For the next 6 weeks I am going to be on a US/Canada tour with Lemuria.  They are easily one of my favorite bands, and also 3 of my favorite people so i’m really excited.  The day before I did not sleep at all.  Partly due to excitement, and partly due to last minute button orders and packing that needed to get done.  We got on the road around 6pm on 10/16.  Alex and I had to drive to DC to pick up Sheena.

I’ve been friends with Alex for many many years.  You know a friendship is strong when you can go months and months without hanging out much (due to work, tour, busy schedules, basic life stuff) and fall right back into it without skipping a beat.  Our first stop was Balloons in Ellicotville, a restaurant his brother owns.  Neither of us had eaten much at all in the past day due to being so busy getting ready.  I had a portabella sandwich that was really delicious.  After that we mostly drove straight to DC, with a few gas and bathroom stops.  A $2.00 6″ sub from Sheetz was definitely bought on one of those stops.

I found out two surprising things musically on the drive.  The first is that I’m not the only one who loves the song “The Distance” by Cake.  When this was brought up, we had a great singalong when Alex pulled it up on his iPod.  The other thing that surprised me is I kind of like the album “Suburbs” by The Arcade Fire.  We only listened to it once, but it was as awful as I thought it would be.

The most amazing thing that happened though was in the middle of Pennsylvania.  In the distance there was this red glow that appeared, and then it started flashing a little.  I thought I was just seeing things due to being awake for 32 hours but then Alex said he saw it too.  I quick google of “lights in sky Pennsylvania” brought up several news articles about northern lights being seen in Pennsylvania in the last couple of days due to the right conditions in the atmosphere.  It was incredible and so beautiful.  I kind of wished we would have stopped, but I think we would have ended up watching it for way too long.

We got into DC around 2 or 3am.  Sheena left her house unlocked for us so we let ourselves in and fell asleep on her couches.  I normally listen to music or a podcast as I sleep, but since I was so tired I passed right out.

Miles traveled: 385 Miles
Drinks consumed: don’t remember (3-4?)
Cake sing-a-longs: 1