Charleston
Thursday
Jun 7, 2007
We left Wood’s house on the 13th of May and our friend Fletcher Crossman (www.fletchercrossman.com) had the opening of his Art exhibition at 6:00pm on the 18th in Charleston (about 1200 miles away), we really wanted to be there for that ,which at the speed of the bus, didn’t leave us much time.
Although we were mostly driving, crossing Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, we had fun being on the small back roads (the minimum speed on the interstate is 45 miles an hour).
Unfortunately in Mississippi, we started hearing the dreaded banging sound again and we knew that at least one of the bearing had gone again. Because of the time factor we decided to keep going, babying the engine all the way and feeding it with oil addictive.
Then just as we were about to cross the border into Alabama, an other louder banging sound came and the bus started checking at each turn of the wheel, so we stopped in Heidelberg and were very lucky to meet Nelson from ” Heidelberg Service Centre” that helped us for 4 to 5 hours. The nuts of one the back wheels had been loose and 3 of them had snapped so we had to take off the drum and swap them around. Nelson didn’t want any payment at the end and only said ” remember, good people always meet again” (well! We hope to meet him again)
We had one very bad experience in Cordele, GA, in a Pilot Travel Centre, where the cashier, Deborah, insisted that we stole the $20 Diesel that we had prepaid. She called the Police and for some unknown reason was lying to him and told him that we had been hanging around the pump for 30min before entering the shop. We were shocked especially as we had only stopped there because it seems very cheap so we decided to fill the tank that was already nearly full. The manager finally came out and ask to the policeman to drop the affair and let us go. Scott was angry at Deborah for days after that and made a song about her.
Although we were mostly driving, crossing Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, we had fun being on the small back roads (the minimum speed on the interstate is 45 miles an hour).
Unfortunately in Mississippi, we started hearing the dreaded banging sound again and we knew that at least one of the bearing had gone again. Because of the time factor we decided to keep going, babying the engine all the way and feeding it with oil addictive.
Then just as we were about to cross the border into Alabama, an other louder banging sound came and the bus started checking at each turn of the wheel, so we stopped in Heidelberg and were very lucky to meet Nelson from ” Heidelberg Service Centre” that helped us for 4 to 5 hours. The nuts of one the back wheels had been loose and 3 of them had snapped so we had to take off the drum and swap them around. Nelson didn’t want any payment at the end and only said ” remember, good people always meet again” (well! We hope to meet him again)
We had one very bad experience in Cordele, GA, in a Pilot Travel Centre, where the cashier, Deborah, insisted that we stole the $20 Diesel that we had prepaid. She called the Police and for some unknown reason was lying to him and told him that we had been hanging around the pump for 30min before entering the shop. We were shocked especially as we had only stopped there because it seems very cheap so we decided to fill the tank that was already nearly full. The manager finally came out and ask to the policeman to drop the affair and let us go. Scott was angry at Deborah for days after that and made a song about her.
We just made it in time for Fletch opening, and as we pulled the bus over to park, the tire burst, but it didn’t matter anymore, we had arrived and could go and enjoy our friend’s night and deal with the tire the next day.
A few days later as we were doing a show at the Buist Academy, we invited the organizers of the Picollo Spoletto for them to see what we had to offer. They really liked the show and also, it was very late, they worked hard to make it possible.
So , there we are, in Marion Square, performing our show 5 days a week until the 10th of June, and meeting lots of really nice people.
The Post and Courier has done a article on us where they talked about our engine being sick and one morning I found a card on the bus from ” General Diesel” and on the back of it, the president Ron Hallam, had wrote that he could help us to fix our engine. I called him and he seems very nice, so on Monday after the Festival we will drive the bus to his garage and see if we can fix it in time to make the next festival which is in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
The Post and Courier has done a article on us where they talked about our engine being sick and one morning I found a card on the bus from ” General Diesel” and on the back of it, the president Ron Hallam, had wrote that he could help us to fix our engine. I called him and he seems very nice, so on Monday after the Festival we will drive the bus to his garage and see if we can fix it in time to make the next festival which is in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
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Texas, Wood’s House
Monday
May 21, 2007
Here we are, back at Wood’s house, our friend, in Huntsville, Texas.But this time around, with the bus and in much better spirits. For all those people we’ve met along the way, that told us that it would be very difficult to bring the bus into the States,I am so happy to let them know: They were wrong.
Back in time, We really enjoyed our stops along the Pacific coast of Mexico, where we met lots of nice people and did some rewarding shows, untill we came into Semana Santa (Easter holliday). The coast, then, filled up with hollidayers, so much, that you couldn’t see the beach. Althought it was fun to be around, the shows became very tiring as the atmosphere was rowdy.
We did met up with a very nice familly in Ricon de los Guayabitos , Cynthia, Emilie, Ana, Valerie and Martin. It is in their huge garden by the beach that we spent 10 days emptying, cleaning and repainting the bus. That last bit, ” the repainting” was once again “Thanks” to Resene from New Zealand that sent us by DHL to Puerto Vallarta over 30 litres of their amaizing paint(Whiles we were in New Zealand, 5 years back,they already gave us as much to repaint the bus). With the bus looking at his best, and after saying goodby to our friends that so nicely looked after us, we drove to Zacatecas.
