July 7th 2009

Ahh, Wifi! So our daily blog turned into a routinely/moderately updated blog when we realized wifi was harder to find in some parts of the country. But long behold, we find ourselves in a coffee house in Rochester, MI with about 15 connections. Feels good. Anyways, much has happened since being in Lemoyne. We met a crew of awesome people in PA which helped persuade our preconceived notions about the state of Pennsylvania. Very cool people, and looking forward to coming through again. After spending the night, we channeled our way to Youngstown, Ohio for a BBQ/4th of July party/show. To say the least, it was...absorbing. Actually to be honest, it was really weird. We played a lot of corn hole (which has become a favorite pass-time of the bands), and ate hot dogs and veggie burgers marinated in lighter fluid. Luckily for me, my body's decision to discharge the contents that remained unsettled in my stomach, was rather untimely - as I puked only seconds before our set. But yeah, whatever. We still played through the set, and I felt a hell of a lot better. Lots of illegal fireworks, there.

From there we went to Indiana (where we spent the majority of our down time.) It's a beautiful state, for sure. Insanely desolate in parts. I think we crossed a street called "Coonhunter" at one point. In any case, much respected - as it was the soil to which Mitchell's family was founded. Ironic for us, as we were unaware he spent his childhood harvesting crops and shooting shotguns. I'm only half kidding. Anyways, his family took good care of us, and we met a lot of interesting people along the way. We got to celebrate 4th of July on the 5th with the rest of the town of Milan. Amazing up-close fireworks. 

Michigan was super rad. Very surprised with the amount of people who came to see us. Made us feel very welcomed. That's the one great thing about the west - is that people actually drive out to see shows. Unlike the east, where kids are either too lazy, too over stimulated, or have too many shows to choose from and can't spend the money. Kids out here drive far distances just to see us play a 30 minute set, and talk with us. It's really neat. We also got to meet this band All The Day Holiday, who were amazing live. We're supposedly playing a few dates with them in August, so it was reassuring to see they were kickass, and nice dudes. From there we went and stayed with my family up in Grand Rapids, who took wonderful care of us. There's nothing  like being comforted by that type of unconditional generosity. We visited Lake Michigan, which is so cool. The water is freezing, but the site is amazing. The weather, too. Our whole experience here in Michigan has been very pleasant. (knock on wood).

Also, I met this cat who was sitting in the window seat of a women's clothing store. It wouldn't leave me alone after I woke it up. 

Tonight should be cool. I've heard a lot of about this place, and we're all looking forward to it. Also, I have tons and tons of video I plan on uploading at the end of the tour into a video update.