Portland, OR

Oh man, I was so excited to be going to Portland. This was the first time in the trip that I was going to see a familiar face. We were staying with one of my best friend’s older sister, Andrea and her boyfriend Charlie. Mark loved Portland the moment he saw all of the cyclists on the road, and the bike lanes on pretty much every street dedicated to them.


As soon as we got there, Andrea took us to see this. The Brewcycle. It’s this giant bike that seats 15 people. You sit at the bar and pedal. They go on tours and go from pub to pub on this. It’s awesome. Andrea and Charlie just started up the business, and what better place to do it than in Portland! If you are out in Portland, or know someone who is, tell them to check out BrewcyclePortland.com. It’s definitely something worth experiencing.


That night we had a show just outside of Portland at Maher’s Pub in Lake Oswego. It was a cool place. They had outdoor seating in the front, the inside bar, and then a back patio with a kitchen and grill outside and a stage in the corner. We played out back and it was good, especially the last song. We ended with Leave the Light On, and it was just the perfect ending.


Mark loves when the places that we stay have animals. This is Murdoch. Andrea and Charlie’s cat. She’s a bit of a spaz, but they had a good time playing together.


We decided to go out for breakfast to start out the next day. Andrea found some place online and just as we got outside to start our walk we saw this sidewalk chalk drawing. As soon as Mark and I saw the “JoJo” we looked at each other and laughed, because he calls me that from time to time. I guess the chalk artist must’ve thought his name was Sher Bear.

Breakfast was fantastic! Andrea and Charlie both had these giant omelets and Mark and I each had homemade banana bread French toast. So good!

Then we each spent the afternoon doing what we needed to do. Andrea and Charlie doing Brewcycle stuff, Mark went for a long run around Portland, while I worked on editing the vlog.


This is the view from their apartment. It has this garden atmosphere and then fake grass and a fake fire hydrant for people to bring their dogs to. No joke. It’s a really pet-friendly apartment building.
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We had another show that night, this time in downtown Portland at a place called PINTS. It’s a coffeehouse by day and a taproom by night.


Cory, the bartender, hand picks each of the beers that they have on tap and it’s constantly changing. This is what they had on tap the night we were there. You should check one or two of them out.



As we were setting up, we were totally surprised to see a familiar face that we weren’t expecting to see. This is Emily. She used to live in Madison, but recently moved out to Portland for work. A mutual friend of ours had told us before we left, but we forgot that tidbit of information along the way. So when Emily came through the door, we were really glad to see her.


We were also surprised by these two, David and Grace. They had seen us out at Maher’s Pub the night before and we let them know that we would be playing in Portland the next night, and they said they wanted to come down. We were taken by surprise when they came down the next night. It was awesome. Really encouraging that they enjoyed it so much that they came out for a second night. Very cool.

Mark and I had a pretty interesting experience that night. We had the guitar case set up in front of us as a tip jar. We typically throw in a $1 and a $5 to start off the case. This lady came in from out on the streets when we were doing our medley. She said she heard us from blocks down and loved it. She danced around a bit, gave us hugs, and told us that we should have went on American Idol.

She stuck around for a couple songs. Mark was doing one by himself while I was sitting at the bar. I noticed her hanging by the guitar case. She was putting some coins in, but I noticed her grab a bill out of the case. No one else caught it. She came over by the bar and talked with my friends and I for a little bit, and I asked her what she took out of the case. She told me that she just made change. I didn’t trust her, but before I could do anything else Mark called me back up to sing the next song with him. I glanced at the case as I sat down, and sure enough the $1 bill was still in the case, but the $5 bill that we had put in was gone.

I sang the song with Mark, but I was completely distracted. As soon as we finished she gave us more accolades and then walked out. I couldn’t just sit and not do anything. I jumped up out of my seat, Mark asked what I was doing and I followed her outside a few feet. We were about 20 feet from the bar when I caught up with her and confronted her. I told her I knew she took $5 out of our case, that this was what we did to make a living. I wanted to give her another chance to be real and ‘fess up. She just couldn’t do it. She said that she took one dollar out to make change and handed me the dollar and quick walked away.

Man, it really messed with my mind the rest of the night. I’ve seen homelessness, poverty, and I bet she is living a pretty tough life. I can understand why she would steal from us, but it doesn’t make it right. And it makes it worse that she had two opportunities to rectify her actions.

