Ho.Ly. Crud.

We just crossed the PA boarder.
Ho. Ly. Crud buckets.

What a wondrous feeling.
Here is a brief recap of the days gone by.

Florida brought no alligators our way. Damn you Orlando. Damn you.
But Thanksgiving did bring us Turkeys.

We spent the night in Atlanta on Thanksgiving eve.
Knowing that we had about 11 hours of driving that we wanted to get under our belts on Thanksgiving.
The next morning, we started out with an amazingly scrumptious breakfast... full of stuffing, bread pudding, biscuits, gravy, sausages, mimosa's, coffee and veggie bacon for the pescatarians of the group **eeeaww eeawww....fingers point towards Heather**
And for those that have never seen cooked veggie bacon...
Here...


We set off with our bellies full and our hearts all a'flutter.
Our goal... Hagerstown, Maryland.

On our lazy Thanksgiving day journey we saw one of the strangest things that we thought one could see on this day.
While driving down the highway we saw a HUGE wild and fully living turkey trotting into the woods from the road. We felt like it had to be one of three things.
The turkey flipping everyone the bird (budumching) while saying... "SUCKERSS!!!!"
Second, a turkey reenactment of "Cool Hand Luke".
and the final possibility... a trap for humans... Slyly asking us to follow it into the safe and warm woods as if to promise an easy feast. But when you arrive... you are greeted by an army of turkeys and put into a pot of boiling veggies and prepared for their thanksgiving Day feast!
Turkeys 1, Humans.... well I guess we're still up...

This came from boredom along the way...





Our other mission was to find an eatery for our special meal.
Our choices were slim. But we found it. and boy was it ever fancy. Cracker Barrel.




We hope your Turkey day was as lovely and strange as ours was.
Much love to you all.
we are so very thankful for each of you.

Much love,
~JHJ

Po-Boy

I have one and only mission while driving from New Orleans to Orlando.
CATCH ME A GATOR!

Hear me out...

I will do one of these 5 things...

1.) catch and tame a gator for our live show.
2.) catch a gator on the flip video.
3.) get a picture with my head precariously inside an alligators open mouth.
4.) surf using a gator as my board.
5.) just see and alligator.

OK, OK.. some of these are more likely than others...but so help you Florida, if I don't even see one...

I do NOT want to have to settle for the taxidermied head I just saw at a rest stop. It is unfair to both me and gator.

I'm actually hoping to have captured one before the end of this blog so that I can attach a picture or a video.
We. Will. See.

On a completely different note... we love Joey Ryan and Meg & Dia. They are all the nicest.

I've said it before...being on the road with good people makes a tour what it is.
And of course it helps if you can get your groove on to the music as well.

So here it is, time to drive it home:

Get. Their. Music.

Or even better, come and see all of us live on this tour!

Most of the venues see us coming and know we mean business... they put these up as we entered.



Want some incentive?
1) We are giving away 4 free songs and "punch cards" (like coffee club cards. The more you get punched, the cooler the prize.)
2) Joey Ryan is giving away a free song if you sign up on his mailing list at the show.
3) Meg & Dia have a brand new ep out that you can only get at the shows.

That's my spiel and I'm stickin' to it.


Thank you for your kind eyes,
until we meet again,

~JHJ

p.s. HEATHER SPOTTED A GATOR!!!

The adventures continue...

Heading through West Texas, the daring 5 set off after a delicious dinner in El Paso.
Pedal to the metal, teeth glarin', tunes blarin' and all of us preparin'...for the journey ahead.

When three lanes became 2...
2 became 1...
funneled into a single and organized line.
Closer and closer to a brightly lit complex.
Men in uniform, dogs, guns, and us.

Man in uniform-
"where you coming from?"
Noah-
"umm... Scottsdale."
man-
"just the two of you?"
Noah-
"umm... no, 5 of us"
man-
"where you headin?"
Noah-
"umm... San Antonio"
Man-
"ok, you've been flagged by the dog, could you just pull over to the right up here"
Noah
"umm... sure"


We pulled over, we're told to turn off the car, take the keys out of the ignition and exit the vehicle.
We did as we were ordered.
"We are going to search the car... keep your hands out of your pockets and follow me this way"
We were all lined up. I, (Smith) feared a firing squad, but instead I starting asking really pertinent and topical questions... like.. for instance...

"Is it normally this cold at night in New Mexico?"
or...
"Do you ever get Cyotes comin' up and startin trouble with the dogs?"
or...
"Are you just a check point or do you have a truck weigh station too?" (got em with that one... they felt inadequate... we all sensed it)

The tension grew as the search continued...

...and continued...
We began to fear that something had perhaps been planted on us that we had no idea was illegal. Like a foreign fruit, or a perhaps a rare orchid that is actually used for recreational drug use.

At this point... who knew.

Then the leader of the men of men looked at us and said...

"If you could follow us this way..."

Of course we complied.

We were led into a warm building and patted down (except for Heather, who was very politely asked to empty her pockets...)
James, Noah, Joey and myself felt a lot closer to the uniformed men after that.
A lot closer.

Then we were just asked to sit on a bench and wait while they went through our van looking for aforementioned orchids.

After what seemed like an hour, we were released. Perhaps with a small security checkpoint fan base.

Don't worry about it...

until next time,
~JHJ

racing!

AND THEY'RE OFF!
The train is much longer, but we have guile, cunning and our speedy sprinter.

