Running a bit hot today trying to wrap everything up. Big S is primed. Oil change, a fresh detail and a tire rotation, and damn, he is ready for some serious miles. Little sister Leah has been helping out immensely around the house as we secure the joint for the next couple months. Leah will be joining Gary and I on “LEG 01” of the tour, and well, we couldn’t be happier. There is strength in numbers and hell, her little firecracker attitude will be a good weapon as we make our way east.

Just putting the finishing touches on the “summer’s onslaught.” Couple more little tasks to complete, some gear to pack and we’re outta here.

DDC “GARY ACROSS AMERICA” FALL TOUR, LEG 01,
SEPT. 14th–SEPT. 20th: “Cut The Nation In Half Tour”

South outta Portland and down to those Redwoods for some “old growth gazing.” Then down the coast a bit toward San Francisco, in which we’ll take a big ol’ left turn heading due east, across the waist of California, through those Sierras, dropping down into Reno for some dirty luck on the roulette tables. With “civilization” behind us, we’ll make our way across Nevada on Highway 50, better known as, “The Loneliest Highway in America.” Once in Utah, we’ll check out some big, orange rock formations, while pondering the polygamist issues that have challenged certain frisky compounds of Southern Utah. Then we’ll snake across the southern lands of Colorado, and up over those Rockies and down into Kansas. Once we’re across Kansas, we’ll spend a wild night in Lawrence. And then it’s across Missouri and those Okarks, with a jump across the mighty Mississippi River. Then it’s Kentucky horse country, with some sort of swooping left turn that gets up heading north up through Indiana and into Michigan, all the way up to mom and dad’s compound. This is “LEG 01” and man, we are ready for whatever lay ahead. All of this, of course, is if we “make good time.”

For whatever reason, the act of ‘getting out of town” is—and always—a challenge. Sandy boulevard was jam-packed with slowgoin’ roadhogs. I had two final errands to run, and man, no one was gonna make it easy on me. This, and that overly-thorough FedEx gal that has to fuckin’ measure and re-measure each box over and over again. As that clock ticks towards that pressured 4;30pm cut-off point, I found myself wanting to grab her tape measure and throw it through one of the large plate glass windows that look out to fast-paced world outside of kinko’s. Horseshit.

With everything take care of, we racced up Sandy to get that 205 south on ramp. There is something about that first on-ramp at the start of big roadtrip. I was so excited to be getting the hell out of my beloved Portland.

Took the 205 down to the 5 at Wilsonville and punched the gas. The next stop was Grant’s Pass, pulling into the first Motel 6 that was offered up. Did a quick unload to “test our skillz.” (Seeing how fast we could “tear down and get into the room” is a crucial measurement on the road.) Gary took a whiz, and that was it. Excpet for the midnight screening of Scorcese’s masterpiece, “Raging Bull,” which of course, I had to watch in its entirety. I fell asleep dreaming of a Deniro, specifically, that weird prosthetic nose towards the end of the flick.