On the road you develop a certain preservation mentality. My ears become attuned to my car. "Was it making that sound yesterday?"
When we got dinner in Connecticut at China Pan (omnom), on Friday, It had started to make this hollow clicking noise. Really, it sounded more like a mac truck than my bubaloo car. It hadn't overheated yet, so we turned the music up and kept going (in my mind, overheating is a sure sign of a breakdown, everything else is just the prologue).
We took the long way to Philadelphia: down I-287 and then U.S. Highway 202. It was pouring rain. We thought for sure we'd miss our show. We were playing a Haiti Benefit at Haverford High. When we got there, our friend Tim Sweeney met us outside and helped us run all of our equipment in.
Tyler would say to me the next day, "I still find it incredible that anyone could like us." We played the best set that we could after 8 long hours in the car with no time to stretch our legs. Still, afterwards, a bunch of people came to talk to us, buy our tee-shirts and our music.
We stayed the night a Tim's house.
In the morning I looked up auto mechanics on Superpages and found a place called Fay Auto Repair that had gotten really good reviews. I called ahead, explaining that we were just passing through and were worried about a sound my car was making. They told us to come right in.
It was a quick diagnoses, my ac compressor was corroded, and in the process of breaking. When it broke, it would break my belt and I'd loose all power to the engine. He estimated a new ac compressor would be about 1,000 dollars. I was beginning to accept the fact that our tour might not become a reality.
I was considering calling my dad when they proposed another solution. They told me they could reroute the serpentine belt so that it left out the ac compressor. I would loose my ac, but we could keep driving. Also, it was a 100 dollar fix. They were the nicest, and totally saved our tour.
By the time we got to Baltimore, the rain had subsided and blue skies were breaking through the clouds. I was elated, hoping we could avoid more rain and wet feet (we hadn't really packed properly).
We drove to Scott's house were he had cooked a vegan burrito masterpiece. He made saitan, which takes a real long time, TVP, a lime creme, and veggies. They were so yummy! Also we hung out with his dog, Dash, who is gigantic and adorable.
I have a better picture on my for-realsies camera. I'll upload it when I get home. He is seriously the biggest dog I have ever met.
The show at Scott's was awesome. Everyone who comes here is so supportive. I love to think that I can be so far from home and people are doing the same thing we're doing back in Lowell. Music is such a powerful tool that brings people together. We're the luckiest people in the world to be networking with the U.S.'s finest.
We played with Jawesomesaurus Rex (Scott's band), Boomstick, and Factors of Four (our best-band-friends).
Its 10:45 in the morning. Tim and Tyler are sleeping around me, Naomi is on the couch. We'll be on the road again pretty soon, headed to North Carolina. I'll be sad to leave Scott's, and to say goodbye to Naomi and Tim. But we still have miles and miles to go!
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