We stayed 3 days at ” Servicio Internacional” garage with our heroes mechanics, Francisco and Martin, where whiles they worked on differents bits of the engine, we kept fixing belly boxes, windows and painted a few more stars. We also, finally, put an oppening window on the upstairs bedroom, one we took from an old school bus and did a wooden frame to fit it in.
In Saltillo we met Juan, an electrician, who helped us fixing indicators lights, Brake lights, whippers ect… After 2 days we went back on the road and a straight drive to Laredo. The customs at the border were very friendly and in we were. The drive to Wood’s house was not only a beautifull one but a very pleasurable one, with smoth asphalte(very different from Mexico), which was equally nice for driver and passengers alike.
We did get stop by the police on the first night and very politely asked to pull over until the morning, as we were driving too slow with too little light on our tailgate.
Our next plans from here are the Spoleto festival in Charleston from the 22nd of May to the 10th of June and Kingston Festival in Ontario, Canada from the 12th to the 15th of July.
texas
Friday
May 11, 2007
Here we are, back at Wood's house, our friend, in
Huntsville, Texas.But this time around, with the bus
and in much better spirits.
For all those people we've met along the way, that
told us that it would be very difficult to bring the
bus into the States,I am so happy to let them know:
They were wrong.
Back in time, We really enjoyed our stops along the
Pacific coast of Mexico, where we met lots of nice
people and did some rewarding shows, untill we came
into Semana Santa (Easter holliday). The coast, then,
filled up with hollidayers, so much, that you couldn't
see the sand on the beach. Althought it was fun to be
around, the shows became very tiring as the atmosphere
was rowdy.
We did met up with a very nice familly in Ricon de los
Guayabitos , Cynthia, Emilie, Ana, Valerie and Martin.
It is in their huge garden by the beach that we spent
10 days emptying, cleaning and repainting the bus.
That last bit, " the repainting" was once again
"Thanks" to Resene from New Zealand that sent us by
DHL to Puerto Vallarta over 30 litres of their
amaizing paint(Whiles we were in New Zealand, 5 years
back,they already gave us as much to repaint the bus).
With the bus looking at his best, and after saying
goodby to our friends that so nicely looked after us,
we drove to Zacatecas.
We stayed 3 days at " Servicio Internacional" garage
with our heroes mechanics, Francisco and Martin, where
whiles they worked on differents bits of the engine,
we kept fixing belly boxes, windows and painted a few
more stars. We also, finally, put an oppening window
on the upstairs bedroom, one we took from an old
school bus and did a wooden frame to fit it in.
In Saltillo we met Juan, an electrician, who helped us
fixing indicators lights, Brake lights, whippers
ect… After 2 days we went back on the road and a
straight drive to Laredo.
The customs at the border were very friendly and in we
were.
The drive to Wood's house was not only a beautifull
one but a very pleasurable one, with smoth
asphalte(very different from Mexico), which was
equally nice for driver and passengers alike. We did
get stop by the police on the first night and very
politely were asked to pull over untill the morning,
as we were driving too slow with too little light on
our tailgate.
Our next plans from here are the Spoleto festival in
Charleston from the 22nd of May to the 10th of June
and Kingston Festival in Ontario, Canada from the 12th
to the 15th of July.
____________________________________________________________________________________
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Up North
Saturday
Mar 10, 2007
Whiles we were in Playa del Carmen,, we finally decided that it was time to go and visit Cuba. We had been talking about Cuba since about two years, so what a better time than now being so close by.
So on the 15th of January we hoped on a plane with our new Mexican tricycle and our small show, ready for a trip in Cuba(or mor to the point, la Havanna, as we didn’t have enough cash to visit further afield). Althought we managed to do 5 performances in 10 days( 2 streets shows, 2 free shows and 1 paid gig), we wont really impressed with the situation there.
We met much more unhappy cubans than happy one and I was left with the impression that all wanted to escape their country in surch for freedom. The best thing that happened to us there was meeting “la Giganteria”, a group of street artists.
Anyway we survived the 10 days and were really happy to be back on Mexican ground, but it is the only country we visited so far that left me with a feeling of sadness, and it took me longer than 3 days to get over it.
Now, beginning of March, we are on our way up on the Pacific coast. 3 weeks ago, I hurt my back after a successfull weekend in Puerto Escondido, performing in Zicatela in front of bar “la Flayita”. I would love to invent a very glamerous story about how I hurt myself, but I am afraid the truth was only the rope holding my hammac (where I was happilly reading and drinking my beer) that let me down ( on a concret floor).
In the last 3 weeks we have been beach hoping as I couldnt do much. Scott had been the only driver on board and tried to reach an average of 150km a day.
Tonight will then be our first show since then. We are now in a little village North of Manzanillo called la Manzanilla. We have been there for the last week, practising slowly, and getting back in shape.
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