weso

Portland is pretty and awesome. Pretty awesome.
We left Watsonville around 2pm on Wednesday. After a few hours we pulled into Chico to play at a venue known as "The Zombie House". I think a more appropriate name should be "Some dude owns this place and lets bands play in the living room while squatter like people hang out". Little did the residents of this place realize what they were getting themselves into. The Heavers went on stage (or should I say dining room?) first and played very well despite the size of the place. Uni went on next to continue the Santa Cruz/Watsonville audible assault. There was another band that just showed up randomly. They were cool but they totally didn't fit the bill. We raked in a wallet breaking $24 for gas money and merch. It was cool to reconnect with an old school heaver fan, Geo, while we were there.
After that show we powered all the way to the Weed Rest Stop just shy of the Oregon border. We were a bit wondrous if the Oregonians would accept 4 Mexicans, 2 white guys, and a band known as Crucial Unicorn. Never the less, they never saw what hit them.
Our first night was in Bend. It's a decent sized town with lots to offer tourists. We're a band though so all we needed was a place to stay, a place to eat, and a place to play. "Shanghai Joes (formerly Shanghai Gardens)" was a venue that's a cross between the Cactus and the Blue. The crowd turn out was kind of weak but in their lame ass defense it was a Thursday night. The tour rocked the spot pretty hard despite being molested by Jake and the lack of cheap beers. I don't think we'll go there again.
Portland. I love you. I really do. You're a beautiful city even if your street engineer needs to be quartered. The next venue was the Jolly Inn. It was a nice place to play despite the lack of hard liquors. We drank our minds away and played the best sets so far even with a guitarist pile up when Uni played "Breed". Fucking ruling. After the show, the bands kind of explored the area separately with local friends. I went to McMinnville with my old roomie from Santa Clara, Aja. She's the hostess with the mostest even if she bailed the next night before the show.
Speaking of which, we played some crazy house party on Wasco Street, of which there are at least 3 of those streets in varying locations within Oregon. By this point though, we were all pretty burnt after a day out and about within Portland. After the show, the Uni crew decided to stay over night while we Heavers decided it would best to man up and power out the last 716 miles of road.
Despite our best intentions at leaving around 12:30, the van's transmission decided it had enough of hauling two bands equipment and 1200lbs of sexiness. 8 miles from the California border at 8am. We were pretty bummed at that point. Within the next 4 hours, we were on the road again though. Hell, you gotta come harder than that to bring us down. We got a Uhaul in Medford then drove till we got home in Watsonville around 8pm.
Would I do it again? You damn right I would. If I go on the next tour, I'll be sure to pack more stuff since I actually packed really light compared to others. hahaha. I really did fall in love with that city. I might go up again just to check things out. Sure, more happened on tour than I listed here but you know the saying. What happens on the road stays on the road.