It sounds like you are having a once in a life time experience! So glad all went well in Vegas & AZ. I look forward to your next e-mail. Sherilyn, you write very, very well!
Clif Bar Tour
“Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again.” …good ol’ Creedence. Yeah, that’s what our day looks like right now, although we’re stuck in Santa Barbara at the Dodge dealership. Seems as though we may have fueled up with a bad batch of Biodiesel! Tarnations! But an update before they kick me out of the dealership showroom floor…
Phoenix didn’t pan out, the communications with the school put us in the wrong location, and we couldn’t set up. Or, more acurate, we showed up, set up, got one song in, then got shut down. So we kicked rocks out to Joshua Tree and camped for the night. We got the when it was dark, and we couldn’t wait to wake up to the magic of the desert. It was amazing!!! None of us had been there before, (Jesse, Fossil Fool, Kipchoge, Eco nor myself). As soon as we woke, we started rock hopping and cruising around the natural playground of Joshua Trees. I’m definately going back there…
We got into San Diego the next day and rocked the Electra and Prana headquarters. (www.electrabike.com, www.prana.com) It was off the hook! Then on to Santa Monica, where the Ninjas played on the Pramanade for hundreds of people! They sold all of the CDs they brought, and Fossil Fool ROCKED THE BIKE! My whole family showed up and everyone danced their asses off! It was great to see you all there! I love so much! It was a monumental journey to the show. We parked the Clif Bar truck at our friend Anna’s about 5 miles away, loaded all the equipment onto our bikes and rode to the show, with Fossil Fool bumbin’ the Soul Cycle the whole way. The Ninjas played their hearts out and SHRIMPED the place! Then we packed up the bikes and rode it all home. Epic I tell ya. Epic.
The next day we decided to take it easy and head out later in the day, so Jesse, Fossil and I rode out to Santa Monica Pier and swam in the ocean, the rode down to Venice and joined the drum circle at sunset. We rocked out with a group of pirate musicians and ate some pizza, then headed back to Anna’s to pack up. We started out on the road after fueling up, and about 50 miles into the drive the truck started acted super wierd. So we pulled off and camped at a state beach above Santa Barbara, and drove back into town thismorning. The unfortunate thing is that they don’t want to work on the truck because the biodiesel will contaminate their equipment! What the heck!!! So we checking all our options right now. I think we’ll at least change the filter, empty out the biodiesel and throw some regular diesel in there. Maybe that will help… but I’ll keep you posted!!! Hopefully I have enough time to post some photos right now…
Check it out! Mike Hill at Prana took some great photos that day in San Diego:
http://www.mikehill.com/data/web/2mile/content/index.html
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Somewhere between Vegas and Phoenix… a quiet little town called Flagstaff, Arizona. This place makes the desert have an appeal for me that I’ve never had. Its beautiful~! We;ve been lucky to be hosted by the creator of TEVA, at his amazing home here. We rode our bikes to downtown and back on the “Urban Trail,” and now the NINJAS are practicing their set out on the lawn.
So Vegas was a very unique experience. The first gig with new members of the Ginger Ninjas. A bit nerve wracking? Ya think? But they did great. We left North San Juan at 8pm Tuesday, arrived in Vegas about 12 hours later. We stayed in a 3-room condo off of Flamingo Rd and Valley View, only a stone’s throw from the strip. We parked the truck and trailer, and biked it around vegas for the next 4 days. We carried everything (including the full band set-up, drums, guitars, amps, speakers, EVERYTHING) on our bikes to the INTERBIKE show at the Sands convention center on Thursday. Clif Bar, being one of the main showcasers, pulled their silver bus into the middle of the showroom floor and the Ninjas played their set on top of it! I couldn’t find Eco’s camera to take any photos, but I was videotaping the whole time anyway. I got a couple of stills on the p.o.s that I’ll post, but don’t make any artistic judgments!!!
Our first night there was a riot. Everyone from Xtracycle was also there for the booth at the convention, and they were camped out in the condo below us. So the whole crew wanted to check out the Vegas night life. I, unfortunately, was so exhausted, that I stayed home and slept so as not to give into the cold I felt coming on. But here’s the collective details of the night.
They were all on bikes. Not just any bikes, mind you, but LONG TAILS and TALL BIKES. Xtracycles all around, Kipchoge’s jungle gym on wheels, all lit up with crazy colored fluorescent, blinking, flashing lights. And to top it off, the Fossil Fool was in the lead with his human-powered audio system. Amplifier, microphone, 10″ speakers on both sides, bumpin’ down the strip, rappin’ and spittin’ to the Vegas street crowd. At the intersection across from the huge golden water show they threw down a bamboo mat, raised Fossil Fool’s bike up on the kick, and they had a dance party right there on the corner! Rockin’, rappin’, dancin’, and they funniest thing was that the people on the street didn’t know what the hell to think!!! Here they are, in THE CITY where people pay hundreds and thousands of dollars to see showcases of freaks, but when it’s right there in their faces, at arm’s length, FOR FREE, they can’t even handle it! Then just as they were quite a few songs in, the beat comes to an end, and BOOM! They water show across the street suddenly explodes to life! It seriously couldn’t have been planned any better. It was awesome! So they ended up rolling to a few clubs here and there, valet-ing their bikes (because you can’t lock them, the police impound them), which was comical in itself. I mean really, can you imaging being that valet, having to walk a bike that’s twice as tall as himself all covered in fur with obnoxious orange lights all over it to the valet lot? Then come back to get the other 12 bikes? HA! That’s great. So the crew soon realized that the scene wasn’t happening in the clubs, because THEY WERE THE SCENE. So they found that mobbing the strip was much more fun.
