Yesterday (Thursday) we left Fredericton and head up river to Carleton County and my Mommy's house. We stopped to see Moms and have a little snack to build up our energy for our first Music related border crossing. To say we were nervous was an understatement. We did however have all of our paperwork done perfectly, we were clean shaven and had our "yes sirs" down pat! The man at the desk inside confused us a little when he said what we were asking for needed to be done in Woodstock/Houlton and that the B1 visa we were asking for was really a work Visa not a Showcase Visa. We soon realized that he was not the most knowledge-able officer in the room. While we answered their questions about Merchandise and how long we'd be gone and if we made money etc. etc. The three of us couldn't help notice the metal bench with handcuffs dangling off of it.... A little unnerving to say the least. In the end after we answered their questions they let us go in about five minutes. Didn't search any of us and didn't even LOOK at our Union letter of reference which cost us an outrageous amount of $$$ considering the boys joined the union and there are some fees involved. In the end though, better safe than sorry. It was a great border experience all in all and after their doggy sniffed us we were free to have fun in the USA!!!
The drive was fairly uneventful and no bad weather was had. We did have a hard time finding a good roadside spot to eat that wasn't boxed chain fast food store crap! I did get a delicious red hot dog into me near the turn off for Skowhegan! Yum!! We hit our friends, Greg and Colleen's, house around 7.30 and they immediately showered us with beer wine and pasta for supper. What great host! We feel like the luckiest band out there on the roads what with all the great hospitality people provide for us! We had a nice time and fun playing with Gwen their Great Dane. Here's a video of the little pup.
This AM we hit the road after breakfast for a long drive to the Red Roof Inn in Winchester Virginia. We hit eight states in a little over eight hours today. Needless to say we are happy to be chilling in the hotel room. It's unusually cold here and it's amusing to see the locals running everywhere and swearing about the cold!
The cold I've been fighting seems to be lingering but I'm confident that I will be fine on Monday when we fire up the studio and get things rolling. Cross your fingers for me.
Tennessee tomorrow!!!
Talk to you soon.
MB
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