Beyond the Road Blocks to the West

After the blizzard/closed interstate in Wyoming and the break-in in Idaho (which we wrote about here), we considered turning around and going back home. But instead, we continued on, and the second part of our Northwest tour went quite well. We especially enjoyed our stop in Pendleton, OR.

The day had been long—woken up at 6 a.m. by the motel front desk clerk, talking to police officers and insurance companies, waiting to get a new window in the van, and then driving to Oregon. As we showed up at a wine bar called The Great Pacific in Pendleton, we were greeted with warm hospitality. It was exactly what we needed after the drama that had surrounded our recent days. Pendleton is a rodeo town, known for the Pendleton Round-Up, which is in its 100^th year. We even met a man at our show who used to ride bulls in the rodeo!

Seattle and surrounding areas were green and flowering, as always. That is certainly one of our favorite parts of this country. After several shows in Washington, we made our way home through Montana and North Dakota. Our show at Rhombus Guys Pizza in Grand Forks, ND, left us with some entertaining stories. Perhaps our favorite is of a guy we’ll call Visor Bro (you know, visor, spiky hair, board shorts).

Every level of Rhombus Guys, including the rooftop deck where we played, was packed. Since no tables were available, we were eating pizza at the bar. Directly in front of us was a poster for the show that included our picture. A couple girls came and sat to the right of Nic; Visor Bro and another guy stood behind them. They were having drinks while waiting for a table to open up. Pointing at the You & Yourn poster, Visor Bro said, “Look at that guy. He doesn’t even look like he could hold a guitar.” The bartender responded with, “Umm…they’re sitting right next to you.” Of course, at that point Visor Bro began to backpedal. “Well…you don’t look that small in person,” he said. Too funny.

We were also left wondering if ska and skanking are making a comeback. At our show in Bellevue, WA, we saw kids skanking, and then in Missoula, MT, we played with a ska punk band. Makes ya wonder…

Skank train!

Taylor | MySpace Video

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