2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog #6 (Day 22)
Driving Stats:
Miles Driven - 3243
Average Speed - 47 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 44.4
On Wednesday the tenth, I had my only three-show day of the tour. On Thursday, I would have my first night off of the tour. But I did have an afternoon show, to conclude my week of shows in western PA. It was at the University of Pittsburgh, for the Emerging Legends series put on by Calliope. I've played for the series twice previously. There is usually an attentive crowd, a mix of many ages, some students, some not, and some there specifically to listen to music.
There was a good group there again, including some old friends and other familiar people. The went fine, but I only walked out with 4 dollars in tips. In the past, this was an album-purchasing crowd, so I was a bit surprised to not sell a single one. But the people were very nice, and a couple of them even went out of their way to offer positive feedback. One man came up to me as I was packing up, and said that he majored in music. He said that he couldn't figure out how to make a go of it, and that he was impressed that I was able to. He told me not to give up. I get similar comments from people during most of my tours. I've lost track of the times that someone has come up to me at a show, and explained how much they wanted to do music, but something got in the way. I wonder if these people tell me to keep at it mostly because they wish they had... I'd probably make similar comments to people if I wasn't still doing it now.
Enough of my philosophical waxing. Here's a photo a high school friend took at the show.
I ate a late lunch at my parents' place after the show, and hung out with my wife and baby. Having that Thursday night off worked out well, especially since I was in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Thursday night game on the 11th, so it probably would have been a bad show if I scheduled one. My wife and I headed over to my brother's house to watch the game. A good high school friend of mine was also able to come over. It was a great night, except for the loss that the Steelers managed to surrender. They are already very badly beat up this season, though, so I give them a pass.
On Friday, I had the first long drive since Saturday the 6th. This one was about 4 hours long, and this would be getting back into the more extensive ground covering of the tour, as this past week has been full of driving. I refueled for the journey, and about an hour into the drive, I saw one of the strangest things that I've ever seen in my entire life. And I'm pretty sure, looking back at the route, that I would have missed this site if I had stuck to the route that I originally intended to take. I was going through a smaller town in PA; I believe it was Uniontown. I came around a bend, and had to brake, somewhat unexpectedly. There was an apparently recent accident in the opposing lane of traffic, and someone was directing traffic, letting groups of cars take turns using the one open lane. The accident was right in front of a school which had just let out, so buses were also part of the mix, coming from the school's lot. With all of this waiting for my turn to pass, I got a good look at what had happened, though I still have a lot of unanswered questions about the whole situation. Here is what I saw: a truck had wrecked into the back of a motorcycle. Yes, it sounds terrible. But here's the catch. The motorcycle was still upright, and the back end of the the motorcycle was wedged underneath the front of the truck. From what I could see, there were no injuries. The driver of the truck was there, and was trying to dislodge the bike by running his truck in reverse. It was not working. A cop was there, as was the man directing traffic and a fourth man. There was no ambulance, and I never heard any sirens or saw any other emergency vehicles in the vicinity. The fourth man and the cop were trying to help to dislodge the bike by holding onto its handlebars (or perhaps pushing forward on the handlebars) while the man in the truck was running the truck in reverse. Insane. Has anyone in the area read anything about this? I am so curious. I managed to snap a picture, but it was as I was driving by, so I couldn't aim my iPod well enough to get a full picture; I just rolled my window down, point the iPod out the window, and hoped for the best. I only managed to capture the front part of this meeting of vehicles, so you might not believe my story. In retrospect, I should have tried to snap two pictures quickly.
I have to hit the road again. I hope I don't see another motorcycle accident. But if it's like this one, I'll try to get a better photo.
Miles Driven - 3243
Average Speed - 47 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 44.4
On Wednesday the tenth, I had my only three-show day of the tour. On Thursday, I would have my first night off of the tour. But I did have an afternoon show, to conclude my week of shows in western PA. It was at the University of Pittsburgh, for the Emerging Legends series put on by Calliope. I've played for the series twice previously. There is usually an attentive crowd, a mix of many ages, some students, some not, and some there specifically to listen to music.
There was a good group there again, including some old friends and other familiar people. The went fine, but I only walked out with 4 dollars in tips. In the past, this was an album-purchasing crowd, so I was a bit surprised to not sell a single one. But the people were very nice, and a couple of them even went out of their way to offer positive feedback. One man came up to me as I was packing up, and said that he majored in music. He said that he couldn't figure out how to make a go of it, and that he was impressed that I was able to. He told me not to give up. I get similar comments from people during most of my tours. I've lost track of the times that someone has come up to me at a show, and explained how much they wanted to do music, but something got in the way. I wonder if these people tell me to keep at it mostly because they wish they had... I'd probably make similar comments to people if I wasn't still doing it now.
Enough of my philosophical waxing. Here's a photo a high school friend took at the show.
I ate a late lunch at my parents' place after the show, and hung out with my wife and baby. Having that Thursday night off worked out well, especially since I was in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Thursday night game on the 11th, so it probably would have been a bad show if I scheduled one. My wife and I headed over to my brother's house to watch the game. A good high school friend of mine was also able to come over. It was a great night, except for the loss that the Steelers managed to surrender. They are already very badly beat up this season, though, so I give them a pass.
On Friday, I had the first long drive since Saturday the 6th. This one was about 4 hours long, and this would be getting back into the more extensive ground covering of the tour, as this past week has been full of driving. I refueled for the journey, and about an hour into the drive, I saw one of the strangest things that I've ever seen in my entire life. And I'm pretty sure, looking back at the route, that I would have missed this site if I had stuck to the route that I originally intended to take. I was going through a smaller town in PA; I believe it was Uniontown. I came around a bend, and had to brake, somewhat unexpectedly. There was an apparently recent accident in the opposing lane of traffic, and someone was directing traffic, letting groups of cars take turns using the one open lane. The accident was right in front of a school which had just let out, so buses were also part of the mix, coming from the school's lot. With all of this waiting for my turn to pass, I got a good look at what had happened, though I still have a lot of unanswered questions about the whole situation. Here is what I saw: a truck had wrecked into the back of a motorcycle. Yes, it sounds terrible. But here's the catch. The motorcycle was still upright, and the back end of the the motorcycle was wedged underneath the front of the truck. From what I could see, there were no injuries. The driver of the truck was there, and was trying to dislodge the bike by running his truck in reverse. It was not working. A cop was there, as was the man directing traffic and a fourth man. There was no ambulance, and I never heard any sirens or saw any other emergency vehicles in the vicinity. The fourth man and the cop were trying to help to dislodge the bike by holding onto its handlebars (or perhaps pushing forward on the handlebars) while the man in the truck was running the truck in reverse. Insane. Has anyone in the area read anything about this? I am so curious. I managed to snap a picture, but it was as I was driving by, so I couldn't aim my iPod well enough to get a full picture; I just rolled my window down, point the iPod out the window, and hoped for the best. I only managed to capture the front part of this meeting of vehicles, so you might not believe my story. In retrospect, I should have tried to snap two pictures quickly.
I have to hit the road again. I hope I don't see another motorcycle accident. But if it's like this one, I'll try to get a better photo.
posted by Jeff Miller at 3:02 PM
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