Driving...Driving...Typing...

So Angel’s Sports Bar is also a strip club. They’re in two different rooms, but the same building. This meant that there were strippers less than 200 feet away from us while we played our set. Fortunately, this didn’t distract us. At all.

The show went well in Corona. GGTS is playing better every night, and so are we. It almost seems like we’re on tour and playing every night or something… Outta Gas played well and Copious (the fourth band on the bill) certainly brought in a crowd. The only downfall of this show was that the promoter (one “doggystyle”) walked off with the $300+ we should have been given for the show. This was rather unfortunate as $150 a band would have been a welcome contribution to the cause.

After Angel’s, we headed back to Nick’s house in Wildomar and crashed again. With the crummy ending to a good night, everybody’s spirits were a bit low. Not having any beer at Nick’s house didn’t help either. All in all, we were definitely ready for a change in pace, which Vegas was not promising to give, as the show that The Stript had booked for us didn’t actually exist. The next morning was thank yous, goodbyes, and the drive to Vegas. Fueled by some Taco Bell (and actual fuel) we headed out into the desert.

It turns out two passenger vans full of guys, clothes, and musical equipment can make the 250+ miles of driving in 110 degree weather just fine. However, driving around Vegas in that 110 degree weather meant that our van was going to start burning transmission fluid. Apparently, (and this is something I only learned on Saturday, so bear with me) the rubber seals that connect different parts of the engine can expand in high heat, causing fluid to leak out (since the seal isn’t connected properly any more) into other parts of the engine. If you’re lucky, this will cause an awful smell and plums of smoke to shoot out the back of the car.

What made our car troubles rather fortuitous was that we came to a stop across the street from the venue where we were going to try to muscle onto the bill. Honestly. We spent an hour driving around Vegas trying to find the place, then, when our car broke down, we stopped right in front of it.

Anyway, we managed to cool down the over-heated van and get booked for two shorts sets at the Double Down Saloon over the next few hours. Before we went on, we also decided that the best bet was to simply leave Vegas after the show and start heading for Denver. Unfortunately, a few of us started to get sick before the show started. Cory puked before our set and Matt from GGTS puked during our set. Great omen for the drive, huh?

The show went quite well (GGTS rocked and we rolled…hah!) and we all piled in for the drive. Naturally, the first thing we found out was that GGTS’ van had a headlight out. Off we went to WalMart for a new headlight and our van (after the addition of some more transmission fluid) was running horribly. The parking lot of WalMart became the deciding point for the rest of the tour. Did we try to push through with our weakened van? Did we just try and get the van fixed in Vegas and get home when we could?

We decided that not trying to get somewhere with the van would be stupid and off into the night we went (with only one brief stop on the way out of town so Cory could throw up again).

Apparently, the way to fix a van that isn’t running well is to get it out of Las Vegas. After we broke the city limits, everything was working. The new light on GGTS’ van was working fine, our van was changing gears like a van should change gears (champ-like), and everything was going rather swimmingly (aside from nearly everyone in both cars getting heat exhaustion and vomiting).

Driving for 700 miles takes 16 hours for two vans, 550 lbs. of musical equipment, 7 guys, and assorted accouterments. That’s 16 hours. Straight. Sleeping in shifts and taking in what scenery we could (the sunrise in Utah was pretty), we made it to Denver and a waiting BBQ and keg at Matt’s cousin’s house.