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!