day of the trip. Started off with a 357 mile drive from Hays, KS. Rolled into Golden and did the Coors Brewery Tour. After having just done the Anheuser-Busch tour, I had something to compare it to pretty easy. Coors doesn’t seem to go for the tradition and style as much, basically saying “This is our brewery, this is how we make beer.”
After I checked into my hotel, The Golden Hotel, I drove a few miles down the road to Red Rocks Amphitheatre to see Rush for the 2nd time this tour. Red Rocks is a great spot for a show, very scenic and very big. It’s basically a Greek Theatre with rocks instead of trees and about twice the size. There was a little walk and a tremendous amount of stairs to climb, possibly the most stairs I’ve ever climbed before in one shot, but it didn’t kill me.
Rush was on their game as before in WPB, many of the hits, still many new songs as well. Again, a long-ass intermission, but no opener, so that was good. For the first time, I cut out on the encore (Passage to Bangkok, YYZ) to get a headstart on the stairs and beat traffic…it really paid off as there’s only one single lane out. Show was good though and if there’s a date left, they should be checked out.
Tomorrow, Albuquerque and a much deserved rest…
I got a ‘C’ in Math 103 thus ending my soap-opera-like run through college math. Over the course of the summer I averaged a B- in both College Algebra and Intro to Prob/Stat (Finite Math).
That is all.
Rolled into Hays this evening, not really much of a town. I’ve been to small towns and this is really just a street, very much like Lordsburg, NM. Basically just here to have a few motels (I’m in a Best Western), a McD’s, a couple mom&pop joints and not much else.
Tomorrow: Golden, Colorado for the Coors Brewery Tour & Rush at Red Rocks…
Rolled into STL Sunday afternoon around 4. Got fresh and went out to Kirkwood for a nice visit with Anne, Jack and Blake (cousins). Fell asleep watching F1 Sunday night. Monday, slept in to about noon (first good sleep in over a week). Hung out a bit then went down to the Anheuser-Busch brewery tour. Did the tour, took several pictures (see Flickr feed). After that, went straight back to the hotel, let the valet take the car, then over to Busch Stadium for Padres-Cardinals. With a gametime temp of 96 degrees, I spent most of the first 6 innings in the Padres tv truck (oh sweet air-conditioning) getting reacclimated to a work environment. I found my seat for the last 1/3 of the game or so, it was interesting. I wouldn’t really be a good ballpark tourist ’cause I’m always at one and if it’s not Fenway, the game doesn’t interest me too much. Tomorrow, Kansas…
Got to Chat a little late, so no sightseeing to really do. I guess I’ll have to catch the Choo Choo at another time. Planned a little more for next year’s US Tour, pushed it to 28 days with the additions of WI, MN, ND & MT – should be epic (LA to Miami in May, Miami to NYC to Chicago to Seattle to LA in August). I know how you kids love the pictures, so here’s the Dames Point Bridge just outside of Jacksonville (crosses over the St. John’s River). It’s one of only two bridges in the country that uses the harp arrangement for it’s stays:
Now see, doesn’t it feel like you’ve learned something today? Tomorrow and Monday, St. Louis…
Basically the 2nd largest golf resort in the world. I won’t see much of it and really I just wanna get to bed for my exciting diagonal bisection of Georgia tomorrow. No pictures, nothing really left in Florida to capture.
The before.
I have accumulated some stuff additional to what I brought over in May, let’s see how it all works out for the Trip Back. For now, though, it’s a wide open canvas upon which I can paint my crap into Thursday morning.
