Around the Lake in 80 days

The stories at the breakfast table were full of impossibilities and childish wordplay with two witty and intelligent adversaries, Noah and Mason. I posted a little video on the site of us talking about “Cat Bacon.” We were very happy to have had a home to crash at with hospitable animals and humans alike. We got on the road a little late and since they had stopped ferry service only the day before, we were going to have to drive all the way around Lake Michigan to the other side to get to the Stacy Adams headquarters above Milwaukee. Mike started out driving while I uploaded pictures and charged batteries and ignored all of his requests to help navigate. With the time change to Central Standard we ended up getting to Milwaukee very early and we met Ben at Stacy Adams. Ben gave us the lowdown in the showroom and the warehouse operations. We got to take a look at next year’s models and some prototypes. They really know how to excite me with extravagant, two-tone magnificence.



We got a hold of my old Marine Buddy, Steve and I met his beautiful little daughter, Camille. Man, she is a firecracker and she’s probably going to be a UFC fighter by the time she turns seven! Steve’s Mom is exactly how I remembered her and she cooked up a Filipino feast for us. It was awesome and it was the first time Mike ever had Lumpia and rice noodles.



After dinner we decided to go into Chicago and catch the Swing Band at Green Mill. They were doing radio broadcast which is cool although I thought it was a The place looked like it was a regular hotspot and then it really got slammed since Bob Dylan was playing across the street. After it let out the place was unbearably packed so we split and decided to embark upon our journey on the Mother Road, Route 66.

The rain was cata doxis and we could barely see the lines in the road but we kept pluggin’ down Lake Shore Drive until it met Jackson and the tour began through south Chicago and past industry and slum and quarries until we finally got down to the outskirts and navigated the downpour into Joliet where we were turned away at Harrah’s and then found a Motel 6 and crashed for the night. There were floods everywhere and when we finally got into our room and into beds, I coughed steadily until about 5 am when I thing I determined that I am allergic to the pillow and I wrapped my face in a wet t-shirt and passed out on the other end of the bed. When will this sickness relent?


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.wbafinc.org
Photos:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/WBAF1

Grand Rapids Diversion

Breakfast at The Eat'n Park

Sleep on the couch was better than expected. Mike was on the floor below me and I asked him to put his feet down where my head was so I wouldn’t be breathing on him al night. Danielle and James were already gone when we got up but we got ready cause I was going to take them to breakfast when they came back from their errands. We ate at an interesting place called Eat’n Park. It was like a local version of I-HOP or something. I had an egg sandwich with a fruit cup. I was in a CVS bathroom about 30 minutes later. I think I’m just starting to get over this flu; just in time for Route 66.

Lisa Parker is a Teacher and edits my serious writing when I come up with something I’d really like to have published. She edited “Mexican Teeth” and I credit her for its publishing. I met her online years ago and I’ve never seen her in person; but it looked like it was only about a few hours out of our way to swing by and see her so I sent her a message and she offered her guest room for the night. I was really excited to meet her husband and kids. Her daughter Katherine sent me a nice bear who is standing watch over my office while I’m away.


Gettin loaded at Dr. Bob's

While we were driving I saw signs for Akron and I remembered that AA was born there in a small house owned by Dr. Bob Smith and I heard that you can go and visit it; so another DAVE DIVERSION occurred. So far, no MIKE DIVERSIONS have occurred but I’m waiting for one. We found Dr. Bob’s house and although it was closed, the back door was ajar and I snuck in. I wanted to get few pictures of me sitting at the table where the first AAs got sober, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes in the 1930s. There was a guy in the gift shop downstairs and he was gracious enough to let me buy a mug that said “I drank at Dr. Bob’s” I loved it. We then found out that the Mayflower Hotel was now the Mayflower Manor low income housing; but, if you said the password they’d let you in. We went down there and stood in the lobby where Bill W. made the fateful decision to make a phone call rather than join the revelry at the noisy, adjacent bar. We also got to see the actual typriter which churned out the original text of “Alcoholics Anonymous” in 1935. I touched the “D” key. It felt nice.

A few rumble strips later, we hit route 80/90 through Ohio to Michigan. We stopped at a nice rest stop before Toledo and I marveled at the amount of pure government waste in such a beautiful rest stop. Somebody made a lot of money from the government contracts to procure these modern marvels of empty buildings and spacious lawns. I hate wasteful government spending!

I talked to Stacy Adams and they agreed to let me come by tomorrow and tour the facility with Mike. We’re going to meet up with an old Marine buddy of mine; Steve Hilgar aka “Porky.” He’s not fat but he can put away some serious amounts of food and he’s a hell of a dart player. So am I but he doesn’t know that yet hehehe…

We got to Lisa and Scott Parker’s residence around 21:45 and the kids were still up. We goofed and played some guitar and Katherine pulled out the flute and there were cats and fiddles and hey diddle diddles and a Jack Russell named Sofie that had more energy than an Iranian Centrifuge. Finally everyone was worn out and we crashed in the guest room with the cats all trying to get in to hang out with the curious new residents. I had to rebuild my cell phone OS last night and I couldn’t get the bastard to sync with my computer so all these messages were coming in from just numbers and I didn’t know who anyone was. I finally removed the windows firewall from my laptop and that seemed to do the trick. Mike was already asleep as I settled down to let my computer load my phone with all the pertinents. I dreamed that I was in San Diego and we had somehow not taken the trip. I knew I was sleeping but I couldn’t convince myself that it was true. I was even pinching myself in the dream; but, I woke up in the morning right where I left off, with a cat crawling over my legs and crusty eyelids.


