Vegas and Arizona

Week two begins in Las Vegas, Alan took Monday off to relax and hang out at the casino. On Monday night we had a fabulous dinner at Jason’s house. Steaks on the grill, king crab legs, Al and Jason wanted my mozzarella basil tomato salad, we also had grilled asparagus and new potatoes…mmm was it good to have home cooking.

I did some shopping in Vegas for clothes and some other needed items. We stayed at the fabulous South Point Resort which is on the south end of the strip. Alan knows how to find great hotel deals and this was no exception. Our room was huge, it had a 42 inch plasma TV in it….and through some internet deal it only cost $59 per night.

Of course we had to try another Food Network featured restaurant while in Vegas. The 4 Kegs is quite a place, a dive actually but wow did they have awesome stramboli which is what the show Drive Inns, Diners, and Dives featured. We split one and couldn’t eat it all. We played for the TCF Chapter on Tuesday night; it was one of those rare occasions when the crowd was mostly newly bereaved. Alan cut his concert short and everybody got in a circle and Alan and another bereaved mom simply sat and talked to these hurting families for over an hour, it is times like this when I am truly proud of the work we do…it is a ministry and Alan seems to know when to put the guitar down and simply “be” with people…we truly touched some hearts in Las Vegas.

On Wednesday we drove down to Tucson. We had the distinct honor of eating at a terrible restaurant in some small Arizona town. We should have known it would be bad when the waitress didn’t speak to us or acknowledge us except to ask us “what do you want.” The food was awful, the service worse, and that is about the nicest thing I can say. We arrived in Tucson to play a concert that night; we didn’t realize that we would lose an hour as we thought Arizona was on Pacific Time…to make a long story short we barely got set up in time for the concert. It was a beautiful event, Alan had played in Tucson for these same folks and they really love his music. They put us up in the beautiful Viscount Hotel and Suites, we had a two room suite and it was really great. We stayed there for 2 days, on Thursday the group that booked us invited us to lunch, but aside from that we didn’t do much but rest.

On Friday, we headed out to Yuma, Arizona where we had a concert scheduled for Saturday night. Before leaving Tucson we stopped by the Botanical Garden where they had a butterfly exhibit, it was really amazing and we got some great pictures there. Also on Friday we stopped by the Children’s Memorial Park in Tucson where the generous people who booked us there had Ashley’s name added to their memorial wall in the park, it was very touching to see her name there, we sat and took in the beauty of the park for awhile.
We headed to Yuma as the wind was again trying to blow us all over the road. We had a dinner scheduled with the people that booked us at the Olive Garden, and it was cool. Alan had been to Yuma many times because his grandparents retired there. He couldn’t believe how big the town had gotten. Yuma sits on the California, Arizona, and Mexico border. You see a lot of border patrol agents there. One of the members of the group that booked us went around town and got us free meals at local restaurants…they let us pick the ones we wanted and then they auctioned the rest off to raise money for there group. They really treated us well in Yuma, it was fun.

On Saturday before the concert, Al and I drove down to the old trailer park where his grandparents used to live. It sits on the Colorado River and is really cozy. We then drove out to the Sand Dunes west of town where thousands of off road enthusiasts spend the weekend riding, it is quite a scene. We drove to Imperial Dam where you can find thousands of people camping for the winter, there are rigs there that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet the folks love the idea that they can camp all winter for $75.

In the campground, we found a group of folks sitting next to an RV playing bluegrass music. We pulled out our lawn chairs and listened for an hour or so. Al said he would have loved to stay there longer and have a beer and just take in the beauty and the music. The Imperial Valley is lush with great farm land, the lettuce fields and broccoli fields were ready for harvest. There were date palm tree farms, orange and lemon groves; it was really an interesting place.

The concert on Saturday wasn’t big, but the people were so kind and supportive. Al said he would rather play for small groups who treat us so warmly than for big events where they don’t appreciate the effort he makes to get there. We got up at sunrise on Sunday as we had a 1,200 mile drive to Dallas, Texas where we have concerts scheduled all of next week. Talk to you then…….I am getting settled into this life on the road!

On to Texas!

On the road...literally!