So there we are... barreling toward the train at a break-neck pace.
This might be the end folks!
We aren't stopping.
that train certainly wont be stopping.
chugga chugga chugga... plowing forward.
Will we clear the back of the train if we stay at our current speed?
or will we collide with a chorus of vocally produced crash sounds?!?!
closer, closer....CLOSER!

NEYOOOWWMMMEE!!! WE MADE IT over the train track over pass bridge.
but it was good to know that if we were on a collision course with a train crossing our path... we would have made it out unscathed!

Ladies and Gentlemen... you have just witnessed the birth of imaginary situation Adrenalin junkies.

Until we meet again,
~JHJ

'The True Tale of the Tail'

So this might be a long one. Buckle up my friends...
Boy, do we have a story for you. But I must start out by telling you of some amazing peeps...
We are currently touring with Joey Ryan (www.joeyryan.net) and Meg & Dia (www.meganddia.com)
So far, they have been a joy to tour with.
But let me take a second to speak about Joey, who will be joining us in Peggy Sue (new vehicles name) for the duration of the tour. We might even force him to post a blog on the Lead Said Said.
He is a wonderful musician. If you haven't heard his music, please give it a listen. He has been playing shows with one Kenneth Pattengale. This duo is a force to be reckoned with. No joke, I (JS) have not seen a live show as impressive in quite some time. If you ever get any chance in the world to catch a live show, you have my 100% recommendation!

Now, after the blatant gushing...on to the story at hand.

We played a house party at our friends house in LA so we could spend time with friends, play all sorts of music and drink....juice...

When the riotous affair was just about through and a few people were leaving...they walked past the neighbor's car and heard the most pathetic meowing of all time. These kind hearts started searching for the source of these scared noises - to no avail. Eventually they noticed a little note placed under the cars wipers. It simply read: "There is a cat in your car".

They came upstairs and got a few people for a second opinion. More people came down until the entire party had been relocated and was huddled around this car. There was definitely a traumatized cat somewhere in this car.
The car belonged to the host's neighbor...so our hosts went to their neighbors door and knocked (2:30am).

When he finally came to the door, the neighbor responded: "Yeah, when I was at the shop earlier today the mechanic said told me there was a cat stuck in there. But he couldn't find it. Sooooo."


Sooooo indeed. We were floored, but the cat still needed to be rescued! So we asked him to open his hood. He complied and the search began.

After 30 min. we realized we were going to need a professional. We called AAA and to the rescue they came! The AAA man arrived and, after some coaxing (rescuing a cat from a car is not a normal AAA task), he flew into action... unscrewing screws, bending back panels and shining flashlights into every nook and cranny the car had. After a while we got visual confirmation - we could SEE A TAIL!!!

Now we all meant business...
and as in any situation of peril ... The girls got girlier and the boys got boyie-er.
Girls awing and covering their eyes, and the boys shouting out commands, getting their heads under the car, pulling apart pieces of plastic and lots of pointing. I mean, LOTS of pointing.

Then...
Tail...
Paw...
another paw.
screaming...
meowing...
another paw...
last paw...
no head yet...
yowling...
HEAD!! (still attached... fewwww)

It was a kitten.


WE DID IT!! APPLAUSE!

It was stuck inside a compartment near the engine of the car. We have no idea how it could have possible gotten in there, but can only assume it got in there for some warmth. We took it to the vet and got it checked out.

Broken leg.
Now it has a cast.
Our hosts are going to keep it.

So now, may we introduce to you..."wheelie" (still working on the name - any suggestions??).





And that, my friends, is a happy ending of team work and tails.

~JHJ

p.s. speaking of cars... thank you to which ever lovely person gave us this lipstick love on our wind shield after the Hermosa Beach show.

Our new Vehicle

We finally found it folks.
behold, our new touring vehicle!




We wonder if people in Salt Lake City, Utah, still see the mountains?
Truly, these are some amazing mountains here.
This is where we are blogging from currently. (it's stupid how amazing technology is.)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=40.371548,-111.803058%20%28Veterans%20Memorial%20Hwy,%20American%20Fork,%20UT%2084003,%20USA%29



I suppose it might be like the skyscrapers in NYC. They never get any less amazing. I wonder if the mountains hold their glory for all its residents...

OK, so here it is... Whats the thing in your life that never loses its 'amazingness'

Heather: Seeing the clouds from above in a plane.
Noah: Going home.
Cleare: Seeing the Ocean.
Smith: How small baby's fingers are.

Yours?...

Oh yeah, and this was our breakfast... compliments of IHOP.





~JHJ

A trasnscription.

And now to start off the blogging of this tour... a transcription of the sites along this road.

white dotted lines, Fields, grain processing plant, Exit 25 Monroe, Bridge, yellow merge sign, telephone poles (and wires), silo, red barns, cars, car, cars, truck, Prairie city 7, Des Moines 33, hawk, lone tree, police car, slower moving scenery, life size wooden bear statue, hill, dip, hill, dip, water tower, mile 10, rumble strips, bird, brick house, truck for sale, army of yellow school buses, speed zone ahead, speed limit 55, Southeast Polk high school, stadium, acres for sale, red traffic light, NE 80 st, green traffic light, mile 7, Key stone savings bank, more road, Jack Miller Christmas Trees, Deery Brothers Chevrolet.

Thrilled yet?
Thought you'd like that...
good bye for now.

~JHJ

p.s. Cleare was in a terrible accident.