North America Guitar Tour
Houston 2 Days
July 3rd-4th, 2014
I drove the way I was told that it takes under 4 hours from the navigation system, translating rest areas along the way, and gradually the number of cars increased, and I got stuck in a traffic jam for the first time in a while. I saw a huge bronze statue on my left, and then I saw rain falling from a huge rain cloud behind it. I was impressed that the sky in Japan and America is connected, but it looks so different, and then I got caught in the rain. In the end, it took nearly 6 hours and in the evening I arrived in front of the house of Mr. S, a friend from junior high and high school who I was staying with that day. Just as I was leaving downtown, my iPhone suddenly started ringing, and it was a warning of a flash flood. I was driving on an elevated road, so I shouldn't have been hit by a flash flood itself, but I was so surprised by the sound that I almost lost control of the steering wheel.
I couldn't meet him because he was working overseas, but he had asked his wife to make curry rice for me when I arrived, and the smell was delicious as soon as I entered the house. It was an orthodox Endo Kenji-style curry rice using a store-bought roux, but needless to say, it was more delicious than any curry specialty restaurant.
In the evening, Mr. S's friends came to visit and we had an impromptu live performance in the living room. Perhaps because of the unfamiliar driving conditions of rain and traffic jams, I didn't have the energy to translate that day, and after the party ended, I went straight to my room and fell asleep.
Actually, I was planning to go to New Orleans the next day (July 4th). I didn't have any particular plans, and I was thinking that I would find a place to stay there or even sleep in my car, but I was told that I wouldn't be able to find a place to stay in New Orleans on Independence Day, and that sleeping in my car was too dangerous, so I gave up on the plan. In the first place, there were still translations that were already past its deadline. So, on the second day in Houston, I stayed at Mr. S's house and devoted myself to translating. I finally finished and sent it just before sunset, and sure enough, I received a reply saying that the part that wasn't completed in time had already been given to someone else, and that the translation fee would be reduced accordingly. It was what I got. And from that day on, I stopped being translator at lease until this trip is over.
There was a possibility that the roads would still be chaotic in the evening, so I left Mr. S's house after midnight and headed for my next destination, Benton, Arkansas.
*People who appear in the text are referred to by their initials until their identities could be confirmed.
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