North America Guitar Tour
To Colorado (beginning of Miracle)
June 24, 2014
After his parents and sister left, I was left alone with Mr. D in the spacious house, but he was not used to such situations. He seemed a little nervous. It was understandable. An elderly man you had seen on YouTube had suddenly come from a small country in the Far East. His parents came again in the morning, and I left Albuquerque. On the way, I saw the name Santa Fe and wondered if Rie Miyazawa had come here, and if this was the place where the Alamo was located in Los Alamos, and I continued to head north.
The final destination of the day was a town called Berthoud, Colorado, a little north of Denver. From the messages we exchanged, I could tell that Chuck Gattuso, who had called me in this town, was very excited for me to come. I was supposed to do a house concert at his house on the 25th, the next day, so this day was a moving day. The navigation system said it would take 7.5 hours, so I estimated it would take about 11 hours, but as expected, the sun started to set in Colorado Springs, just before Denver, and I didn't have the energy to drive at sunset when I was at my peak of fatigue, so I contacted Chuck and decided to stay overnight at a motel in Colorado Springs. I also wanted to do some laundry.
Now, if you're a quirky person who has read this far, you'll understand that this trip is not just for sightseeing. As I mentioned in the beginning of the "Introduction," I skipped all the tourist attractions and didn't buy any souvenirs. Also, except for Seattle, most of the people I met knew me from watching me on YouTube, but it was my first time meeting them, and some of them were surprised just to hear me speak (because I didn't say a word on YouTube). Some people, like Mr. G's neighbor's sister, who I met when we stopped off just before Tucson the other day, told me that it was their first time speaking with a Japanese person, but I think that for many of them, it was actually their first time.
Also, the first thing they asked me when I returned home was about money, "How much did it cost?" Since I came home safely, I had no choice but to answer, "It was enough." Since I was on a tourist visa, I couldn't charge anything locally, so all the live shows and house concerts were free. Of course, I knew that I wouldn't be able to cover the costs of gas, motel fees, and other expenses with my small war chest. However, if I had calculated that in advance, I might have hesitated to go at all. I admit that I was a little reckless here. Moreover, I had missed Reading and Tucson so far, and the only places I had been able to complete as planned were Sunnyvale, LA, and Albuquerque, so if you look at it simply, I have 3 wins and 2 losses. If I continue at this pace, I will definitely run out of money halfway through. As I began to feel a little impatient, there was a reason why I gave this chapter the subtitle "Beginning of Miracle." Of course, at this point, I was also filled with anxiety, and had no idea of the many things that would happen in a weeks to come.
By the way, that night, I also fell asleep while recording my guitar, so I was a guest who didn't need to have my bed made.
*The people who appear in the text are written using their initials until we can confirm their identity.
Contents
Introduction
Until Departure
Seattle
To California
Day Off
Sunnyvale
To La
LA 2 Days
To Tucson
Albuquerque
To Colorado (beginning of Miracle)
Berthoud
Denver
to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City 2 days
To Texas
San Antonio
Georgetown
Dallas
Houston 2 Days
Benton
Nashville (CAAS)
Roswell
Tampa 2 Days
Miami
Orland 2 Days
Myrtle Beach
Chapel Hill 3 Days
Kingsport
To Indiana
Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Festival
To Staten Island
Manhattan
Phillipsburg
Nazareth (Martin Guitar Factory)
To Massachusetts (end of Miracle)
Methuen
To Montreal
To Buffalo
Meadvill A Day Before
Meadvill Ghost Hotel
Detroit
Chicago
Minneapolice
Spin Off #1
Spin Off #2 "EU Tour IN 2008 / Until Departure
Czech 1
Czech 2
London
Liverpool
Chesham
To Germany
Lemgo
Ingolstadt
Bregenz
To Italy
Florence
The Last Gig
Going Home