Show Journal 1998-08-29
After being awakened by a biker guy who’s presence is so disturbing I can’t even write about it we got moving and headed to California. The place we were playing that night was about 2 hours west of San Francisco but we really wanted to see S.F., so bit the bullet and drove the extra miles. We got there mid afternoon and played tourist for as long as we could. We saw Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and even Lombard Street (no – the van would not fit on it!) and then bolted for Merced. We ended up getting there really late. There were 3 other bands playing that night and since we arrived last we had to play last. Usually that sucks, but the good news is that about 15-20 people stuck around and seemed to have fun, even at 1 in the morning. The bad news is that $5 really doesn’t help out the gas tank too much when you are 14 hours from home. That night we slept in the van outside of Yosemite Park with plans of touring the park in the morning before driving home. It was really hot in the van and 3 hours of sleep just didn’t cut it. We awoke at the crack of dawn, bathed in some campground sinks and then crusied around the park for a few hours. Yosemite is beautiful. Everything there is so big, the mountains, the redwoods, etc. We wanted to stay all day but we had to get back to Portland. All in all it was a good trip, but 1800 miles is probably a bit much to cram into one weekend.