Grand Rapids, MI

BGU Jam – Grand Rapids, MI (photo by Jon Miller)

Long before we started planning our Eastern Canada tour for this summer and fall, there was exactly one fixed point in the schedule, and that was a four-day blues jamming extravaganza in Grand Rapids, Michigan organized by our friend Tom (aka tommytubetone), that we could catch on the way home. Tom is no stranger to this blog, having hosted us twice when we were around Kalamazoo. Tom also jammed with me that time in Memphis as well as at various other times and places going back almost ten years by now.

This event was already being laid out when we swung by to see Tom in 2018, and it was well along in the planning stage when we stopped by again in 2019. And while it was disappointing to see all of those plans go into storage with COVID, much like a fine whiskey improves with age, when this bottle was finally opened we found there was pure magic inside.

Continue reading “Grand Rapids, MI”

St John’s NL

St John’s Harbour

At the southeastern corner of the island of Newfoundland, St John’s is the largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador. At this moment, about 530,000 people live in NL, and 212,000 of them (40%) live in the St John’s metro area. [By contrast, just 26,650 (5%) live in all of Labrador, though Labrador accounts for 72% of the land area of the province.] Anyway, statistics aside, we were eagerly anticipating our visit to the urban St John’s for several things we would find there: music, history, hiking, sightseeing… and a Sprinter service center.

Continue reading “St John’s NL”

Recording: The Studio On The Road

Strait of Belle Isle

It’s getting to be about time for a musical post. We’ve been learning and practicing a particular song with an eye towards recording it to use as a joint “summer recital” piece for an online music school we’re both involved with, also as a recording we can share, as well as just to add the song to our repertoire.

This would be the most elaborate on-the-road recording we’ve done, and a first test of our latest traveling studio gear.

Continue reading “Recording: The Studio On The Road”

Festival de la chanson de Tadoussac/Tadoussac Song Festival

Tadoussac was the site of the first Canadian trading post along the St Lawrence in 1599. Its location where the Saguenay River and fjord meets the St Lawrence River made it an ideal trading site between the European and indigenous people of the region. The location is also beautiful! Current-day Tadoussac, home to fewer than 1000 people along with scores of whales, has become a popular destination for tourists (many in search of a glimpse of said whales) and second homeowners from the more southern parts of Quebec. It was also the site of the 37th annual, 4-day Festival de la chanson de Tadoussac (Tadoussac Song Festival).

Continue reading “Festival de la chanson de Tadoussac/Tadoussac Song Festival”

Beaufort, NC

Walker

There is in this blog another post with a very similar opening photo to this one. In that post, we introduced our readers to Walker, who lives with our friends Hope and Carlos in Beaufort, NC. But the photo above is recent, and Walker is almost five years older here than in the previous photo, and don’t we all wish we could have aged as well as he!

Continue reading “Beaufort, NC”

Monroe, NC

Doug, Sue, Maurette, Lloyd

My friend Lloyd has only ever sold one guitar, and I bought it. We met online through the Blues Guitar Unleashed forum, which we were both using in our quests to become the amazingly excellent blues guitar players we are today. Since that seminal transaction, we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well through our online interactions. We have met in person once or twice, and we have tried and failed to meet in person at least one other time. This time, it was relatively simple for Sue and me to adjust our northbound route between Florida and Vermont to include Monroe, NC, which (not coincidentally) is where Lloyd and his wife Maurette have chosen to make their home.

Continue reading “Monroe, NC”

On Hitting the Road Again

Ready to roll?

Well, we’re vaccinated now. Yippee! Of course we’re aware the pandemic isn’t over, but the vaccines are effective, COVID contagion is way down, and it seems folks might responsibly start venturing out and doing a few things again. Non-essential travel probably isn’t one of those things. On top of that, for our next major excursion we’re hoping to tour the Maritime Provinces, and travel to Canada is still not possible for Americans.

However, as much as it’s been a tough 14 months for everybody, it’s been tougher still for seniors in assisted living facilities. Sue’s mom lives in such a place and is long overdue for a visit, so we’ve packed up the quarantine-mobile and we’re heading south to spend a little time with her in Florida, returning back home before it gets too hot for us down there. It will be a shorter trip than previous ones, and we’ll see how it unfolds.

And just like that, we’re off on a new adventure. It feels a little weird…

Social Distance

Well, ordinarily at this time of year, we’d’ve just finished up the ski season and we’d be getting the motorhome packed up and road-ready, while getting the regular home packed up and ready for the house-sitters. Instead, the ski areas shut down a month ago, and of course traveling for 6 months or so is out of the question for now. So we stopped packing, helped our house-sitters arrange alternative housing, and set about hunkering down.

Continue reading “Social Distance”

Home!

Yes, I made it back. The rig is unloaded and ready for freezing temperatures, though it still needs some cleaning up and a few other things before winter sets in. That’s all for now, maybe we’ll have more to say later – if not, here’s hoping we all have an awesome winter!

Well, it appears the jade plant didn’t mind us being away at all… Thanks Britt & Alex!

Heading east

Well it’s been about a week and a half since I dropped Sue off at the airport in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, there is much to keep her busy down in Florida and it doesn’t look like she’ll be able to rejoin me on the road. The upshot is that I’m gaining a fuller appreciation for the things she takes care of while we’re traveling, which include route planning and navigation as well as all or most of the food planning and preparation, among many other things. The astute reader may well ask, “Wait, then what’s left for you to do?”, to which I simply walk away in a huff.

Continue reading “Heading east”