Greetings from the road! Our trusty steed, Rocinante, has now carried us safely over a thousand miles to the quiet little town of Mankato, MN, where I sit now enjoying a caffeine buzz and recalling the last few days for our beloved readers.

Gillian's birthday party was a thoroughly enjoyable evening! Special thanks go out to Corkworks Wine Co. for contributing to the tasty reds and whites, Archer's Mob for pumping out the perfectly appropriate groove tunes, Rhea for providing the delicious gluten-free goodies, Chum and Sally for all of their hard work and crisis management skills, and all of our friends and family from near and far who pitched in to make the celebration nothing short of spectacular.



We had a great time at the Filling Station, and our Bozeman crowd really came through to send us off in style. Our first stop on our national tour was Billings, which we found to be a little anti-climactic after the excitement of packing up the van and setting out upon the open road. Nonetheless, after picking up Gillian (see attached photo), we had a great time playing at the Railyard. Special thanks go out to Morris for bringing a wonderful group of folks to our performance! After the show, we braved the mean streets a bit and found some extremely drunk guys to kick our trailer for us (thanks dude!) and headed off.



In the morning, we found ourselves in gorgeous Spearfish, South Dakota. Not knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised to find a very inviting landscape whose natural beauty could rival that of Penelope Cruz and a population whose taste for booze could give Bukowski a run for his money. The staff and patrons at the Spearfish Chophouse and Whiskey Bar couldn't have been more generous and accommodating. They even named a shot after us: a scrumptious concoction consisting of whiskey, ginger, and grenadine. A few of these inspired one of the largest dance parties we have ever seen to our music and a very pleasant sing-along rendition of 'Rocky Racoon' to close the show.

A quick note: While in the black hills I read a little about DUSEL, the deep underground science and engineering laboratory that is currently in construction in Lead, SD. When completed, the lab will be the deepest underground facility in the world at 8000 feet. The idea of scientists in white coats studying things like dark matter and neutrinos over a mile and half under the surface of the earth appeals greatly to my inner dork, and I look forward to following this project because I think it is so damn cool.

After an extremely long drive to Sioux Falls, we arrived at McNally's, which has the most amazing air ventilation system inside a venue that I've ever seen. The pub had a gorgeous interior and we were treated very kindly by the manager (thanks Lacy) and patrons. After the show, we hit the road again and had one of the best nights of rest in the van thus far.

Tonight we play at Palmer's in Minneapolis! One review of Palmer's claimed "Dirty P's is a very fitting nickname for this bar (as I have heard it called). Somehow, it feels cozy yet kind of gross....sort of like a relatives house that very faintly smells of cat urine". This is obviously our type of place. We're opening for Cadillac Kolstad and Cornbread Harris. This show is going to be so awesome.

In conclusion, our spirits are soaring and so far we have had nothing but good experiences. Rocinante seems in good health and we are honing our skills in the fine art of backing up with a trailer. Our only complaint is that our free time while on the road is fairly limited and we have to apologize in advance if we haven't kept in touch as much as we'd like to. Thanks for reading, we'll see you soon when the lights go down in the city.

Cheers,
TR