Five dollars isn’t going to kill us. But was that whole situation worth five dollars? She knows that we know what she did. I would have been really angry at myself if I hadn’t said anything and just sat by. I can’t help but wonder if she went off and was angry with herself for doing what she did and denying it, or if that didn’t phase her at all. I don’t know. Won’t know. But the scenario affected me. I know the story was lengthy, but I needed to write out my thoughts about it. Hope you don’t mind.



The next morning we decided to get breakfast again before hitting the road. We called up Emily and had her meet us, and the five of us all had a nice breakfast together.


I ordered the short stack of blueberry pancakes. The pancake was as big as the plate. It was huge. I could only eat one. It was great having some time to hang out with friends before leaving for the ocean.

Portland, you were good to us. Friends, you were even better to us. I wasn’t quite ready to leave, but that’s how the story goes.



Until next time,
Jordan

Tacoma, WA

The drive from Coeur d’Alene was another one of those scenic adventures. It wasn’t the big tall mountains that we saw the day before, but we did feel like we had gone back in time to when dinosaurs walked the earth.


This was unlike anything we had seen on our journey before. Like we were in Jurassic Park. We saw this as we were crossing the Columbia River. It’s definitely one of the most memorable scenes of the trip thus far.


We came across a windmill farm on the West bank of the Columbia River. They are always so neat, because you can spot them in the distance, because they’re a big cluster.


Mark and I had seen white caps back in Montana, but then all of a sudden we saw this snow-covered mountain in the distance. Mount Rainier. It was so much taller than the mountains around it. We were excited to be driving towards it, until we found out it was a dormant volcano (serious, that's why it's there... by itself).


When we got into the Tacoma area, we went straight to Mark’s uncle and aunt’s house, where we would be staying for the next two nights. Meet Carl and Kaz.


Carl. He's retired, and now works for 3 hours for 4 days during the week doing maintenance repairs at a independent living apartment. He likes watching the History channel and has a lot of stories to share from his time in the Army.


Kaz. This picture was taken in her home shop, where she cuts hair. She said she's going to cut hair until the day she dies, and she has a witty sense of humor. What a treat to be able to spend time with them.

It was so neat, because it had been so long since Mark has seen them. Years. 10? 15? Somewhere in there. Regardless, it had been a long time. So it was really cool that we were able to come this way and spend some time with them.


The first night we were in town, we had off, so we were able to hang out and we had dinner out in the gazebo. Lucky, the dog, joined us.

I spent the rest of the night editing video and working on the blog, while Mark watched the Seattle Mariners baseball game with his aunt and uncle. Kaz is big into the Mariners. She even keeps track of their wins on the calendar on the refrigerator.

The next morning, Mark got up early and cooked them breakfast and then we went on a journey to the different bicycle shops in Tacoma to see if anyone could fix Mark’s spoke. We searched to no avail. However, we did replace one of the water bottles that we left behind at a gig, with one from Tacoma Bike.

We stopped at a park for an hour to practice, and Mark ended up writing the beginning of a new song. A tour song. Inspired by the different places we have gone so far. It’s cool, you know? Cool to see how the things that have been surrounding us lately can directly inspire a person. Hopefully more of the song will come throughout the tour and then I can get some footage of it to include in the vlog.

After our time in the park, we went to lunch with Carl and Kaz at a super china buffet. Mark took a little cat nap in the car on the way home, and then we showered and got ready for the show.


Our show was at The Mandolin Café. A really neat place. Funky decorations. Mandolins up on the wall. A sound guy. Good food and drinks. A place that you should definitely go to hang out at if you are around Tacoma. And if you are a musician that ever plans to go through Tacoma, this is the place to go.


If you walk one block up from Mandolin Café, you will go up a little hill and have this view in the distance. Mount Rainier. Bigger and better than where we saw it on the highway. It caught me off guard. I went for a little walk before the show and as I headed back, there it was staring back at me.

The show was a good time. Carl and Kaz came out, and Mark’s cousin Ron came down. It had been years since they have seen each other, too. They didn’t even recognize each other. They had never seen Mark perform before, so it was cool that it worked out to have a show in Tacoma so they could see what he’s been doing as a musician.