And so we find ourselves in Flagstaff, relaxing, breathing in the clean air, preparing for the show at Northern Arizona University with the Clif Bar bus on Tuesday. Between the scheduled gigs at the “U”nies with the Clif Bar bus, we’re looking for places to play gigs. Breweries, art centers, small comfortable venues, for fun, you know. So check out the dates that I’ll post both on GetOffYourGass and the www.pleasantrevolution.net, and if you know of a place/person/connection for venues AS WELL AS places that we may be able to camp, like hot springs, camp sites, or houses that we could use for a night, please let us know. The more money we can save on this Clif tour, the more we’ll have to spend on the Mexico Pleasant Revolution tour. So even if you don’t catch us over the next 2 weeks, once we start out on bikes from NorCal to Mexico in mid-October, let us know if we’ll be able to catch up with any ya’ll, and also for the what/who/where. We would be most appreciative! So check those dates and cities!
Responses
By: Marilyn on October 2, 2007
at 11:26 am
Sherilyn so What are you up to? I hope you all have passports cause the’ll let you out of America but not back in now!!! This includes Canada and Mexico. Just thought you should be aware!!!! Karen forwarded me the website.
By: Sherry(mom) on October 2, 2007
at 6:11 pm
Glad to see the blog is working for you. The rockyou.com slideshow is pretty cool, but I couldn’t figure out how to view the photos larger. Do you planning on using flickr.com?
Keep on rockin!
By: Keith on October 2, 2007
at 8:06 pm
Woman!! Man do I miss your smilin’ face! Deb is doing okay, has had a couple of really good days. Chemo is doing its thing, not fun. Deb says to tell you she misses you guys and loves you! Ed & Joyce fell in love with your property and want buy it. I think his offers may be a bit low, but that is for you to decide… it is an all cash offer. Call if you get a chance. Remember to take your vite-C & Zinc to stave off your pending cold (wouldn’t be me if I didn’t say it). Keith cracks me up… Keep on rockin! Just love that guy! J-Man stopped by last night (Monday) Love that big teddy bear! Live large and love long babies! This life is sooo short, so simply do what makes you smile!!! We love you like a M/F’r! India & Deb My heart misses you most…
By: india on October 2, 2007
at 11:11 pm
im so happy for you guys! i wish i could be there as well, out seeing the world, will miss the show, seems friday has fallin by the way side! have a blast!
By: sherri on October 3, 2007
at 3:57 pm
Hi Woman! I meant to tell you during our last conversation that sometimes among the kaos, we find our most pleasureable gifts. If we run from the annoyances that make up our life, sometimes we can miss the beauty of the journey. Injecting our skills and knowledge where we know they will do the best work, may help to calm the kaos and heal our disappointments if only in our own hearts. Perhaps it is the journey it’s self we are meant to encounter and not so much the results? Love you most! Zinc & Vit-C!!! India & Deb P.S. Can you put spell check on this blog…I suck!!
By: india on October 3, 2007
at 8:08 pm
damn we miss you guys!! Just got back from Vegas myself, sure wish it was timed better! Anyway, glad you are having a f#*in’ blast!!! Flagstaff is beautiful, Let me know if we can send you anything!! Love,Luck, and Grand Adventure! You guys got it all! Love-Jenn and Ted
By: jennifer White on October 4, 2007
at 2:31 am
You all are awesome. We’re stoked to hear about your success and think about you often. We can only imagine the band on top of a bus at Interbike. Wow. You are an active peace of the bike revolution and if there is anything that we can do to support you along your journey let us know. Happy trails to you and yours, Greenline Cycles
By: Greenline Cycles on October 6, 2007
at 4:15 am
It’s young, adventurous, righteous types like you who force all of us lazy, selfish, spoiled, cowardly types to feel bad about ourselves.
You guys rock!
By: Monte on October 7, 2007
at 12:13 am
Good goin’ guys!! Life on the road sounds great and I’m jealous sittin’ here in the big city of Rome pining away for a few trees and clean air! I love Flagstaff! Keep on keepin’ on and having a good time (won’t be hard). Guess what…I’m gonna have a baby!
Love to you from Felice and I…
By: Heather on October 8, 2007
at 7:02 am
Robert Lee Hewitt would be proud, Jesse.
By: Brent Lundt on October 8, 2007
at 9:09 pm
What’s up brother! and sister… 
I miss you guys alot! Mom picked the garden and made some killer salsa and canned all the peppers. I love the pics from mike, it gave me a better idea in my head as to the amazing adventure you’re on! I’m excited for you guys and can’t wait to hear more and see more pics! Love you guys!
Ciao
Annie
By: Annie on October 9, 2007
at 3:44 pm
are you there yet??
By: jennifer White on October 10, 2007
at 2:34 am
Hey Chic, What an amazing experience!!! I love having cool friends it gives me something to talk about. Give Jesse a big hug. Love you guy’s!!!!!!
By: Lynn Martin on October 10, 2007
at 3:28 pm
Hey Woman! Sounds like you’re missing out on some good salsa! I miss you soooo much. If you have a moment in your wondeful adventure, give us a call (collect if needed). I wish Deb & I were bangin’ drums with you and Jesse in Venice! Weird thought, but I was remembering rubber band wars at the Gurr’s house after drinking way to much Patron with you and the boys!! I laughed out loud! Really needed it! Hope you’re soaking up every moment of your adventure! Love you guys like a SOB! Swat Jesse on the fanny for me! Love, love, love you!!! Deb & India
By: india on October 14, 2007
at 4:49 am
Hi There, Just a quick note to say you are missed alot. I am taking a beginning computer course at the adult school in town. Amazing what lengths a person will go to when they are forced. By the time you come home I should be up to some kind of speed. Take good care of each other and have lots of fun and adventure!! Jacquie
By: JACQUIE LA FRANCE on October 22, 2007
at 7:41 pm
