Seattle to San Jose: We’re really doing this!
Today is a normal-ish day. We’re back in Lakewood, and it feels novel after three weeks on the road to be back in a home, listening to the sound of the dishwasher, which I loaded with dirty dishes from meals which I made. We’ve spent the last 3 weeks on the road, pursuing this new life we’re still figuring out, and it’s amazing to me how quickly it feels like the new normal to me. Here’s a brief recap:
Boise, ID
We couchsurfed with Kent, a great host who has so much amazing art around the house, great stories to tell, and a love for South America and its people that is a bit contagious. We have new ideas about Peru now, and between this and our upcoming Mexico trip, I’ve downloaded a Spanish-learning app and have been practicing as mucho as possible.
And, since we are embarking on a year where everyone else’s living room is our home away from home, he sold us our first on-the-road purchase which we’ve dubbed “the magic carpet”, a 4’x4′ handmade rug imported from Iran (Kent does this), the proceeds of which go toward supporting a scholarship fund for kids in need in Lima, Peru.
The Magic Carpet debuts in Seattle! (Photo: Jeff Simpson)
It will serve as our stage rug and be our constant as we move around the country to various stages and living rooms this spring and summer, always a reminder of both a huge and very small world.
Walla Walla, WA
Randy in front of the Kirkman House Museum, Walla Walla, WA.
We stopped for the night in Walla Walla, and wandered around a bit looking for a bite, and took a look at the Kirkman House. We know, they misspelled Randy’s last name.
On our way back, we encountered Felicia and Joshua on the sidewalk, who asked us if they could pray for us about anything. Normally, this is the kind of thing I just say “no thanks” to and walk away from. I don’t know why I do that. Who can’t use prayer?
Since it’s our year of yes, this time, we decided to say YES. We said, sure! We just quit jobs, sold our house, lost our dog, and decided to do music for a living in middle age. I think we could use some prayer! They prayed with us and we went for pizza with them. They turned out to be really cool people and we had an easy conversation with them for a couple hours.
Seattle, WA
So much fun at Sarah’s house and no way to write down what it meant to reconnect with her. She’s awesome. We ate seafood, saw the ocean, got some amazing pastries at Pike Place, caught up on 35 years of not seeing each other. and generally had a bang up time of a kickoff house concert! One of us may or may not have stolen clover from Kurt Cobain’s former home to decorate the stage and eventually replant. Ahem.
…and as happens at every concert, afterwards, Randy went to talk with one of the older guests who tells him her grandson is in a band. Awwww…but only in Seattle is the follow up line, “Have you heard of THE Death Cab for Cutie?” Yep, Chris Walla’s grandma was at our show!
OREGON
In Portland, we saw old friends that took us back to the days of recording Too Much Plenty in 1999. Rachel & Eric, our “landlords” during our month or recording, Tim, our producer, and Bob, our drummer for that project, and many more. We really like Portland! A short-notice house concert was put together by Rachel and her niece, and I can’t get over these great chairs. The only thing better was that they filled up!
How great to be with family on Easter. We visited a sister in Sisters, a cousin in Bend, and saw friends we met in Turkey last year at their Bend home as well. On 3 days’ notice, they even put an impromptu house concert together and we had a full house and a wonderful time. Family in the first two rows made it even sweeter.
with our grandniece in Oregon
Great to see our nieces in Oregon over Easter
CALIFORNIA
In California, we had a couple days off in the Bay Area but didn’t get around much due to Randy getting a nasty case of gout. We bought him a cane, and he hobbled around the house a bit, and we managed to make a little video for “Lay It Down,” and to invite a friend over but it was a “stay in” situation.
LAY IT DOWN (EMPTY ROOM SERIES)
By the next day, the cane wasn’t even cutting it, and we went to urgent care on our way to the San Jose show. Thank God for Instant Urgent Care in San Jose, and for our host Floyd, who had his own PA set up and ready to go when we arrived after appointments and prescriptions delayed our arrival.
We took the next day off in San Jose and Randy was a trooper on crutches at the beach and the guitar shop (he can usually rally for that).
The drive home…
The drive home was a scenic, uneventful blur of Matrix surface noise, Ziploc ice bags on swollen ankles (Randy), Subway sandwiches, and looming to-do lists. We enjoyed conversation with each other, and learned that there’s a great little coffee shop in Cedar City, Utah if you don’t mind a sidetrack from the highway, and that Green River, Utah is straight out of a Tarantino film without a good soundtrack to buffer the bleakness.
Somewhere around sundown, we pulled into the cul-de-sac and resumed “normalcy,” at least for a couple weeks. There is much to do–but we are up for the task. (Well, I am. Randy is still on Vicodin, but he will be.) We’re really doing this, and we couldn’t be more excited.
