So Tuesday was a long day in the bus. Left Chicago early in the AM and eventually made it into Greensboro late this evening. Because of the venue we can’t park on the premises until tomorrow so we are parked in a lot until then. Mark and I noticed a BBQ restaurant right across from where we are parked. The place smelled awesome. I looked them up online and they specialize in pork bbq. So looks like we are hitting that place up tomorrow. While we was in Chicago we couldn’t book tickets for Medieval Times because their website said not available so that was out of the question. We did end up going to the Willis Tower and to the Skydeck to see the views. You can see about 30 miles from up there. Its awesome. I snapped a few pics and finally was able to step out onto the glass extensions. Kinda felt like I was skydiving for a brief moment because you look down and your basically standing on this thick plate of glass. No worries though they are supposed to withstand tons of weight. After that we made our way north of the tower and headed to the famous Kuma’s. I must say the burgers there are fucking amazing. AMAZING!! I had a Kuma burger which if you have ever been to Red Robin Burgers its kinda the same idea. Got an egg on it. Mark, who is the bus driver, insisted we grab a few for the road. So we each bought two burgers a piece for the road. That ended up being tonights dinner. We just put them in the toaster oven and BAM! Kuma Burgers in Greensboro.
I guess you could call you pigs. We stopped just east and outside of Knoxville at Outback Steakhouse. We each had the Outback Special with a salad. For me actually an Outback Special with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a house salad with honey mustard dressing. Of course their famous delicious bread. Mark basically had the same but he had green beans and a dry salad. I just cant eat much salad without some kind of dressing lol. So anyways, it was basically a 12 hour day give or take. We went through Asheville where I found out about this sweet little tiny house thats available for rent like a hotel room. Its pretty nice actually. I went to the website and its really nice. I could totally live in something that small. Basically its a kitchen, living room, bathroom, small area for dining and a sleeping loft. In fact I think it had two upstairs sleeping lofts. Really nice though. Its the simplicity of it all!
After we had our show Portland and Tacoma we headed east with a nice 5 days off and Mark and I decided lets hit up Glacier National Park. Oh man let me tell you, the campgrounds there was fucking amazing. The views….amazing. I mean I could take a tiny house like I mentioned above and just live there by the water with the pine trees and mountains in view. I’ve always loved scenic views and the trips I have taken by motorcycle have been stellar. So it was no question that we would enjoy this stop. After our visit here we had to hit up Fargo North Dakota and then two shows in St Paul Minnesota. Work work!!
Mark is one cool guy. He is kinda like a father figure. He just entered his 60s. He is this goofy white guy. He has a story though. Not to get into details but basically his son died years ago in work related accident and his wife left him because of it. He had stopped driving tour buses and then later decided to get back in. He has driven for me about 6 times. So it was really cool to have a driver that I already knew. He’s the guy that says, “fuck it brotha lets buy some hookah, grill some steaks and down some beer.” LOL Well, we found some e-hookah cigs at a Pilot Travel Center so we bought a few. I got a pomegranate one because well I love the taste. I will tell ya, tastes pretty similar to hookah and there was much more vapor than i get from my Blu e-cigs. Im not a big smoker but I do like to puff so for me Blu is just fine. I know others that will religiously say that there are others much better. Im sure there are but hey im fine with what I got.
So yeah when we stopped at Glacier we had stopped at a grocery store and bought some porterhouse steaks to grill. Where our luggage bay is we have a pullout bbq grill. Yeah the joys of living on a luxury coach! lol Basically we forgot to get spices so when we stopped at a travel center we decided to pick up some spices. Most people will vow that salt and pepper is all you need but Mark and I are the same. We like to add spices to our dead cow. SOOOO we grabbed a bottle of Lawrys All Seasoning and a bottle of McCormick GrillMates Montreal Steak Seasoning. We grilled up them fuckers and damn they were good. I had bought some beer out in CA, Portland and Tacoma. I had earlier bought a bottle of The Reverend Quadruple Ale and that shit is delicious. Loved it! Sadly I only bought one and couldnt find more. Cool thing was I had 4 bottles of Ballast Point Big Eye IPA. One of my favorite IPAs from CA. The pairing of that IPA with the steak and the salad was pretty good. Mark had made this awesome cucumber salad. Was delish.
Its pretty nice to have a bus to myself. Before Mark and I both have had a trailer to transport two motorcycles for short rides on days off. We didnt have one this time but its nice to have them when we do. I remember when I always wondered what it was like to ride on days off like Neil Peart and when we finally had the chance to do so it was amazing. Hitting up the roads most wouldnt think. Shunpikers as Neil calls him and his riding buddies. Basically its what you call motorcyclists that hit up roads other than the main freeways and highways. Thats where you really see smalltown America. Getting back to the bus though. Its pretty nice to have a quiet place to dwell. The humming of the generators actually is a pleasant sound to me. Im one of those people that needs sound to sleep and just feel safe. yeah yeah im crazy. We have a conversion coach that has a back sleeper where the lounge would normally sleep. I sleep there. Mark had told me the sofa actually pulls out to a bed even though there are a few bunks. He sleeps on the pull out. We have a pretty nice bus. Its new. It was actually used by a famous female singer in the recent past. The interior is black and red. Kind of fitting for Taylor Swifts Red Tour lol. Has pull out extensions and all. It was a nice change though in Chicago to actually stay in a hotel rather than the bus for a change. I think in the music biz no matter how much you feel comfortable in a bus you still want the comforts of having a normal bed to sleep in; a normal shower; basically a normal place to be….normal! If that makes sense to you!
We spent a few days in St Paul. I have a friend there. Her daughter won tickets to the show but I wasnt sure if she was going with her or if she was taking a friend. I guess the latter. I didn’t see them but then again its not like I was looking for them. She is an adult but you know…I dont really meet up with people unless I know them well. Thats just me! One funny thing I wanted to mention was that I decided to wear my LA Kings jersey in the home of the MN Wild….Oh yeah I got funny stares! Oh well! GO KINGS GO! We won the Stanley Cup in 2012 so yeah its all good!
So really thats about it lately. Been watching The Trailer Park Boys seasons on Netflix. I love that show. Right now im on season 6. There are 7 complete seasons right now and just recently i found out that they are reprising their roles and will have a season 8 but will be a webcast type of show. Thats cool. I really cant ever get enough of Ricky’s bullshit antics and anger issues…..Bubbles and his never-ending supply of cats and well….Julian who always carries around a glass of rum and looks like my cousins husband. lol.
Well ill write more soon. im off to bed.
As Katie Linendoll says:
Chowski!
Like this:
Like Loading...
....................................Gilstram 