The Trip from Chicago to Vancouver
40 hours in a bus......with 10 people speaking some language ya can´t comprehend, except for the occasional cries of ´Al´, which it turns out means ´totally´ in Icelandic......btw.....their word for stoned is Fred...... combine the two....my real name means ´totally stoned ´ in Icelandic......but anyway..... I woke up west of Minneapolis as we discovered earlier.... Some kind soul at a truck stop told me that if we filled up the bus, we got one free shower... Since I smelled worse than my dog on HER worst day, I took her up on the offer.... Ahh...relief.

Spent the rest of the day riding through North Dakota..... As we drove, the guys played 'Battleship" all day......it ruled... In Icelandic, the word for the number six is 'Sex'.....the way the pronounce the letter 'A' is 'ano'.... so.... as they called the innocent little phrase 'A6', it sounded like 'ano sex'..... Kinky Battleship, anyone? When they weren't playing Kinky Battleship, they were playing Risk.... Hmmm... Whoever got Iceland to start the game usually won, since none of them would attack it..... Gee, I wonder why...(laughs)

Here's a word of advice.... NEVER get hungry in North Dakota.........there´s NOTHING there.....at least until you get to Dickinson. 3/4 of the way through that pathetic state... We stopped at an Applebee´s there..... surprise.... a national chain in an outta the way place, with cute waitresses, even. ..... wow. One of the waitresses recognized Steph, the band´s DJ.... well..... she THOUGHT she recognized him.... She said he looked like a dude in the Wallflowers.... Poor Steph.... being accused of having no talent.... (giggle) So... after eating, we all ended up back on the bus, where I promptly went right back to sleep. When I woke up, I had NFI where I was.... SO, I went exploring and found that I was in Mile City, Montana.... OK.... That told me absolutely nothing... We were about 2 hours from Billings. Ok... progress.... Not even half way to Vancouver, Penny´s house, and her washing machine (by this time, I had NO clean clothes....)
Day Two
The Scenic Drive.
Hell no, I didn´t sleep a WINK this day... Our day started at a Denny´s in Billings.... The waitress was cute enough, but she had that 'Dan Quayle/Deer Caught in The Headlights' look on her face the whole time.... Baldur bought my breakfast, since he ripped me on the previously mentioned Canaduhian money exchange.... (raises his fist at the band´s manager in a non-threatening manner)(laugh) We took off at about 1 p.m... I guess we let the driver sleep too much... (KILL THE BUS DRIVER!!!) After stopping in Missoula and slamming some Fuddrucker's burgers, we did one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on, following the Clark Fork river for about 100 miles along I-90 as it wound its way around all the mountains..... It was cool..... No hills until we got to Idaho ( Idaho, and I lost her....)(giggle). Dickie Fut said something about needing a relief driver, o I promptly went to my bunk and fell asleep to get out of driving the bus, since I have never done that before........ Woke up in Washington, about 50 miles outside of Seattle, to the sound of a trailer tire exploding......Of course, we had no spare.... (KILL THE BUS DRIVER!!!!) It was 5 am, and still 2 hours from Penny´s place and her pool, washing machine, etc..... Hell....maybe her place has the only thing the bar in Atlanta lacked....a girl to fold my clothes....... Of course, the truck stop had no tire for us....something about the three words "radial, trailer, and tire" not mixing very well....oh well...life´s a (bleep) then ya die.....

Of course, we made it through Canaduhian Customs with nay a problem this time...Well...except for the trucker who wanted to kill me because I accidentally kicked a soccer ball across his hood while we fueled up the bus in Washington before going into Canaduh... Then... Vancouver!

Technically Speaking

The bus was a 40 foot Silver Eagle leased from Entertainment Leasing...It was brand new, so there was no excuse for the generator problems...(kill the bus driver!!!)
(it's currently driving around the opening act for Judas Priest, Moondog Mains)

The Gusgus bus (it was never given an pet name like some busses have) had two living areas, 12 bunks, a bathroom, televisions and VCR's in both areas, two air conditioning units, 3 storage bays, a Detroit Diesel engine, and a top speed of 90 MPH towing a double axle trailer loaded to the hilt. The decor was great.... It was done in a burgundy and marble patterned grey motif with a nice pattern on the seats... The little table was kind of a pain in the ass, but, hey...what do you wand for nothing, your money back? Doc Martens Apparel Company was kind enough to pick up the tab on the bus...
Thanks, Heidi Snellman!!!!