Thanks to Wonderful Palatine Sponsors for supporting the Sky Water Clay Fire Rock Ice Tour 2016!

I promised to post more in my next update about the tour through the Northwest US.

Thank you to the wonderful Palatine businesses that supported the tour and helped make it possible!

Dr Pyzik Palatine Chiropractor
Discount Muffler
Heil and Kay Insurance
Bills Grove Florist
Lucid DMS
Palatine Hand Detail
Carquest/Advanced Auto Parts - 123 Northwest Highway, Palatine

.........(continued rfom August 2nd, 2016)..... After I left Oregon for Alaska the adventures really began. I played the first date in Alaska on a beautiful Saturday morning for the farmers market May 14th. Not just any farmer's market.. this one was surrounded by giant snow capped mountains, had a beautifully build cabin like stage with overhang, perfect siting area for the audience, awesome sound system and sound engineer, a blazing bright sun on a sparkly clear day, a gentle breeze and a kind quiet warmth, both in temperature and from the people. You might say it was the luxury version of a farmer's market. :) As I played my set and the audience was singing I noticed my guitar needed a fresh tuning. So I took a short pause and as I tuned I realized the strings were going more and more out of tune. Then I saw the bridge was coming off .. so I quickly unwound the strings to prevent it from snapping and hitting the microphone and scaring the audience. Thank goodness for their good naturedness. I finished the concert accapella singing not only my own songs, but for some reason as I looked out at the mountains all I could think about was the song "On Top of Spaghetti!". So as I asked the audience if they knew this song half jokingly. Someone from the audience yelled "Yes! We're from Illinois too!!" Wow! Small world! so we all sang the song and had a fun time! The concert ended well.

Later that afternoon I went to the music store and rented a temporary guitar to tide me over until mine could be fixed. ..... I was told it would be two weeks!. Two weeks! yikes!~ I'm on tour! That makes it doubly expensive because it means I have to come back and forth, extra car rental fee and gas, rent another guitar and pay for the repairs on mine. Future note to self..... in the future book 20% extra cash reserve for emergencies into the budget! :)

It all turned out well. I used a friends inexpensive Costco bought guitar the rest of the trip as my Fender was in the shop. It worked just fine and I didn't have to worry about nicks or scratches or bumps or dings to the thing. :)

The next muddy patch I needed to walk through was the issue of digital banking. ugh! Not my favorite... My bank was merged with another one just before I left Illinois. I spoke with the GM before I left about my upcoming tour and my concerns about having my assistant continue making deposits easily, and me accessing those deposits easily from out of state and out of country.... I was assured of no problems.. well... it didn't turn out that way. The bank got a new phone system so I could not reach my local teller who knows me. Every time I would go to try and make a withdrawal or pay a hotel bill..my card would be declined. When I called the bank I was told by the new phone answering service that I don't have an account with them. LOL! What?!?!? I have the debit card in hand and they couldn't find my account at all nor a history of me ever having been there! Eventually we were able to work it out and I was able to access my account after two weeks of this. I withdrew enough cash for the rest of the tour and decided to wing it and not bother with the bank till I got back. Thank goodness it has all settled down now and it's back to normal.

I remembered something I learned a long time ago and that is.. that when you ask for what you want you often get it. And that in the midst of turmoil is a solution. And that miracles do happen and there are good people in this world.

I had a concert scheduled for the following Saturday in Sheeps Mountain. Not a big place, but a beautifully amazing place! After that I was to go to Fairbanks for a concert and then down through Denali, Talkeetna and then back to Anchorage.

I needed to rent a car to get there. So I figured the cheapest I could find was a local uhaul dealer's van. In the midst of the bank dilemma, they were one of the places the card was declined at. Not their fault.. But I needed a car to get me there the next day.. now I was beginning to feel panic want to creep in. It was Friday 4:30pm. I had to be in Sheeps mountain the next day, and it's a 4 hour drive. The bank couldn't find my account... what to do!?!??! As I left the store, I saw a car dealer's sale tent.. and approached them about giving a last minute concert for them that evening to help me raise some cash for my trip. They said "No. How about we just sponsor you!?" They said they liked my music and what I do and were happy to be a part of this tour!. wow! How cool is that?!?!?! Thank you LITHIA CHEVROLET OF SOUTH ANCHORAGE!!!!! I LOVE YOU!

The next morning, I went to the dealership and they pulled up a car for me. A brand new AWD 4 door maroon Chevy Trax. Awesome car! Full tank of gas, with hands free cellphone hookup, and other cool gadgets. It was just exactly what I needed. It made the long trip much more comfy and safe! Unbeknownst to me... the distances in Alaska between Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Sheeps Mountain are like driving from Chicago to Nashville, DC and back. And.. it's through very very very high mountains and it is mostly uninhabited and wild! That means there are no houses and gas stations at every corner or sometimes even for hours of driving. So if anything happens to your car.. it's you and the bears out there... maybe a moose or caribou might come by too. LOL! SO having a brand new car was more vital than I initially thought. Thank you Lithia Chevrolet is all I can say!

The scenery was incredible! I made so many stops along the way at the scenic outlooks that I filled up all my flash drives and had to find a town to go buy more. LOL! On the way up to Sheeps mountain I wondered about what the scenery looks like from the other direction and how awesome it must be and how different it must look!. But I figured I could view that on next years tour if I do the tour backwards from this year. LOL!. And I kept on driving.

I made it to Sheeps Mountain just in time for a quick sound check and then began the show. That makes it sound like a big fancy show... it was a one room wood log cabin lodge restaurant with family run kitchen and waiters. :) and awesomely delicious food and friendly service! I seriously recommend the fresh caught Alaskan salmon and the home grown home made organic rhubarb strawberry pie. yum!

I stayed in one of the log cabins overlooking the mountains and the glacier. Alaska has 24 hours sunlight in the summer so I was up till about 2 am when I remembered it's not day time anymore. I was wondering why I was getting so much done LOL! In the morning after a delicious breakfast of pancakes with deer sausage and berry syrup I headed out to the hot tub for a soak. aaah! :) Then I checked out and headed for Fairbanks. This was the best log cabin I have ever stayed in. The service was kind and friendly, the cabin comfy and simple and clean, the scenery .... breathtaking!

About 1/2 hour outside of Sheep's Mountain I pulled into a gas station to top off the tank since it's going to be a four hour ride without any places en route. That's when I realized I still had the key to the cabin. ugh! If it was one of the electronic key cards I would have just mailed it back to them. But it was a real key. I knew they would need it that night since tourist season began and they were booked solid! So I drove back 1/2 hour . That's when I remembered my wonderings from the day before of "Gee, I wonder how the scenery looks from the other direction!" LOL! Argh! Careful where your thoughts go! LOL!!!

That is the Sheep's Mountain leg of the tour. As this is getting a bit long today, I will write more on another post next week.

Thanks again to the wonderful local business sponsors who helped make this tour possible:

Dr Pyzik Palatine Chiropractor
Discount Muffler
Heil and Kay Insurance
Bills Grove Florist
Lucid DMS
Palatine Hand Detail
Carquest/Advanced Auto Parts - 123 Northwest Highway, Palatine

Have a great day!

Peace,

Barb