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.wbafinc.org
Photos:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/WBAF1

Storm Chasing

Route 66 one day away:

The storms are rolling in and what else is new. The cold front across the US seems to frame our route precisely. We'll be riding on the edge of the storms like a sailboat in reach position. Whenever the brothers get on the road, the skies get turbulent and the heavens weep, cleansing the path for our journey. I'm hoping we'll get a taste of the cold Chicago wind as we commence on the Mother Road.

We're traveling to Grand Rapids Michigan today and then we may take the ferry across Lake Michigan and join an old Marine Corps buddy and visit our sponsor, Stacy Adams to check out the shoe factory :) This morning we're taking Danielle, James and James' Mom to breakfast and then we're heading up north. With any luck we'll be in Milwaukee tonight and commencing to Route 66 on Thursday.. More details later...

David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.wbafinc.org
Photos:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/WBAF1

Commencing Journey...

Sleep was rough, last night’s show at Lafayette Hill was great. The band was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. They were great in fact and now I have guys I can call when I get to Philly. Mike and I drove to LBI to meet up with Dad and I crashed. Sleep was rough but at least my lungs aren’t wheezing anymore. WE got up and it was pouring rain. Dad drove us down to the beach and we jumped into the Atlantic Ocean to cleanse ourselves for the journey and officially begin out trip. Dad cooked up breakfast and we are jumping on the road to meet with Stetson’s CEO today and take some more video. We’ll put up some low res stuff on youtube soon. See you guys on the Mother Road…

Later:

We made it to New York in one piece although we go lost as soon as we got to Manhattan because the GPS lost signal and didn’t acquire it for a bit after we came out from under the tunnel and we had no idea where we were gong but we couldn’t just stop in the middle of the road and wait for the thing to re-acquire. We found the Stetson office and it was under construction but there was a bunch of really cool stuff in there. My great-grandmother Anna Sikocz worked at the Stetson factory back in the 30’s and they have records of the workers in the factory. I tried on a few shirts and checked out all the old hats and other vintage Stetson stuff. It was really strange to be in the corporate headquarters of Stetson, meeting with the CEO (who was extremely cool by the way) and talking about the history of my favorite hat company!

Pam insisted that we get the heck out of there before the traffic clogged the Lincoln tunnel and we almost made it out of there unscathed but sure enough we got stuck but it wasn’t too bad. We got on the road toward Pittsburgh to rendezvous with my little sister in South Park.

The rain was making it a tedious ride but we did get a chance to stop at a Roy Rogers in the Alexander Hamilton rest stop just outside NYC. I really miss those burgers. There’s just something about the simplicity of a Roy Rogers burger that makes me so happy. I love the rolls too. We arrived at Danielle’s place about 10:30 Mike and I each pulled a three hour shift at the wheel. Danielle and her husband James were there with James’ Mom and we sat down for a great dinner. After finding receptacles for all of the command center recharge, we sat around and BS’d while I checked email and uploaded and tried not to cough on everything. This swine flu just won’t go away!


David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.wbafinc.org
Photos:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/WBAF1

New Adventure!

Jolted awake. My head kept sliding along the plastic window cover on the plane until I got to the place where the crick in my neck became intolerable. Normally a window seat was perfect for sleep but the sweat beading on my head from the fever was making it slippery and I couldn’t rest. I was trying not to exhibit signs of fever, coughing and general flu-like symptoms cause I know how that freaks people out on the plane. I could care less whether or not they caught swine flu; however, I was going home.

The five hour flight was a punishing ordeal of about a hundred false sleeps and overheard boring conversation. I bought a fruit tray for the equivalent of 2 gallons of gas. The yogurt exploded on my powder-blue pyjamas. Whatever…

The last 2 weeks has been a blur of Ski/snowboard training, double feature gigs and hoarse performances while simultaneously moving into an office from my house, getting the flu, no sleep and dealing with over-protective booking agents, inexperienced event coordinators and a club manager who can’t see the forest for the trees. All in a day’s work. Except of course for the flu. I can handle anything when I feel OK but I hate not feeling right inside.

The plane touches down in mid-thought and I’m glad I didn’t have ear-pressure problems. I have some heavy bags and my youngest brother Mike is picking me up at PHL. I haven’t been home since I came off the trail in August of ’08.

I’m feeling like dirt and I probably look like a mental patient wandering the halls of PHL with too many bags and a pale demeanor. We meet and greet, I pull out the HD and start filming cutaways as we drive past downtown Philly and the Ben Franklin Bridge. My stepmom is home and it’s great to see her. I take a nap and Doug comes over while I’m setting up the command center: adapters, chargers and computers so I can remotely administer my affairs.

We decide on bowling and of course I run out of tape before we actually get there. We had a blast and I somehow managed to roll a 194 with a plastic lane ball. Some guys from Uzbekistan were clapping and watching. IT was pretty cool.

We got back and I took over the couch and it was a rough night of flu lungs and crusty eyelids when I finally woke up to the East Coast sun which was up three hours too early.

We are now heading to Sam Ash to pick up some equipment before I play a surprise show at my Grandmother’s retirement home. She doesn’t even know I’m coming…

Tomorrow, Michael and I will be embarking on a journey across the United States. First to New York City to meet with the CEO of the Stetson Hat Company, our newest sponsor and then on to Pittsburg to meet with my best friends little sister. Eventually we will be in Chicago where we will travel along the old Route 66 and see what we can come up with. Adventure never comes planned so we’re not planning for much.

I’ll be posting here as we go along with video, blogs, pictures and other stuff so if yo’re along the way, join us!



David AKA “Mister F. Gentle Spirit”
Website
http://www.wbafinc.org
Photos:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/WBAF1