February 10, 2016 - 4:20am ... I set my alarm for 3:40am yesterday... 4am "bus call" outside the house (Reid and Dane were there since midnight)... finish packing up the trailer and we're on the road by 5am to cross the border as close to 8am as we can. Toronto (ON) to Fargo (ND) is a bit of a drive... we're use to (unfortunately) the drive from Calgary to Winnipeg (13 hrs + 30% = 17hrs), today was a Googlemaps 18 hr trip... then add on the 30% real world driving time = 23.5 hrs... so let's call it a 24 hr drive... we're supposed to be at the venue tomorrow for 2pm... ... lots of time! lol. *tear* ... but yeah... monster drive. All things considered our van/trailer set up is pretty awesome. I call it the "fishbowl". It's more a shuttle van opposed to a typical cargo van but there's tons of space (compared to what we're use to) for us to be comfortable and actually have space... you can stand up in it! If you've ever tried to put your pants in a GMC Safari van... and I'm sorry if you have... you'll understand. Just the fact all of us can stretch out in the van is great. So in short, the 24hr straight drive wasn't awful... we're here now... spirits are good... tea station at the Travelodge has been raided. So how do we pass the time? Again, if you've read my past tour blogs, we're an odd band in the sense that (not that we had the ability in the past) we don't really listen to music or the radio. We talk. We read. We play games on our devices... but we very, very rarely blast music or watch movies. Maybe that'll change someday but even with a fully functioning radio, it rarely gets used. One game we did play today (whoever is up front), the GPS obviously tells you how much time is remaining... so every hour that passed, we tried to attach a memory to... yearbook styles. Remember the good times we had with the "hours remaining" about to pass... 21 hrs - border crossing, which was VERY smooth. Then again most of us have had/have visas so we were in and out in maybe 20 minutes. 19hrs - snow storm/accident. We knew there'd be traffic somewhere and had our fingers cross the weather would hold up. We didn't see much of the aftermath of the accident since clean up was mostly done, but we had a 1.5hr delay where traffic was slightly rerouted. 16hrs - Bob Evans (I think)... oh Bob Evans... we love your warm, sodium infused embrace. *tear* ... yeah it's a blur now... 10 was remembered as the last of the double digits, 7 was driving for 45 mins without the trailer lights on, 5 was exit 112 and McDonalds, and now we're here. I'll admit... when I wasn't up front riding shotgun, I was asleep. Stay ahead of the sleep game if you can! Your eyes will thank you!!! I'm definitely going to sleep after I'm done this (then up at 6 to eat if I'm not still awake, then sleep more), but I feel alright... some people can sleep in the van, some can't... I definitely can... I could probably sleep in the chair I'm sitting in... but that'd be weird... mainly because this guy is watching me... Oh... weather wise, I held off saying anything all day in the van about "the weather not being bad" or "having good luck with the weather!" We drove out of a slight blizzard this morning and hit traffic once. Even with 6 hrs left I held my tongue... since things can go wrong very quickly on road trips. There were a couple times the roads were bad (bumpy) were you think you have a flat... which can screw up the plan when it's 20 hrs into a drive and -20C (or something) outside (my hands were freezing trying to get the trailer unlocked). Imagine trying to change a tire or make a call for help... that sucks... and being honest, time wise, today had to go smoothly. ... my thoughts... don't talk about how great things are going when you can wait and talk about how good things went! ... the weather was pretty great today overall. ... similar reason why I didn't start writing this in the van. I had time... but even with 3 hrs left, I'll wait... just in case... and sleep. ... so I think there's only one more big drive on this tour...we'll know it when we see it (the day before, like usual) I guess.... We're all looking forward to getting into the venue tomorrow to see what Disturbed has going on stage wise. Most of the venues are pretty large so my guess is they're going to fill it... with production and fans. ... fun times so far... I'm serious... even after a entire day in the van... a lot of laughs already. Mike :-) P.S. ... cherry coke!!! (I haven't got into it yet... but I will... I'm not a big pop drinker but this... this is my jam.) P.P.S American Hockey Players!!!
(... check out that flow.)
1 Comment
Denise peemen
2/10/2016 04:08:12 am
Great read. Have great time on the road and on stage.
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Mike Langford - Official BlogBeing on both sides of the glass, I get the chance to wear many hats in the music industry. This is a place to share my thoughts, views, predictions, rants, stories and news! Categories
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