catching up... (tour wrap up!)

OK, so, I've been realllll behind on finishing up the rest of the tour stories. We've been home for over a month now. SO, first of all, I forgot to mention before that we saw a house, not a mobile or modular home, but a house, being moved down the road in front of Walter's On Washington.
OK, so, picking up where last we left off. We drove through to Georgia on our day off, once again playing catch up with the tour, trying to get a hold of Matt Miller at various points throughout the day. Finally, maybe two hours away from the Atlanta area, Matt called me back. Apparently the new phone isn't doing so good to him on the voicemail notification. Much thanks to Matt, Danielle, and Trainwreck for letting us crash at their apartment after midnight with two hours notice. Only got to see Danielle briefly the next morning, as she was already in bed that night, like normal people.
Woke up to enjoy my glorious nine thousandth birthday in the city of Atlanta, GA. What we saw of it was pretty awesome. Being around friends on my birthday was great. Matt took us around town, took Ryan, Paul, and I to this amazing vegan soul food restaurant called Soul Vegetarian. Definitely check it out if you ever have the chance. Hooooly shit. Tried to get ahold of my friend Elisha, but I lost his number, and he didn't check his myspace until the next day... damn. I haven't seen that kid since the twentieth century. Ryan and I went for a walk while the rest of the gang went to get pizza (still guided by tour guide Miller), and Ryan bought me a delicious coffee-related drink for my birthday. Thanks buddy!
Ultimately, it was time to head to Augusta, and say goodbye to Matt and Trainwreck (Danielle had long since gone to work - www.yesithurts.net). Much thanks to Matt and Danielle for everything (Matt even mailed our postcards for us!). It was so good to see them again, especially since they don't live in the Empire State anymore.
Augusta was pretty awesome. Wandered around the town a bit, it was kind of wierd. Found a pizza place that was reallllly far away and took twenty minutes to hook up two cheese slices, ouch. But the show was great. Definitely top three Recon sets of tour, as far as I'm concoined. Chris got everyone in the room to wish me a happy birthday, this dude told me about how he drove three hours each way to see us even though he had to be to work at five in the morning, we played awesome, and there was much rejoicing. We stayed with a couple of girls who were very nice to let us strangers abuse their apartment. I slept in the van, comfortably falling asleep in the glorious weather.
Next day was Big Johnson City, TN. Finally got to meet my man Tyler, who I'd talked to probably a million times since the Save Yourself days. Played a little Galaga 3 at the club...I didn't even realize there was a Galaga 3. The side of the cabinet had some crazy latin stuff on it. There was a cafe accross the street from the club, that Ryan and I checked out. We realized after a few minutes that it was actually technically a church, as people filtered in for the night's AA or NA meeting or whatever.
After the show, we drove straight to North Carolina to the new house of Eric and Erik. We'd been looking forward to reuniting with our North Carolina friends ever since we left them last summer, so this was a big deal for us. Such good times, such good folks. Tara baked me a birthday cake, but left it at home forty-five minutes away. Damn. And I bet it was DELICIOUS. Of course it's the thought that counts though; it certainly warmed my cold black metal heart that she would bake a cake for me.
Next up- Virginia! Pulled up to Club Relevant, and, of course, it was another goddamn church! This place was pretty classy though, huuuuge inside, so many rooms.. there was a "green room" with computers and wifi and a big tele with an N64 (so of course Tony brought in GoldenEye), delicious free cookies made by Priscilla the cookie maker.. we got to see our good buddies in Loss of Reason, which is always awesome. This time, they played instead of just hung out, and their new stuff is actually pretty awesome. Not just awesome like 'hey it's my friends, check them out,' but actually some pretty legit shit. And our friend Dyanna once again took awesome awesome pictures of us. Great times all around.
Began the ten hour drive home. Stopped at a WaWa. Pretty awesome if the gimmick hasn't worn off, and let me tell you that for us it had NOT. Oh yeah, Chesapeake Bay Bridge at night? What a rip off. You can barely see anything. They should charge less at that hour.
Got to Tony's around eight in the morning or something like that. Soooo tired. Everyone found somewhere to crash for a few hours, and then off to Northern Lights.
Scurvy dropped off Stillborn Fest, which means that Heal These Wounds got added, which ruled. Those guys are great. Great dudes and great tunes. Mike shreds ridiculously and gloriously all the time. My friend Trisha baked me a delicious vegan birthday cake. End of tour.
I would have made this post longer, and I'm sure I put it off for so long because I was intending to write a goddamn book, but, whatever, it was last year already. I feel like I should say something in closing... well, it was awesome to see so many of my friends (the rest of you displaced new yorkers, there's always next time..), make so many new friends, see so much of the country, play thousands of miles away and have kids going nuts and already knowing the words.. it's great to be back home and see my family, but besides the family thing, I'd much rather be on the road. Don't get me wrong, I love Albany, and seeing my few close friends is cool, but.. can't wait til next time.