I Heart Honky Tonk

Friday turned out to be beautiful, breaking the gloomy cloud-filled, rain-misted weekend that made Lyon and I wish we knew where we'd packed all our sweatshirts. Lyon's parents threw us a wonderful going away party Tuesday, and while the rain held off, it felt like a cool fall evening.

But by Friday, the sun came out and warmed our faces and our laundry.

That day, once our laundry was dry enough to pack in a bag, we drove out from West Stockbridge, MA where we've been staying with Lyon's parents, to Brattleboro, VT. There, we met up with the members that make up the honky tonk band, J.P. Harris and the Tough Choices; The lead singer J.P. Harris aka: "Squash," Ben the bread-baker drummer, Asa the Canadian pedal steel player, and Noah the lanky, mullet-rocking, bass player. And then of course, there's Lyon the boyfriend guitar player.

First thing, Asa decided that I should be called "Lyoness" (I took my own liberty with the spelling there) and we decided that being the Lyoness was pretty cool since, as the female Lyon, I surely did all the hunting. I couldn't help but picture a svelte, compact lioness racing over the African plains towards a startled zebra. That's me!

Once we got in what must be a 15-seater van, Squashed hopped in the front seat and we peeled out of there. He handles that van like it's a tiny sports car, and even, at one point, parallel parked it in downtown Brattleboro, pumping himself up before doing so, "I'm gonna parallel park the $%*& out of that parking space!" And he did.

Driving along, listening to the internal band banter and sometimes getting their jokes sometimes not, I pictured Lyon driving away for one of his long tours, and me at home watching X-Files with Kelly. It made me excited for Lyon, happy he'd chosen a lifestyle that allowed him to take off like that for weeks at a time and just play music. I am enjoying not having a job more than I ever thought I would. I liked my work, and I liked knowing that twice a month money would magically appear in my bank account. But I haven't worried about money at all yet, and I love the feeling of not knowing.



Their first gig was in New York State at the Philmont Pub. It was a small bar on main street in Philmont, frequented by the locals. As the money-taker at the door, I had to keep track of which locals walked out just to go down the street to grab a sweatshirt, so that when they came back I didn't pounce on them (like the svelte Lyoness that I am) for their $5.

At the bar, Squash introduced me to the owner as their new "roadie" which is admittedly more fun than just "the guitar player's girlfriend." He joked that having a roadie was a new criterion of the band. Claire, a friend of Squash's was their last "roadie," and is way more badass than myself (shaved head, lots of long bicycle tours behind her, etc). It turned out she forgot her license at home though and so was without it for their entire month-long tour this summer. So I joked that another criterion for the band must be that the roadie leave her license behind. Because yes, I did that. After losing my phone for a week, then after finally finding my phone, not being able to find my charger, but then finally finding it all, I left my little black purse with all the things I was proud as a human being to be finally keeping track of (phone, keys, wallet) in the car back in Brattleboro.

Oh well! The music was great! Ben was a lively drummer and it made me smile to see him playing straight up honky tonk since, as ipod D.J. of the band, he'd graced our ears with everything from Big Boi to Doo-Wop to the Raconteurs. Squash is a natural performer, singing hard into the mic with a deep, smoky but agile voice, and joking with the audience in between songs. At first, the owner, Elizabeth, who was dancing around whenever she had the chance, would yell with encouragement after learning a song they had played was a Squash original. But after a while, she stopped because he kept prefacing his songs with, "this is one I wrote," and the audience realized that they were listening to an original Honky Tonk band-which I think is rare. They only played a handful of covers.

It was great to finally get to see them play, and sort of weird that last night was the first time.

Off to Lancaster, PA today.

Alice

Fundraiser for Posada Esperanza

As we draw closer to the end of our time here in New England, closer to our short visit to the South and closer yet, to the beginning of our trip down the West Coast, I want to announce that through our bike ride from Seattle to San Fransisco, we hope to raise money for an Austin-based shelter for immigrant women and their children.

