IIIrd Tyme Out road diary, episode 5

This post is a contribution from Steve Dilling. He will be chronicling IIIrd Tyme Out’s west coast tour for Bluegrass Today in October, as he has done in the past.

October 28, 2010 We pulled out of the truck stop around noon with Jack behind the wheel of the bus. The next venue was called Don Quixote’s in Felton, CA. We had worked there a couple of years ago, so we kind of knew what to expect…… great Mexican food and a good time! It was about a 4 hour drive over to Felton. After a couple of hours, Justen took the wheel to take it on in to the show. The rest of us were busy getting showers or just resting in our bunks.

We arrived at the venue around 4:00 p.m. and there was absolutely nowhere to park the bus. The locals that live in the houses behind the venue do not appreciate 45 foot buses pulling in front of their houses, so we just maneuvered around from place to place. Finally, a few spots opened up behind the restaurant and we were able to secure a parking place for the duration of our stay. We got loaded in, did a quick sound check and had dinner by 6:30. We took the stage at 7:30 to a smaller, but very enthusiastic audience. They were really into our music. There were a few notables in the crowd….. CBA members Tim and Sue Edes, Ed Alston and Bill and Alicia Meiners. We played 2 long sets and had a great time. Thanks to Tom Miller and all of the folks at Don Quixote’s for having us back.

After performing, we got loaded back up on the bus and made our way back to Hayward, CA to our friends Bill and Maria Nadauld’s home. We arrived around 12:30 a.m. to find Bill outside grilling the biggest pile of steaks that you have ever seen!! Maria and her friend, Sandra Burdick, were getting the table ready with fresh salad and baked potatoes! By 1:00 a.m., we were having a feast! Justen, Edgar and Wayne even found time to wash a load of clothes while we were eating. After filling up on steaks and all the fixings, we had some good fellowship with our friends. We all hit the sack around 3:00 am.

We pulled out of Hayward at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning heading over to the San Francisco bay area going north toward Orland, CA to perform at the Murdock School House. The morning air was very clear, which is unusual for the bay area. There is usually lots of fog there. The view across the bay of the city of San Francisco was gorgeous. You could also get a good look at the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. We stopped and did our usual fueling of the bus, filling the fresh water tanks and taking out the garbage.

It was a little over 3 hours up to the show from Hayward, so it wasn’t too bad of a ride. We were able to see some scenery of the state that we haven’t seen very much before. It is amazing to see how much farming is done in California. It is definitely not the perception of California that most people have back east. Russell drove us up to Orland, when we got there, we were a little early so we pulled into a truckstop and basically hung out for a while. We spent out time working crossword and sudoku puzzles while Justen and Edgar continued their year-long, John Madden football competition.

We arrived at the venue and loaded in at 4:30 p.m., met the owners of the venue and had sound check at 5:00 p.m. After sound check, we sat down to a table that was sitting 17 people and had a delicious dinner. Joining us for dinner were the owners, Pete and Lani Verboom, the promoter, Grant Garland, and his wife and Kyle Porter, owner of the sound company. This was an old school built in 1919. From what I was told, the Verboom’s bought this place after it was gutted by a fire and totally restored it. It was so beautiful.  After dinner, we hung out on the bus and visited with our old friend, Bruce Johnson, and his girlfriend, Diana. Bruce is a great musician and was a band mate of Russell’s when they both worked with Doyle Lawson.

We took the stage at 7:30 and played 2 sets. We had a great show, and did a few extra gospel numbers by request. The audience was also glad to hear that the Giants had won game 1 of the World Series when it was announced. Once again, most people in attendance had never seen the group before, and, once again, several CBA member were there including Lucy Smith, Jeanie Ramos, John and Pat Rumiano and Kris Hare, whom we had borrowed a bass from a few years back on a trip when we had flown out here to California.

We finished up around 10:00 p.m., loaded up and got on the road by 10:45. Once again, we found ourselves traveling in the rain. It seems that keeping the bus clean and shiny just isn’t going to happen for us on this trip! Justen drove about 3 hours to the south and shut down for the night.

I woke up Thursday morning around 7:15 a.m. and drove a couple of hours more before pulling in to get some breakfast with Russell and Jack. We are playing tonight (Thursday) just outside of Los Angeles in Northridge. I will be updating you on that on Friday.

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