Picking a Path (Andre)

Now that our gig in Reno is over, the Dave Matthews Gorge show has come and gone, and August has turned to September, it’s time for us to pick a new path for the next stage of our journey! We try to vary between plans and spontaneity as we travel down the road. Our next ‘scheduled’ event is September 25^th through the 28^th in Marfa, TX. We will be volunteering at the Trans-Pecos Music Festival, a four-day music and cultural event in west Texas, in exchange for free admission and a camping site. 

We first heard about this event a couple of months back while listening to Outlaw Country on Satellite Radio. A DJ mentioned her upcoming shows and the Trans-Pecos Festival in Marfa. Marfa is 100 miles from Big Bend, where we’ve been wanting to get back to, so it seemed a perfect match. Laura did some looking on-line and saw the line-up which included some bands we really like including Deer Tick, a great RI band, Old 97’s a band from Austin, TX we have seen a couple of times, Elizabeth Cook, the DJ we heard the show from who does some good stuff, and lots of other bands. In truth some of the ‘cultural’ parts of the festival might be a bit of a stretch for us, I think there are some sessions on astrology, yoga, quilting – or other such things, but we’re always up for adventures.

So, having a next destination, Marfa, TX, and being at The Gorge in central Washington state, we decided a trip down the Pacific coast was in order. Kind of like connecting the dots. We’ve talked about wanting to do this at some point, so now’s the time!

We left the Gorge and drove to Tacoma, WA for a much-needed hotel stay to relax, clean up, and do laundry. We then drove to Mount Rainier, from where I am writing this entry, and only 50 miles from Tacoma. After Rainier we will drive to Seattle to check out the sights, and then onto the Olympic Peninsula where we will visit Olympic National Park and then turn south toward San Diego. We hope to visit Portland, OR (lots of breweries and brewpubs), Redwood National Park, Big Sur, perhaps a return visit to San Francisco, then Los Angeles, San Diego, and whatever else we find along the way as we drive the California coastal highway.

We’ll keep you posted!