I was set to wrestle a bear……
Posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008
Okay, so I’m cheating a bit by writing this so late, but had to share all of the good things with you!
We played in Hayden, Idaho on Friday 10/10 at Daanen’s Delicatessen. It’s here that we met the owner Mark who gave us some of the best food I’ve had on the trip….homemade cottage pie! We met a couple who had moved to Idaho from the bay area and everyone at the show that night really helped us out in one way or another. For some reason, there was more than one person that helped us with some contacts in Hawaii. We’re still on planning on making it out to Alaska and Hawaii to finish up the trip. So the contacts were duly noted! Mark has been running Daanen’s Deli for 12 years and really supports the local music scene. We had a blast hanging with him, the employees, and everyone who took the time to give my songs a good listen.
Mark & Staff ~ Daanen's Delicatessen (Hayden, ID)
After the show, Ammie took the wheel for an overnight drive to Montana so that we would be able to meet up with her aunt and uncle at the MSU homecoming game in Bozeman. We did our best to stay warm at the game and it was a nice introduction to Montana. After MSU suffered a cold loss, I finally got to meet Ammie’s dad, Steve, and his wife Dawn. He really took the time to get to know me and helped out in so many ways. He took us all over town get winter clothes, made sure we ate like kings, and drove us to the radio station so that we wouldn’t have to take out the RV in the snow. The Sunday Brunch morning show with Elle Fine was awesome! I felt so blessed to be on air with such an awesome radio personality. She has the perfect voice for radio and her show is filled with some of my favorite music. I immediately felt at home when I heard her playing some Ryan Adams over the air ways. She even gave away cd’s to callers as a prize and hooked us up with a rep from Chaos Hats to clothe our soon-to-be freezing heads. Hahaha, my CD a prize? Wow, what an experience this has been……and people called in. It really helped me to feel recognized as an artist. So, in return, I wanted to make sure to recognize her new bakery called Elle’s Belles. Check it out and stop for a deliciously good time if you’re ever in Bozeman!
After spending the weekend with Steve, Dawn and their friends Rob and Mary, we ventured down to West Yellowstone, Montana for a Monday afternoon show at the Morning Glory Coffee house. I was surprised to find out that the owner Chris actually roasts his own coffee on site. I immediately thought of Lucas and his career in coffee and hoped that I would be able to visit again with his beats driving the music throughout the mountains of Yellowstone. Chris let us have free reign of the coffee house floor and I spent the afternoon playing some tunes I hadn’t pulled out in quite a while. One of the patrons that stopped in happened to be Anne Millbrooke, a politician from Bozeman who is running for the House of Reps in the upcoming election. She stuck around for my set and picked up some music and shared some of her nephew’s music with me too. Before we left, Chris made sure we were stocked up on coffee, candy, and a ton of contacts for the weeks to come. So be sure to stop by and see him if you’re in West Yellowstone!
Coffee roaster at Morning Glory Coffee House (West Yellowstone, MT)
Chris at the Morning Glory Coffee house (West Yellowstone, MT)
Steve and Dawn spent Tuesday showing us around Yellowstone park and it was nice hearing about all of the good times Steve had spent at the park over the years. I was searching for that dang bear, but I guess it’s still waiting out there for me somewhere. We did get to see a ton of animals, hit the natural hot springs, and enjoy some of the prettiest skies I’ve ever seen. I really want to thank Steve and Dawn for everything and it was such a pleasure to spend that much time with them.
Adam, Ammie, Steve & Dawn
We said goodbye to Ammie’s dad and Dawn on Wednesday morning before we cruised back into Yellowstone park for a lazy journey from the West Entrance in Montana to the East entrance in Wyoming. We stopped at Old Faithful because we had missed the show the previous day. When we got back to the parking lot, we found a small business card on the windshield of our RV (which we unfortunately noticed was cracked upon inspecting the parking ticket from the previous day). The business card was from Mark & Katie, a couple from New Jersey who are traveling around the states too. They have an awesome website and I’d really encourage you to check out their journey as well and you can read about their travels at www.wanderful.us.
Bull elk in Yellowstone Park
Taking in the beauty of Yellowstone
It’s so amazing to get connected to so many people over such a short amount of time. We continue to meet good people everywhere we go and I feel more and more as if our unknown road has been somehow laid out for us. Sure, we have a cracked windshield, a broken generator, and a parking ticket to deal with, but it’s nothing in comparison to the great adventure that we wake up to every morning. Ammie and I are still getting used to being together 24 hours a day, but the smiles and laughs around here greatly overpower our little habits. We are having fun! We are on the road! We are so lucky and miss you all. Cheers!
All I did today was walk 5 miles for breast cancer and went to the Red Bull soap box derby. You guys are making me tired reading all the things you did. Good job guys. Way to kick the roads ass!!
So, Karina told me you guys were doing this. That’s pretty awesome for you guys. She told me you were looking to come to Hawaii and I told her I could most likely hook you up with a show either on Oahu or Maui. Do you know when you guys want to come out here?