The Touring “Blues”

I have a disorder. It’s best if I just get this out in the open.
I group things together in colors. For example, the produce section is my personal heaven.
All the oranges in one bin, the green lettuce in another, the yellow lemons perfectly collected together.
And all is right in the world.

There’s no name for my disorder except ‘weirdness’. When I begin to edit my photos, I see them in groups of colors. And today all that I saw was blue.

Moody blue. The blue awnings on this building and the subtle blueish tint to the awakening sky set a quiet tone to the photo.

A creepy flier for ‘Wiley and the Checkmates’ performing at the local library originally captured my interest. But the hint of blue from an adjacent flier, tacked on the mustard colored wall sealed the deal today.

Need I say more?

Two colors of blue paint, blue books in the window, a blue flier on the door, blue chalk displaying their sales…Blue overload for this girl.

And yet somehow, I survive. In my blue shirt. With my blue eyes.

The Peaceful Touring Mornings

My favorite thing of being out on the road with fancy pants musicians are the ‘behind the scenes’ aspects of touring. I could care less (usually) about who’s on stage, who they know, or what they’re into.
Unless it’s kitty cats. Then, we’ll talk.

What I love is inhaling the wash of color across the sky as the sun begins to rise; enjoying a good cup of coffee, a bagel and a walk around the city with Biceps while everyone else is still asleep (hungover).

When an bustling city is at its quietest-around 3 am, I peer from my hotel room window and watch the methodical street cleaners glide down the road, picking up last nights debris. (That’s white spot is the top of our bus and our trailer).

And before the insanity of a sound check administered by a grouchy pony-tailed engineer begins; we hop on our bikes to check out the ghost land that will soon be full of a beer guzzling, hooting and hollering crowd in just a few short hours.

We bike closer to the venue, draw in by the low rumble of the semi-truck’s diesel engines. The calming monotony of the engines as they idle assures us that we are getting closer to the possibility of catering.
Mmmm….food…..

Once our tummy’s are properly full, we bike back to the hotel, ignoring the smell of the generators as the purr away. We have approximately seen 7.25 people throughout the entire morning and we sneak back into our room, without so much as a glance to the busses full of people.
The peacefulness continues until Biceps insists we pull out P90X and ‘get our workout on’. I groan and try to hide underneath the covers…but he always finds me.
The peacefulness was good while it lasted.

What the heck is a CDL?

You see a driver’s license that looks different from yours.
So, you ask “What’s up with your license?”
They reply, “I have a CDL.”
Oh.
So, what is that?

I have a Class B CDL with a Passenger (P) endorsement. There are three different classes a professional driver can have:  Class A, B or C. Without getting too technical, I’ll explain each of the classes with a link to fun elementary-type pictures. Because that’s how I learn best.

Class A: A combo of vehicles that weighs over 26,001 pounds either all at once or with something in tow. AND, what you’re towing has to weigh more than 10,000. Confused? This picture might help.

Class B: A single vehicle that weighs over 26,001 pounds. If you are towing something, it has to weigh less than 10,000. This is what I drive. A rectangle with wheels.

Class C: A vehicle that doesn’t fit into the first two classes, but carries a lot of peeps. Like a limo or a trolley. Below is supposed to be a limo. It’s the best I could do. Sorry.

That’s about it. There are a few other things, like if you’re transporting bombs or toxic stuff, you need to have another endorsement. But, I won’t get into the nitty gritty.   It’s boring, but it’s my life.