Mark had a couple other friends come out to this show. A guy he knows from Racine, Joey, came out with his girlfriend and one of their friends. We got to see Joey earlier in the day and he gave us a tour of University of Pudget Sound, where he's going to school. And then Mark’s friend from Chicago, Julie, came and brought a few friends. I know it was exciting for him to see some familiar faces.


The next morning Mark cooked breakfast again for everyone, we said our goodbyes, and got some pictures and footage before heading out on the road again.

Tacoma treated us well, but I’m excited to be going to Portland and seeing a familiar face. Portland’s bound to have a bunch of stories.



Until next time,
Jordan

Coeur d'Alene, ID

Coeur d’Alene. We had only heard good things about the area, so we were looking forward to the drive. Saying it was absolutely gorgeous doesn’t seem to cover how awestruck we were.


This was my favorite area. No editing was done to this picture. Blue, blue sky. Green trees. Even the shadow of the cloud. I loved the color. It was so vibrant.


I think this area was Mark’s favorite. The picture does not do it justice. It’s a screen shot from the video footage we have. We’ve never seen mountains so tall. And full of trees. Completely full of trees. It took our breath away.

We were headed for a hotel just past Coeur d’Alene, in a city in Washington called Liberty Lake. It was the first time we were in a hotel on the trip, and I think it will be the only time. We weren’t going to stay in the hotel room the whole time and miss the city, especially on the fourth of July.


So we headed to Lake Coeur d’Alene for the fireworks on the beach. It was packed down there. There were party boats out on the lake and people looking to have a good time.


We killed time on the beach waiting for the fireworks to start by playing Angry Birds and ukelele. The fireworks were awesome. It was a hoot. Especially the grand finale. I’ve never seen a grand finale so grand. One on top of another. It just kept going. I was giddy. So glad we had a night out. I’d say it was a pretty fantastic fourth of July.

But I’ll end my story there.
Mark wants to share about the next morning…his bike ride.



Until next time,
Jordan





Well, the plan was to bike 5-10% of the miles that we are putting on the car (5,500+ car miles = 225 to 550 bike miles). Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but at least I was able to get out for the first time on Tuesday, the day after Independence Day. I’m a much earlier riser than Jordan, so the plan was to do a 30-40 mile ride in the AM.



I headed out of the motel with my bike and GPS. The darn GPS took several minutes to load , so I started biking without my route. Unfortunately, I started the wrong way, so I added about 5 miles to the ride before even starting the planned route.


It turned out to be a great ride. Ten miles to Lake Newman. Approximately fifteen miles around the lake. Then, ten miles back. Some steep hills. A lot of beautiful scenery. Turkeys. Deer. Horses. Farmland. The lake. Mountains in the distance. Beautiful.

The big, BIG negative was that I broke a spoke at the beginning of the ride. I rode it anyway, but I won’t ride again until it gets fixed, which will be in Los Angeles. I ordered the replacement spoke via a bike shop there.

So, I’ll be running this next week. I won’t be able to see as much, but I’m happy that I’ve got my running shoes with me.



Until next time.
Mark

Bozeman, MT

Got on the road in the morning headed to Bozeman, Montana. This was our first night of the tour that we didn’t have a show lined up. Instead, it was a big driving day. 8 hours.


The scenery is ever-changing for us. This is what a lot of today was. Green grass. Green trees. Lots of rock.


We pulled off the interstate so that we could do a driver change, and the exit we picked just so happened to have a dinosaur museum. We had to pull in and quick snap a picture because it reminded us of Mark’s nephew Caden and niece Adilyn.


I got to drive because Mark needed to get a little more rest. That meant I got to pick the music and I had a great time singing along. And this was my co-pilot. What a funny sight.


We switched back when we got to Billings, and shortly after we got our first glimpse of this. White caps. Mountains in the distance. Snow. We were seeing snow in July. It was so neat. I can’t tell you how much footage we got on the Flip camera, because we were just in awe.

A friend of Mark’s used to live in Bozeman, so she gave us a couple numbers of people to contact about a place to crash for the night. We called her friend Nikki to see if we could use some floor space. She was in the middle of moving but was more than okay with us coming for the night.

Not only that, but when we got to her house, Nikki and a few of her friends were on the porch grilling out for dinner. They made delicious pork tenderloin, potatoes, and corn on the cob, and introduced us to John Dailys. It’s an Arnold Palmer (iced tea & lemonade) mixed with vodka. Great after a long, hot day in the car.


