From Nola's house in Kalamazoo, Michigan we slowly made the short two hour drive to St. Joe, Indiana. Along the way we were sidetracked, when we saw a sign for the "Mid-America Windmill Farm." After getting lost, missing turns, and fumbling around for a while we finally found our way to the farm. We learned a lot about windmill history, designs, and just plain windmills. We left the Mid- America Windmill Farm and made it to St. Joe for a few days of swimming and hanging out with friends. It was awesome having a few off days to relax and cook some real food. (We have a stove that is with us at all times, but for some reason we never decide to use it.) We made raisin filled pumpkin pie pancakes topped with our homemade blackberry jam and all natural maple syrup, some spaghetti, and homemade pretzels.
After what seemed like a long, long week, I finally got my stitches out and was able to get back in the water. Well rested and ready to get back on the road, we said our final goodbyes to everyone in St. Joe and headed to Bowling Green, Ohio for Castle Fest.
We played a really awesome, sweaty set at the Castle for a bunch of really awesome people and got to see our good friends in Cloud Mouth again. After they played an absolutely incredible set, we said our goodbyes and made our way to Chicago for the next days show.
We were playing at a female-run punk collective fittingly called The Bloody Rag Collective, just outside of the city. We made it there with a bunch of time to hangout and meet everyone before the show got started. We were playing with our friends in the band Our Lady from SpringField, Illinois along with a band called Careful Q from the Chicago area. The awesome people at The Bloody Rag grilled a ton of vegan burgers and hot dogs for the show and after we all stuffed our faces we got things started. The show was held inside of a chicken coop/ tiny garage in the back yard. Careful Q played a really awesome set followed by our friends in Our Lady. The space was super tight and after Our Lady played we slowly started setting up and figuring out how our gear would fit best in this little garage. When we finally got everything set up everyone packed into the garage and we played a super tight set.
People were dancing, clapping, and shooting fireworks off every where the whole time. Playing The Bloody Rag was definitely one of the funnest shows so far on this tour. After the show we all hung out, shared stories, and enjoyed the company of some really great people. Our Lady and ourselves eventually decided to get some food at the Chicago Diner, a must stop for all vegans from out of town, and we ended up looking for a place to park our bus for 2 hours thanks to a Chicago Cubs game right down the street. The food was incredible as usual and afterward we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. We crashed in a WalMart parking lot that marked the halfway mark to where we're playing today, that surprisingly hadn't been converted into a super center yet.We woke up this morning and drove the rest of the way to The House Cafe, located in the small liberal town of Dekab, Illinois. The House Cafe is an incredible vegan/vegetarian friendly cafe, show space, and art gallery with great food and some of the most hospitable people ever. The show doesn't start until way later this evening so we're all just lounging around like a bunch of bums. Brandon just bought a skateboard and it out shredding this town to pieces, Eli is MIA, Cassie is asleep next to me, and I am about to go finish my book. We're super excited to see how the show will turn out tonight and can't wait to play for all of these awesome people.
