Give me a Break

Well. Here we are in Kelowna. Hanging out at our favorite (?) downtown coffee shop, Blendz. We have long suspected that Blednz was a Starbucks in disguise and today I intended on finding out. So I asked. They swore that in NO WAY was it a starbucks. They informed us that it is a Candian franchise (even gave us a nice lesson on what a franchise is.....douchebag) and that they loathed SB's. We're still skeptical because it has the same font for their name and the menu is the same....the employee demographic is pretty close....and as Shawn noted, "they make a shaken ice tea, just like SB". So there you have it. We still sorta, kinda think that it is a SB for hippies......here is their version of a Macchiato. If you've ever had one of these drinks for real you'll know that this ain't it! It was good though.

Edmonton was something else. We had a pretty laid back week all in all. Got some work done, ran errands ate good food. Rocked out! Friday I rocked a little too hard though. Cherry Sherry, my number one axe, and I got in a skuffle. By the end of Cortez The Killer she ended up with a broken neck....She tried hard to take me out by piercing my hand with her low E string but in the end my brief moment of insanity was too much for her. Now she's out of commission and I have activated Number two....The Green Hornet. Ole GH did a great job and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better over the coming shows. Lets all have a moment for Cherry Sherry shall we?

The last show in Edmonton was unreal. killer crowd and they were eating every note up! One of the best gigs I've enjoyed over the last year! Thanks to everyone at Blues on Whyte for the good times! While in Edmonton the real monumental event was Ruby (our van) turning 300 000. We have had some crazy times with her and we would be no where without her. Literally. Thanks old Gal. Here is a video of the event....

We left Edmonton Sunday to trek the 10 hour drive to Karl bastard's folks place in Winfield. After my driving shift I hopped into the back seat for a great nap. I awoke to the distinct sound of wheels in slush. It was dark and snowing like mad. Shawn didn't look like he was having any fun at all driving and we quickly decided to get a room in the next town, Blue River (no Elvis sightings). We hit the pub for some eats and to unwind a bit from the stress of the snow drive. We racked up the biggest bar bill yet in the shortest time. Fairly impressive really. After the pub closed we went back to the room to hang. In the morning we awoke foggy headed and got our shit together. no one was impressed at all by what we saw outside. More snow. A lot of it....

We took it nice and slow and managed to get to Kelowna in one piece. We had a good dinner and hang with the Gans clan. Always entertaining stories here folks! As it turns out they were headed to Edmonton today so now we have the Villa to ourselves....PARTY AT MOM N DADS! .....I looked forward to this morning as one of my favorite things to do on tour is stand on Art and D's deck and look down the lake while I have my morning coffee. Here it is.......

Now were about to hit the store to grab our fixins for supper. Looking like hot turkey sandwiches! One of my top two favorite sandwiches! then a relaxing evening as we mentally prepare to drive the Coquihalla highway tomorrow. We know its snow covered so we're budgeting a few extra hours for safety! After that we'll be on Vancouver Island all week. Did a quick interview for the Halloween gig in Tofino. Its shaping up to be an epic night there!

Stay tuned for more adventure and don't forget....to all the facebookers go to www.rossneilsen.blogspot.com to see the videos. Subscribe to the blog to get all the juicy tour details! Going to leave you with a pic I took this afternoon on the way into Kelowna. 

Awesomeness! Every day is an amazing gift. We try to never forget about all the little beauties there are and we try and always take a minute to enjoy them. I suggest you do the same.

Ross