After dinner we started playing whiffeball in the backyard. Paul and Kevin did most of the pitching and Aaron, Mark, and I rotated in the outfield. Until Nikki got up to bat. She cranked it and the ball went flying into the tree and it got stuck. None of us could tell where it was. Paul started climbing the tree to find it. And then we finally saw it, and Paul was in the completely wrong tree to try and get it out. We were all laughing pretty hard.

Mark and I went to a little coffeeshop up the block so that I could finish editing and uploading the vlog. It was taking so long, that we even hung out on their patio after they closed to make sure it went through.


Then we went back to the house and Paul and Aaron had left, but Mike and Alyssa had joined the party. Mark and I did a couple songs for them and we just hung out on the back porch chatting and laughing about what state Bozeman is in. What a fun bunch. Gosh, we wished that we could have stayed longer to hang out with everyone. It was so relaxed and comfortable.


Mark knows how much I love stars, and he’s a pretty big fan, too. So we asked everyone where a good place was to check out the stars. They told us to head up to Peet’s Hill. We drove to where we thought the trailhead was, ended up walking out of our way, but eventually hiked up to the top of this hill and took a little time to gaze up at the stars.

In the morning, we took Nikki and Mike out to breakfast as a thank you for dinner the night before and for letting us crash there. And before we headed out of town, Mark took me up to a different part of Peet’s Hill from where we were the night before.


He got up early and went for a run on this path and came upon this great lookout where you had such a view of the city of Bozeman and the mountains surrounding it. It was a cool sight to see. Too bad we only got to stay in Bozeman for one night.




Until next time,
Jordan

Mandan, ND

As soon as Mark woke up in the morning in Fargo he went to find a grocery store so that he could pick up supplies to make breakfast. Breakfast burritos. One of Mark’s specialties.


It’s a good thing Alex had a huge frying pan, because there was a lot of food for everyone. We wanted to thank him for his hospitality and what better way than to cook him breakfast before he headed off to work.


We had a little bit of time to kill before we had to drive to Mandan, which was only a few hours away. We went to Atomic Coffee so that we could upload the first vlog and start posting here on the blog.


Downtown Fargo had a bunch of these decorated bison, so we figured we had to do the tourist thing and get a picture with one before we headed out. We were cruising along down the freeway going 75 (because that’s the speed limit in North Dakota), when all of a sudden there were signs for 55 and then 25 and there were orange barrels all around and levies to try and prevent the water from creeping up more.There is a lot of flooding going on in North Dakota, especially once we started getting closer to the Bismarck/Mandan area. There was standing water on the east bound side of the freeway. It was unreal.


Mandan was the first location that we were going to be at for more than one night. We were playing Friday & Saturday at a place called Captain Freddy’s.


We set up outside on the stage on the porch. It was awesome watching the water flow by as we played. But later in the set the mosquitoes started attacking. During the break Mark started calling around to try to find a hotel room for the night, because we hadn’t found a place to stay yet for both nights. Every single hotel was booked in the city. Not only is it a holiday weekend, but so many people are staying in hotels because of the flooding. We threw in the towel and decided that Friday would be our first night of camping.


There was some land by the docks across from the marina where the guy from Freddy’s said we could pitch a tent among the trees. So while Mark was DJing for the crowd around midnight, I went and did just that. I set up our home for the night. It was all part of the adventure. A story within our story. I only got a total of 2 hours of sleep, Mark might’ve only gotten double that. Also part of the adventure.


In the morning we went around with tour guide Mike. Seriously, Mark’s buddy Mike used to be a tour guide for Lincoln National Park, [[whats the name?]] so he showed us all around Bismarck and Mandan and told us about the flooding and the history. He also bought us an ice cream along the way. Thanks Mike for the tour, it was awesome to have someone show us around.

We took a nap in our tent and in the afternoon it was beautiful. The breeze coming off the water made it just cool enough to fall asleep with all the windows open. But we knew we had a long driving day after the Saturday night show, so we called around to see if anyone had a hotel opening for the nights. The Super 8 was the only place in town, but we decided to save some money and camp one more night.

That was true…until we met Matt.


