Kris and I leave the group after a nice show in beautiful Fresno, CA! I didn't realize that we were going to pass by Kris' parent's place near Tehachapi until the night before. Kris called his mom and we met up with her for lunch (his dad was traveling to France). Kris usually brings "Takeru-kun", which is a small 2 cup rice cooker, and makes his own food when we're on tour, so I decided that I should join him and be healthier this time around since I always gain weight going through the midwest. Indian curry from Trader Joe's was on the menu today! Kris' mom made us a nice loaf of bread. We drive to St. George, Utah and try to go bowling, but it was closed!
Day 2, November 1
Drove to Denver, Colorado. It was a beautiful day driving through the Rockies. Snow had just fallen and it sparkled in the sun. We had a fun sling okedo workshop with Denver Taiko. Thank you Aiko and family for housing us and for feeding us well.
Day 3, November 2
Drove to Davenport, Iowa. This was a 13 hour drive... so long! Kris downloaded some podcasts from NPR which included Car Talk, This American Life, Film Week, and Science Friday to keep us from getting too bored. I decided that I needed to get my blood pumping, so I went running, went swimming, and sat in the hot tub.
Day 4, November 3
Drove to Novi, Michigan to have an Omiyage workshop with Great Lakes Taiko Center. We taught the main part of Omiyage in 2 hours! It was tough to get through it, but they hung in there! Thank you Brian, Mayumi, and their family for housing us. We begin to feel the weather getting colder.
Day 5, November 4
My gps took us through Canada to get us to Geneseo, NY. Bizarre! We got to the Canadian border with no passports, but they still let us in. Apparently the gps took us on the fastest route and apparently it happens all the time, so we were all good. We met up with Darren, Emily, and Scott (our technical director) for dinner at Applebee's! After eating with Kris who's a vegan and eating vegan food for the past 5 days, I kinda go crazy and get ribs. Yum!
Day 6, November 5
I got an oil change in the morning then Kris, Emily, Darren, Scott, and I loaded in the theater, set up the instruments, set lights, set up some costumes, spiked the first half of the show, did a sound check, and ran a public workshop. Jen, Yuri, Tomomi, Yumi, and Kevin fly in and we met up to eat pizza at Mama Mia's!
Day 7, November 6
Show day! Tech and run through went really well. We found ourselves with a lot of downtime which is really rare. The show went well considering it was only the second time we've done it. Only a few hiccups here and there, but for the most part I was happy with the show. After the show, we ate at Denny's in honor of Bryan. Then we went to my room and had fun stacking stuff on sleeping Darren. The crack from the rock chip in the van windshield started to grow to about four inches. I think the cold had to do something with it. Thank you Lindsey, Kellie, and Cary of the SUNY Limelight and Accents Performing Arts Series in for putting on the concert.
Day 8, November 7
Kris and I part ways with the rest of the group =( and drive to Dublin, Ohio to finish teaching Omiyage to the Dublin Taiko Boosters that Bryan and I started this past April. They learned it all! After the workshop, we had a two hour private lesson with Eric Paton who is a professor at Capital University and teaches percussion and taiko. Thank you Susann for organizing the workshop and to her husband for providing us a nice hotel room. The crack in the windshield grows to about 8 inches
Day 9, November 8
Drove to St. Joseph, Missouri. There's nothing out here!
Day 10, November 9
Drove back to Denver, Colorado on a small, two-lane highway through the north part of Kansas. Nothing but prairie out there. Boring!!! But, we passed through some interesting small towns with lots of character. Towards the end of the drive, we drove right through a blizzard. Scary! When we arrived in Denver, we played ping pong and pool with Aiko's sons, Matthew and Connor. Fun! Thanks again to Aiko and her family for housing us!
Day 11, November 10
Drove to Moab, Utah. I was a little concerned going over the Rockies because of the blizzard the day before, but it was fine. Nice and sunny, but quite cold, so the windshield wiper fluid hose froze. I had to stop to defrost it because the windshield was really dirty and I couldn't see very well. Had a good workshop with Moab Taiko Dan. Taught the new rhythms to Tomodachi To Isshoni which we taught when Bryan and I passed through in the spring. Thank you Hop and Sheila for housing us!
Day 12, November 11
Last day of driving! It was long and we ran out of NPR podcasts, but we finally made it back to Higashi to unload and practice a little bit. Otsukaresama deshita! The crack in the windshield ended up being about two feet!
Facts about the trip:
-5,509 miles driven according to google maps
-Passed through California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ontario (Canada), New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri
-40 NPR podcasts listened to
-Dishes created in Kris' rice cooker: rice and indian curry, Jamaican rice, chocolate cake, and oatmeal
-Besides being in Geneseo, we made all of our meals
-5 workshops and 2 private lessons conducted
-The crack in the windshield ended up being almost two feet long
Picnic time in the Rockies
Fun with snow in the Rockies
Somewhere in Missouri...
Desert in Utah
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