North America Guitar Tour
Meadville Ghost Hotel
August 7-9, 2014
I woke up cold and foggy. I drove carefully on the freeway, where in some places you couldn't see more than a few meters ahead, and exited at the exit near Mr. I's house, and first had a cup of coffee at a gas station. According to Mr. I, deer often appear around here, but now is not the season for them to be so out. It would be difficult to deal with them if they suddenly appeared in that fog.
At Mr. I's suggestion, we went to Pittsburgh to eat ramen that day. The live performance scheduled for the evening was canceled, but instead, Mr. I arranged for me to play background music at a hotel on the nearby shore of Lake Conneaut. Pittsburgh is about 100 kilometers away, so it may be the second farthest I've ever gone to eat ramen, second only to Sakata in February of that year. The staff were not from Japan, but the taste was quite good. On the way back, we stopped by a Japanese food supermarket and bought a lot of rice crackers and Japanese green teas. It's hard to find tea without sweeteners.
After returning to Meadville, we took a rest and headed to the hotel. It's a historic building on the lakeside, and is said to be famous for being haunted. I felt a little cold when I entered the lobby because I had heard that. The performance took place in a pub-like space called the dining room. The audience was Mr. I's colleagues and people who happened to be there. As always, I played while everyone was eating, so I had only a few bites, but by the time we left the hotel we were a little hungry. So we went back to downtown Meadville and had dinner at a family restaurant, then checked into a nearby motel.
For some reason, I don't remember much about the next day. According to a post on Facebook from that time, I had rice crackers and roasted green tea purchased in Pittsburgh the day before for lunch, and were treated to homemade meat sauce at Mr. I's house in the evening, so we stayed in Meadville for another night. What were we doing? One thing I remember clearly is that when I was having breakfast, which was included in the hotel service, there were two women wearing old costumes like cosplay at the table next to me. I later asked Mr. I and he told me that there was an Amish-like settlement nearby, and that they sometimes come to town and hold meetings. Apparently, horse-drawn carriages sometimes run along the road.
On the day of departure, Mr. I brought me some homemade rice balls as I was checking out. Encouraged by the sight of my juniors working hard in the countryside of Pennsylvania, I headed for Detroit, where I was scheduled to perform that night. This was the home of Chuck's (in Berthoud, Colorado) mother, Cleo.
*The people who appear in the text are listed by their initials until their identities can 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