We got up at 5:30 am in Yuma, Arizona where a spectacular sunrise greeted us on our 1,200 mile journey to Dallas, Texas. That amazing sunrise ended up being the highlight of our day. We ate at Blake’s lota burger a New Mexico tradition in serving up big and juicy burgers near Alamagordo, and drove all day, nothing but flat land, prairies and 18 wheelers.…..into the night.

I couldn’t wait to stop and have dinner and sleep. Along came Pecos Texas, in case you are ever out that way, don’t bother. There were only a couple of places open in the whole town, one of them was a Chinese restaurant, and oh how I love Chinese food. It was so bad I couldn’t eat anything. Well, at least I could get a good nights rest right? Wrong! I came out of the bathroom and asked Al if we were in prison or a hotel. Get me outta here. Let’s get on to better things…food and hotels!

On our way out of town Al heard on the radio about a major explosion at an oil refinery in Sandy Springs, a few miles ahead of us on Interstate 20. Soon we would learn that it was a national news story and that the highway was closed…we were delayed nearly an hour and a half but managed to get some great picures…unbelievably, nobody was killed in this explosion that could be felt by folks nearly 50 miles away in Midland, Texas.

Sandy Springs, Texas Refinery Explosion

We arrived in Dallas at the comfort Inn that we had booked for 5 days because we had several concerts there and wanted to stay in one place for a bit. We loaded everything in for our extended stay. I woke up early in the morning, mmmm stretch and get up nice and slow. I didn’t have my glasses on so everything was a little bit blurry, but I saw something move high up the wall across the room. I squinted to make out a big butterfly. They follow us everywhere I thought. I put my glasses on and realized it was the biggest cockroach I had ever seen (I lived in the south for 5 years) Of course it fell off the wall and scurried in my direction. I awoke AL with a scream and me standing in the middle of the bed. AL calmed me down enough to pack so we could leave…he assured me that he was a stray little lost bugger. I shook everything as I packed. I went to pack the bathroom and turned around to see 2 more roaches in the bathtub. That was the end of that. Al killed the biggest one and shamed me for making the little guy lose his life simply because it dared to enter our room….but I think he was as glad to leave as I was.

We high tailed it out of there and stopped to dine on some of the best BBQ we have ever had (except Dennis’s) at Odem’s Barbeque in Duncanville, leave it to me to segue from cockroaches to BBQ without missing a beat.

We drove to College Station, TX and stayed in the beautiful comfort suites… Pillow top mattresses & they made warm chocolate chip cookies for us before bed. Ok …..This is more like it!

Before the concert in Hearne TX, we went to the George Bush Presidential Library. This picture includes a portion of the Berlin wall which fell during his reign. The library is located on the Texas A&M campus. On the other side of the campus we visited the memorial to the 12 students killed and 27 injured in 1998 when a five story log structure built for their annual bonfire collapsed.

Al at the Texas A&M Memorial

New Orleans was a mixture of both fun and sadness, Al wrote an entry on our EverAshley Music blog that I will share with you all here.

"We spent the weekend in New Orleans, what a glaring contrast this town is. We stayed at a really unique and cool hotel down on Canal Street within walking distance to Bourbon Street, the Waterfront, and all the fun that is so much of what New Orleans is. I have been trying to eat healthier, but threw that all out the window once we hit town...the food is nothing short of fabulous! The music and food make this place one of the greatest weekend trips imaginable. The Gumbo at the Bayou Cabin, the ribs at Voodoo Barbeque, were out of this world. Big Al Carson sings the blues and anything else in between and we caught his show on Bourbon Street on Saturday night. it really was fun. One of the most popular tourists sights in The Big Easy is the cemetaries believe it or not. Many movies have been filmed in these historic graveyards including the famous St. Louis #2 which we walked through..it was creepy I musts admit!

