Not playing too many shows in the next little bit, but I will be up to Edmonton, back to Calgary, and then up to Yellowknife. SOSFest, Calgary Stampede, and then Folk on the Rocks.

That’s all I really have to say today. I hope that you are having a great day, and I encourage you to spend some time with someone special.

Far out,
Michael

Favorite Hotel: Hotel Le Crystal
Run away from: Thunder Bay Travelodge

The tour also showed me that I am incredible at reversing the van and trailer. We had some tricky spots to back into and I moved the vehicle like a seasoned big rig driver. Pretty stoked. Back up plan! Literally.

After Saskatoon we were back in Calgary for 4 days and then I left on an American road trip. On the first night I saw beautiful Beaver, Utah. For the record there is nothing in Beaver. Also be careful when ordering salads at Wendy’s. I wish that it never happened. Oh Beaver… Why would I choose the taco salad? Don’t do it. From Beaver I headed to the Grand Canyon for lunch and arrived in Phoenix in time to see my little brother play sax at a talent show. The Canyon was amazing, I recommend it to anyone.

I spent a week in Phoenix and then left for Palm Springs. Thanks to facebook I ran into some friends vacationing there and we had a great time. Great food. Great pool. From Palm Springs I drove two hours to LA. The LA trip was great; got to spend time with some great people. Went for a bike ride along Venice beach and had delicious french toast in Hollywood. Bakersfield was next. I stayed with a friend from junior high school, had sushi and Baskin Robbins. Watched Turner and Hooch – great work Mr Tom Hanks.

San Fransisco was the next stop, stayed there for two days. My new parking garage friend Jose parked the van and I saw the city on foot. Walked the pier, walked to the golden gate bridge, through the park, and took in an Alcatraz tour. Alcatraz was surreal, I didn’t think I would enjoy the tour as much as I did. Randomly ran into some great friends from Calgary on the pier and had a night out with them. Randomly decided that I wanted to leave, got the car back and took the golden gate bridge to Sausalito for dinner. After dinner I took the highway along the coast and ended up at a California state park, camping for the night.

Woke up at this random camping site (when I arrived the night before it was too dark to see). On one side of the site was the ocean, and on the other side was the bay. Got going fairly early and started driving again. Had lunch at Cafe Aquatica and decided it was the best lunch of the entire trip. I want to play there one day as well. Aaron, the owner, had just built an outdoor stage and we decided that next time I was through I would play it. Maybe August? Drove a few hours and ended up at another camping site. Met a bunch of great people from the Sacramento area and had dinner and a campfire with them. They were all massive Paramore fans, and I really enjoyed hearing acoustic campfire covers. “That’s what you get when you let your heart win.”

I also did laundry at the campground. For the record.

Drove along the coast and started getting into the redwood forest. Those trees are amazing. Stopped at the redwood tree that you can drive through, but the van was too big, so I had to walk through. I made a motor sound with my mouth and used my fingers for signal lights. jk. I did however practice some pay it forward and paid
admission for the two motorcycles behind me. I then took their photos going through the tree. We chatted for about 25 minutes, decided that they should go to Vancouver Island, and then I continued to the Oregon border. Again I must stress, the redwoods are incredible.

Crossed into Oregon and about 30 minutes into the state I found a great Oregon state park to stay at. The campground had both ocean and forest. I spent some time on the beach, ate dinner and decided that it was the best campground in the world. I also decided that I wanted to see some rain as the entire trip had been dry. At 10pm it started raining and didn’t stop for 48 hours. At first it was what I wanted, but then I was over it.

Drove from the campground into Portland, parked the van and checked into the hotel. Found a great coffee shop and had delicious Thai food. On my walk back I found a donut shop and though I don’t often eat donuts, I had a craving. The Portland creme was delicious. On the walk back to the hotel I ran into two 60 year old homeless men. Bought them Portland cremes and pitched on a 6-pack of Pabst. I ended up spending an hour with them. Great night.

Sometimes these beautiful cities I think are more for couples. I had a lot of fun on my own, but I could see how Portland and San Fran would be a lot of fun as a date. Restaurants with elbows locked. One day I will go back.

From Portland I set the GPS on ‘Twilight’ and drove to Port Angeles. Though I was worried about vampires and werewolves I felt safe enough to roll my window down and buy a ferry ticket to Victoria. I also made some twitter vampire jokes. I thought they were very funny. The ferry ride was just over an hour and then came Canadian customs. Because I like bounty sheets and febreze to keep the giant heavy chevy van fresh I was searched for an hour as apparently those products are both good for throwing off drug dogs??? I had a long chat with a border guard about the trip while four others searched the van. They even searched under the hood. Thankfully they didn’t find out that my entire engine contained no metal, it was made completely of illicit materials. After I was cleared I offered them some free CDs.

Victoria and Nanaimo were beautiful as always. Thank you Chris Dowsett for the great photoshoots and video. Christopher Troy Dowsett is an amazing photographer and his rates are always more than fair. Check him out on facebook or send me a message for more details on how to get in touch with him.

In Victoria I played a show for War Child Canada at a private high school. Great afternoon. From there I was ferry bound again headed to Vancouver and from Vancouver I drove 11 hours back to Calgary. I am so tired of driving and my back hurts! I am getting the van serviced today and my friend Donald here at the shop says that the trip was 21000kms.

28 cities in 51 days. I can’t wait to go away again. Next I head to Toronto, Vancouver and Yellowknife?? haha. I will be home for a couple weeks.

Now that I have finished writing this book I will go and ice my fingers.

love,
Michael

clerical ps: We are so close to 1000 twitter followers. The Valerie video is amazing, get on there please and thank you. Also MOVIE LIFE is out, it is on iTunes and is in the library at your favorite radio stations. Send or call in a request and put a comment up on iTunes if you have time. Show announcements are coming soon.

Thank you for everything. I appreciate it all. Looking forward to seeing you soon.