Matt and his friend Scott came out to Captain Freddy’s Saturday night and they seemed to really enjoy the acoustic music. So we were talking with them and telling them our story. Matt asked where we were staying and we pointed to the trees and said we had a tent set up beneath them. Without a moment of hesitation he said, if we needed a place to stay we were more than welcome to crash at his house. Two big beds in the basement, a place to do laundry and shower? We couldn’t refuse. We gladly took Matt up on his offer, and we were beyond blessed once again by the hospitality of these young gentlemen in North Dakota.


Thank you Matt (And Zorro!) for opening up your home to us. We appreciate it so much. Your kindness is something we won’t forget!




Until next time,
Jordan

Fargo, ND

After our breakfast with Charlene in Winona, we got in the car and started traveling to Fargo, ND.


On our way we saw this crazy sight. The usual scenery was green. Green grass. Green trees. And a few rolling green hills. And then this. Metal, metal, and more metal. Not too sure what this was, because we didn't see any signs, but we thought it was interesting.

Man oh man was it hot out! Thankfully the air conditioner is working and in full use during the hot days. Because by the time we got into Fargo it had reached 100 degrees. We watched the temperature in the car go from 99 to 100. We ended up running an errand and going to Best Buy... for two reasons.

One. We left the piano adapter cord in Winona. At least, that's where we think it is. We're not too sure. But this is the second time that exact cord has been left somewhere in the last few weeks. That cannot happen again! So if you think it's around the time when we are packing up, feel free to text one of us and tell us not to forget the cord.

The second reason was to get a fan. Even when we were in air conditioning we were both feeling pretty uncomfortable. So an oscillating is our newest addition to the equipment. I think it's going to come in handy.


The show in Fargo was at The Winery. It was a cool place. Local artwork on the walls. Lots of wine. And a beautifully lit ceiling with strands of lights. We even met a guy there that had run in Crazy Legs, which is a run Mark did a month or two ago. Small world!


After we got everything packed back into the car and the trailer, we quick got a picture before heading to the place we were staying that night, which is a great story in itself.

So, when we were in Winona, this girl Alyssa came into the Acoustic, ordered a sandwich and came to listen to the music for a song or two. During that time Mark was talking about how we were going to Fargo the next night, and she said she was from Fargo, that her brother lives there and we could probably stay with him. She told us she had to get going, but gave us her name and number and told us to give her a call.

We did just that. We called her once we were packed up and she said that she talked to her brother and it was cool to stay with him. So we got his name and number and got into contact with him.


Meet Alex. (And Shane and Sam).
Alex is one of the most down-to-earth, laid back people I have ever met. He totally opened up his apartment to us and we had a great time just hanging out in the living room talking for a while. He and some friends were going to be hanging out for a while, so he offered up his bed to us. His ginormous king size bed. We were blown away by his hospitality, and couldn't believe how it all worked out so perfectly.

Alex, I sure hope our paths cross again someday. You are a terrific guy and it was a joy to meet you.




Until next time!
Jordan

Winona, MN

It's official. It's happening. We are on tour.
It's pretty much a dream come true for both of us.
Our adventure is just beginning, but it's been a fantastic start.

Crossing over the Mississippi to get to Winona is absolutely beautiful.
On one side you have these gigantic bluffs and the other side you see this gorgeous blue river past the trees.
I only hope this is a brief taste of the scenery that we will encounter.

Our first destination was the Acoustic Cafe in Winona. We had been up here before, and it's a cool place. College town. Back room set up for music. And great corned beef sandwiches. We even met this cool kid, Jessie, that was more than willing to help us unpack the trailer once we got there.

Who's that guy?

Anyways, meet Charlene. She is fantastic. We've stayed up by Charlene before, but the last time that we did, it was in the dead of winter. It was completely different this time around. When we got back from the show, we poured some champagne, Mark got a Guinness and we went out on the porch. A cool little breeze. Looking up at the stars. We couldn't have asked for anything better. Charlene gave us a little tour of the farm, introduced us to a couple horses, and then we headed back to play a few songs on the porch. It was a perfect end to the first day. The next morning she made us a great breakfast. Sweet potatoes and cabbage with eggs. We have to remember that combination. It's terrific.

Thank you Charlene for your hospitality. It is always a joy to stay with you.






Until next time!
Jordan