On Sunday however we ventured to that part of New Orleans that truly breaks your heart. We toured the 9th Ward and the completely destroyed Barnard Parish. Hurricane Katrina and the failed levees really did a number on this place and one can only walk away shaking their head at the damage still sitting there. While there certainly are homes that have been rebuilt, they sit among blocks of houses yet to be demolished. Signs of the destruction remain everywhere, especially in Barnard where every home and business was destroyed. It seems unimaginable that nobody is screaming at the top of their lungs on a national level about the slow pace of the clean-up, or the lack of interest in helping these people rebuild. It has been 2 1/2 years since Katrina struck, and yet seeing this place rebuilt appears to be years away..what a sad statement about our country in my opinion...I am a proud American indeed, but seeing New Orleans makes you truly question where our priorities lie....why can't we get this done? They say the answers are complex...I don't know....all I know is that this place needs a lot of work and it simply isn't getting the help it needs to fully recover from Hurricane Katrina. I left New Orleans with very mixed emotions...it is a fun place, but a tragic place too.

On The Road Week 1

Well, we finally made it out of Colorado and what a journey it has been. Our first stop was accross the snowy mountains to the western slope town of Glade Park, Colorado which is high above the city of Grand Junction. We played a concert for our friends Daryl and Alice Monroe and stayed at the wonderful Raven's Roost, the most beautiful Bed and Breakfast on earth. Two feet of snow fell the night before we arrived, butquite a few people showed up for the event. The Butterfly Bus is a great ride, with plenty of room and it handled the mountains with ease. Alice made us a traditional Thanksgiving dinner upon our arrival, wow was it good. The next morning we left for Las Vegas to spend the night and were very fortunate the roads were clear as there was deep snow on the ground all accross Utah until 100 miles or so from Las Vegas.

We met Jason for dinner in downtown Las Vegas but that was about it as we were tired and had to play a concert in San Diego the next night. We took off for California on Wednesday morning and it was very windy, Al had his hands full driving as the wind tried to push us all over the road. But what would a road trip be without great food? We stopped at the Mad Greek (featured on the Food Network) in Baker, California and let me tell you it lived up to its reputation. The prices were very reasonable and the Gyro was without a doubt the best I have ever had.

Sand Diego is a beautiful city, we played a nice event there and stayed at the Motel 6, Alan told me that some nights it would be hot dogs, and other nights steak..and that analogy is true in hotels too...it makes it interesting.

We got up on Thursday morning for coffee at the beach, we ended up enjoying a beautiful morning in Oceanside. The Crystal Cathedral is in Garden Grove and so we visited it, words can't describe how beautiful this place is...there are sculptures throughout the grounds. We bought a butterfly in the gift shop as part of the collection for the Butterfly Bus.

We had the day off so we drove up the coast to Huntington Beach to stay the night. We smuggled our own cooking equipment into the Comfort Suites (nice hotel) and Al cooked us a fabulous chicken and vegetable medley...mm home cooked food.

On Friday we had to drive further up the coast to Oxnard which is in Ventura County north of Los Angeles about halfway to Santa Barbara. We stopped at the beach in Huntington and had lunch, it was just wonderful and the weather was great. On Friday night the folks who were putting on the Saturday concert in Camarillo invited us over for dinner at their home. We had another delicious home cooke meal of Beef Stew and all the trimmings. Marvin and Carol Short are very nice folks and they, along with their TCF Chapter put on a beautiful mountainside concert event in the Conejo hills. Al played o

n a stage with a view of the entire Conejo valley behind him...it was their first ever balloon release for families whose children have died in that area...200+ people attended...what a gorgeous day!

To top Saturday off, Al drove the back way toward our Sunday concert in Beverley Hills and we stopped in Malibu, this is one of the most beautiful places I've seen. The late Michael Landon has a park built in his honor high on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and we stopped there and pulled out our chairs and sat and watched the most beautiful sunset...it was so clear we could see Catalina Island which is rare we have been told. Later Saturday night we drove to the Radisson Hotel to spend the evening before playing another concert right in the heart of Beverley Hills, California.

Sonia Berman, a woman we met while Al was playing a concert in Chicago last year invited us to Beverley Hills, these folks were nice too....we had a great event. Sunday evening it was back on the road again...headed to Las Vegas for a concert on Tuesday night....it has been a great week....1,800 miles driven.....4 states seen, we spent 7 nights in 7 different hotels...talk to you next week!