Birthday Blizzard???
So we have been doing the Star
Trekked Tour,
and things were cool, some van repairs, the bots being really mean
and calling
all the fans "Star Trek Dorks"
You would think in the beginning of October, a blizzard would be not
very likely.
That is not the case in Beach, North Dakota.
We were on the way from Billings MT, October 5th (my birthday),
and were going to Fargo for our show, when the snow started.
It got so bad the night of the 4th, that we had to pull over because
the van was getting buried by all the trucks passing us,
throwing snow up onto the windshield, and blinding me.
There were no plows at all, Thanks for that, ND!
I awoke on the 5th in Beach, ND (right on the border of ND and MT)
with 2 feet of now on top of the RV, and the roads were closed for
at least a day.
At least the gas station was open, but not for long.
Then the power went out in the gas station.
So I'm hanging out with truckers, and learning trucker lingo....
Try and imagine this conversation.......
trucker "So what do you do?"
me "I have a band of robots that hate people and they humiliate
me on stage"
trucker "Where's my tire thumper? "
Actually, the truckers were very nice, and I made some friends.....
So the gas station closes, and they locked my bag of Sun Chips inside.
I'm SO pissed! I bought those
damn chips.....
So this guy Kent comes over, who
lives in Beach. He has put some people up at his ranch,
and offers me and my new friend Nicole (a pilot car driver for those
WIDE LOAD trucks)
a place to stay. So we slide all over the road trying to get to his
house, it's so slippery with a foot of snow
and ice below it.
I joked with Nicole that it was
going to be a scene straight out of MOTEL HELL,
a movie where the hosts bury people up to their neck in the ground,
then turn them into jerky...
That didn't happen, and I'm glad.
Kent and Blondie (his wife) were
just awesome. They brought about 7-10 stranded people to their house,
and took care of us. I took a shower (so nice) and they made us hamburgers,
and salad.
They also cooked me a birthday brownie cake. We all were so happy
to be out of the cold,
and to dry off. My shoes were soaked....
Chris and Cinderella (two others
living at the ranch) we just as awesome.
Chris helped me dig out my RV, and we had a very fun time pulling
Kent
out of the snow with his F150 truck. We attached a chain between the
2 truvcks, then backed up really fast, the BANG!
We almost pulled the damn truck bumper off. That was super fun.
We went to bed later after dinner, and awoke in the morning to no
power.
We made coffee with pans setting on the heater. Everyone was itching
to get back on the road, but the
roads were still closed. When the roads finally opened, there was
not enough time to get to Minneapolis for our show.
I had to climb up on top of the RV and shovel off the now 3 feet of
snow
I broke the roof vent with the shovel, Hooray! I'm not very experienced
at shoveling snow
of RV roofs.
So in closing, I want to testify
that these people were some of the best people I have ever met.
They took in total strangers in an emergency, and fed them and make
one robot dork a birthday brownie.
I cannot say enough about them, and any time I travel thru Beach from
now on,
I will be stopping there and visit my new friends.
As for Fargo and Minneapolis make
up shows, we don't have the dates available to
do a make up show on this fall tour. I am very sorry we couldn't make
it, but mother nature decided to
really fuck us, and you know when she wants to mess you up, you are
fucked!
The plan is to make up those shows in the spring. We will do the Star
Trekked TNG show
for Fargo and Minneapolis only, because all you Fargots and Minneapolites
need to get your Star Trek fix.
The rest of the spring tour will be another greatest
hits style
set, with songs from all the previous sets.....
Oh, and watch out, cuz I heard
that the Farmers Almanac says it's going to be a bitch of a winter.....