Having grown up in Texas, where the every-day struggle of immigrants is apparent, I've always admired Posada Esperanza, for the work they do in not only providing a safe place for families, but also tools for surviving and hopefully flourishing in the Austin area.

At Posada Esperanza, women can work on their English, and have access to free child care as well as workshops on topics like nutrition, safety and managing finances. The women have support from staff and are even able to join a network of past residents of Posada. You can find out more here, http://www.casamarianella.org/posada-facility.asp.

Lyon and I hope that our ride will inspire some or all of you to donate a little bit here and there to this organization that strives to give women and their children a fresh, stable start in their new community.

Our meager goal is to raise a dollar for every mile we put behind us, which is about 1,000. I think we can raise more.

To contribute, click on the "Donate" button. 100% of the proceeds will go to Posada.

Thank you,

Alice and Lyon

Coda Comp and Care with Clips

Once again, we had big plans for loading our bikes up and going for a test biking/camping run. And once again, it didn't happen the way we planned it. But, like last time, we learned a lot and made tons of progress.

Lyon bought his bike yesterday- the Jamis Coda Comp. It's the same bike Areil's riding (she's the girl who works at Hampshire Bike Exchange, where we've been going to get all our bicycle-related things). I'll let him tell you about his bike, especially once he's had some time to ride it, but it's got a carbon fork which makes it lighter and I think it's a good shock-absorber too.

Ariel has been such an inspiration. Not only is she always available at the bike shop to answer questions and brainstorm with us, but we've been able to trade some things and help each other out. We gave her an extra 2-person tent we had which she may not use on her trip, but will be good someday. And it turns out, she's letting me borrow her extra pair of bike shoes for our trip. Why do I need special bike shoes? Because they have cleats in them. Why do I need shoes with cleats in them? Because, in the end after much back and forth, we sprung for the pedals with clips, and we decided to just hope that we like them as much as everyone else does.

Lyon is the one who made the decision to get them. I was more of the lazy, cheap attitude-it just seemed one more expense, and the thought of having my foot attached to my pedal made me a little nervous. But once Lyon had made up his mind, I realized I couldn't get left behind. You see, there have been too many instances where we went to dinner and Lyon ordered something adventurous and a little pricey, while I opted to order something I knew I'd like that was in my price range. What always happens? The waiter sets Lyon's food down in front of him and I'm immediately jealous. Well not this time! I won't be huffing and puffing up hills in foot straps while his feet are neatly clipped into pedals, making his uphill climbs more efficient than mine. No way! If he's on board with the clips, I'm on board too!

It was funny riding around the parking lot at Hampshire Bike Exchange with our feet clipped into pedals for the first time. And before I took off, I tried engaging and releasing my foot from the pedal. I couldn't get my foot out! I tried and tried, but eventually ariel had to run and get a screw driver so she could release the tension on the pedal. I'm glad that happened with one foot on the ground instead of while in motion. Ariel laughed as she remembered her first experience with clips. Unable to get her feet out of her pedals when she came to a stop at a light, she simply fell over. Once I was sure I'd be able to get my foot out, I took a spin, and it did feel good. I can tell how it would be an efficient use of power.

In addition to Lyon's bike this weekend (which happened to be tax-free weekend in Massachusetts, sweet!), we bought:

A bike light that detaches and functions as a flashlight

A multitool with most of the bike tools we'll need (complete with tire levers)

2 rear racks

One pair of Panniers (we went with a brand called Axiom. They're medium sized, and are not completely water proof because if they were they wouldn't be breathable at all. They just look like little back packs, and they have straps we can use to care them like shoulder bags when we're on a plane or bus.

An adapter for our Presta tire valves (this will allow us to fill our tires at gas stations. bikes I had growing up were always Schrader valves, but the last two bikes I've had have been Presta. Here's a quick explanation and some pics: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/presta-schrader.html)

Bottle cages (for now, we each have two)

A small pump that fits easily against a bike's top tube (we had one already, but this one has a short hose, which will make pumping easier).

A $5 patch kit for when we get flats

2 extra tubes (again, for when we get flats)

A long bike lock that we can use to lock both our bikes together (we also both have Ulocks).

