http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Croistoir/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Croistoir en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:51:06 BST Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:51:06 BST It would appear that we hit Florida in time for monsoon season. All the way to Miami we ran into heavy downpours off and on. It would rain for 20 minutes and we'd have to slow down to around 30 mph then it would stop and everyone would speed up again. The temperature inside the bus when we closed the widows for the rain stiffling and the constantopen the windows close the windows was getting o http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-186333.html There wasn't really much to see in Jacksonville. Our arrival was early so we wandered town as per usual. We found a privately owned coffee shop and hit the internet for a bit before starting to the club. This was on of the shows that we were concerned about but it turned out alright. The crowd was small but both bands sold a decent amount of CDs and shirts. In the morning we had to make another st http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Jacksonville/blog-186314.html A short drive out of Baltimore and we were in Charlottesville NC. This club has a regular goth night on Saturday so we were hoping for a good turnout. Shortly after beginning our set up someone gave me my package from Jennifer. It was a card some clean shirts and snacky things for the road. It was really nice getting something from home. The time away from her is starting to wear on me. I read t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Charlottesville/blog-186304.html BaltimoreChristoph Hall I have to say I find Baltimore a rather odd city. Ada whom we stayed with is the sister of V from Apocalypse Theater a band that Brian plays with on occasion. We were told that a package had been delivered to the club for High Blue Star and that when they made a first delivery attempt there was no one around to accept it so it would be delivered in the morning. we all ki http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maryland/Baltimore/blog-184871.html We have had good luck in the Triangle Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill in the past but this time was different. We had a pretty small turn out hopefully due to the fact that it was 97 degrees and school was out for summer. It was an early arrival as usual so we found ourselves at a local coffee shop. It was a nice place that brewed your coffee to order using French presses. Brian like all of us http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Chapel-Hill/blog-184843.html norfolkChristoph Hall The whole group enjoyed Norfolk VA. Brandon and Rhianon were great hosts and a really cute couple as well. We needed internet so Brandon drove us to Panera bread for coffee and interweb. Brian needed to see if he could find parts to fix the AC but found that it would be just too much work to be doing on the road. Aside from that he would need to take it to a shop to remove th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Norfolk/blog-184840.html rhode islandChristoph HallI've been trying once again to keep up with blogging but there isn't a lot of time to do so. I usually write them in Notepad and then cut and paste them when I can get internet. Even then it can be difficult as everyone needs to check their email etc.. Driving to Providence from NYC was pretty painless and were still driving on the vegoil that we picked up in that small http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Rhode-Island/Providence/blog-184773.html We woke up early to get to the club in the East village by 2pm for loadin. Remarkably the drive in wasn't that bad and we were fortunate to find parking right in front of the doors without driving around forever. After parking we found out that they had moved loadin back to 6pm so we kept feeding the meter until 10pm. The meter time and the real time didn't sync. For 1 hours worth of coins we g http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-183098.html NYChristoph Hall Dusk in Northwestern Pennsylvania is beautiful. The skies were painted pink by the sun on a white and grey pallet of storm clouds rising miles into the sky. We drove under clear skies as the storm slipped off to the north. I've seen a good portion of Pennsylvania and really enjoy it. After the wallet incident last night everyone could breath easy. I stayed outside late last night http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/Niagara-Falls/blog-182934.html The Pittsburgh show was excellent. I really like this town and everyone we met was really cool. This stop has been pretty busy for a couple of days off and we all enjoyed it. The Rex theatre on the Southside is a really nice place. We sold a decent amount of merch. and bet a lot of cool people involved with Mordant Productions. I know I'm not going to remember everyones name so forgive me if I mi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Pennsylvania/Pittsburgh/blog-180634.html day 4Christoph Hall Beverage Iced coffee paying for our own beer despite the contract Word . I really enjoyed staying at Bob's house and the whole IPM radio thing. It was a lot of fun with a great bunch of people. I had to ask Bob if I could borrow a towel as I seem to have forgotten to pack mine. I can color code all my packing stuff and organize to absurdity and I still forget things. He w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Ohio/Columbus/blog-179418.html Woke up to a heavy 85 degrees this morning and had some wonderful coffee at the IPM studios In Perpetual Motion. While the crew gathered themselves Brian worked on an oil leak at a fitting tword the back of the bus. After he was finished we hit the streets looking for Vegoil. I was amazed at the stillness of the city. It is now 97 degrees and also a Sunday so I suppose it shouldn't be a surpris http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Detroit/blog-178929.html day 2Christoph Hall Word of the day Pannis Beverage of the Eve Rolling Rock Chicago After the show last night we at a friend of Martins house Pat. Parking was difficult so Brian and I stayed in the bus and the others slept in Pat's apartment. We slept for about 5 hours and went to breakfast Denver omelet and pancakes at the Hollywood Cafe before making a halfhearted attempt to find more http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Detroit/blog-178813.html Day 1Christoph Hall Tour word of the day Masturbatorium not sure how that one came about Beverage of the Evening Sierra Nevada So here we are on another tour. We have the same crew as last time Myself Brian Laurie Martin and Edward. The Nebuchadnezzar has been getting quite a workout this year touring. 20000 miles in 6 months. As seems to be the standard Brian along with his girlfrie http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Illinois/Chicago/blog-178805.html 1282006 255 PMPulling into Portland trying to find our way to the club the bus started to sputter on the ramp from one Interstate to the bridge across the river. We pushed hard all day to make it to sound check on time and now we were less than 7 miles from the club stalled on the road in rush hour traffic. We sat for a few minutes and eventually after purging the engine of vegetable oil and http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Portland/blog-111145.html 1282006 111 PMSacramento was the next stop and it was barely a stop. We rolled in about a half hour late started the routine ate some really good Mexican food they got for us and played the show. I was in this town once before and the situation sucked. I got a really weird feeling as we approached the intersection where years earlier a girlfriend of mine and me got into a car accident on th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Sacramento/blog-110696.html 1282006 1123 AMIrsquom not normally a fan of San Francisco for a number of reasons but this trip was alright. Our arrival at the club was early so we grabbed some beer and pizza slices from a place next to the club. It was Sunday evening and there really wasnrsquot anyone in the area. Eventually the club employees arrived and we started the routine unload the bus brief introductions talk http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-110688.html 1232006 354 PMWe woke up at a rest area across from a California penitentiary and found breakfast at an old caf in the village of Desert Center. It was good food and I was surprised that Martin found anything vegan. We had decided that we were going to make a pass through the Joshua Tree National Park. We paid the 15 to go through and we stayed there for about 2 hours. We were driving for ab http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-109253.html 1212006 1135 PMWe went directly to the club in Phoenix or at least that was our intention. We GPSrsquoed the club location but ended up in a strip mall parking lot next to a Michaels store and a nail salon. Martin called the promoter and asked directions. It turned out that it was about a mile south of where we were. As soon as we pulled in we started to unload the bus. Somehow we got the se http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Phoenix/blog-108153.html 11282006 353 PMToday has been pretty uneventful. Woke up at a rest area got some weird looks from the other people there and found coffee at a truck stop. Passed through a wind field with hundreds of windmills and drove by a dust devil before we found ourselves in El Paso buying filters for grease collection. Now we are at Home Depot getting some plumbing PVC to build the intake filter.11292 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Tucson/blog-107638.html