That's mostly it. We've still got more to buy, but the bulk is out of the way. Oh! And we planned out the first few days of the trip. More on that in the next entry.

My New Bike and Other Developments

Lyon is back! After almost a month on the road, he came rolling into New England from West Virginia in a van full of haggard musicians. In fact, the night he got in, I was driving back from NYC after a last visit with Julia, Brad and Adam. And wouldn't you know, on I- 91, about an hour from Northampton, I noticed a van coming up beside me, and then slowing down to match my speed. I don't really know the people Lyon was on tour with this last time. I've never seen them play, and I'd only ever briefly met Squash, the man behind JP Harris and the Tough Choices.

So I didn't recognize the pretty girl with the tattoos and shaved head waving wildly at me through the front window, and all the back windows were tinted, but I knew Lyon was in there somewhere. I waved with caution at first, but smiling and growing more certain that this was the Tough Choices band van. Then Lyon must have crawled up to the front seat because out popped his head, hat and hair blowing in the wind, all teeth and smiles. They pointed to the nearest exit, pulling ahead of me, and I followed them. After coming to a stop, I climbed out of my car and Lyon came running down the road to hug me, while the band clapped and yelled.

So we're back in the same space again, and we may not have our own home to go to anymore, but we certainly have loving, caring friends who are making sure we are far from homeless (we are actually closer to spoiled than homeless).

But, let's talk about bikes. Guess who got her new blue touring bike! It's the Jamis Aurora, and it looks like this:




I got it last Thursday and have been riding it some, but am still getting used to it. It's much bigger than my other bike, and I notice the difference, but the longer I go without my old bike, the less I compare this new one to it. I feel safer on it, and it handles roots, rocks, gravel and pot holes much better. We've been staying with Levin and Dawn out in Leverett, and the other morning I took off in the early morning to work. It was so cool to roll out of the drive onto a gravel/dirt road (even though it turns to paved road in a matter of yards) and bike through the woods, past farm land and vegetable stands. I have to admit I was getting a little sick of the bike path from Northampton to Amherst.

When I went to buy the bike, this girl, who I'd spoken to before, was working. First of all, her "cool" points already go through the roof because she works at a bike shop and rocks the greasy black fingers and cute Euro racing cap like a pro. Secondly, she's biking from Seattle to San Francisco in September! Of course it crossed my mind to ask her if she wanted to maybe meet up on the West Coast, but I didn't want to cramp her style, so I bit my tongue. But she actually brought it up herself! And we exchanged numbers. Sweet. I feel so much more comfortable asking her questions about what I need to buy and do for this trip than I do asking anyone else. Oh, and she's building and customizing her own bike. Cool points just went to the moon.

Thought: Lots of people say to get clips for our pedals. I don't want to spend the money on the clips or the shoes. And I'm secretly (or not so secretly), afraid to have my feet clipped in like that. I'm just getting used to the pedal straps on my current bike. Maybe next tour we can get clips.

And lastly, yesterday we went to a free bike clinic at REI. It was nothing fancy, but I learned to change a tire, and how to maintain a bike. We wandered around the store getting ideas of what we might want to buy, mostly taking mental notes. We did, however, get a durable coffee cup to share, and two camping sporks. We'll have to write our names on them so that when Lyon looses his he doesn't try to steal mine (wink!).

We eyed the multi-tools (like a swiss army knife but instead of toothpicks and tweezers, it's wrenches and levers and other bicycle tools), but we didn't buy one. Maybe we can find one cheap on online.

Full speed ahead at this point. At Rao's now, feeling sentimental. I wrote so many papers and did so much procrastinating at this coffee shop over the years. I passed a piece of paper with the Coasting blog to one of the guys that's been working here since I can recall. He's always been so nice and always remembered my face as one of the many frequent visitors to his coffee shop. Once, when I was walking to town, I passed him on the sidewalk and we waved. "I know where you're going!" he teased. I don't remember anymore where I was going, but we was probably right. I was probably going to Raos.

Here we go!