Well we left Redding after me waiting around forever for Sean to find a police man to sign his fix it ticket before we left California. The drive to Oregon was beautiful in every way. Of course we stopped in Weed CA, of course I beat Sean in a game of bowling there. We rolled into Ashland Oregon around six and checked into our super cute hostel. Then we walked down the main strip and I got super zenned out in the most zen way. After eating a veggie sammurch from Grilla Bites we went to the train tracks and just relaxed. The weather was gorgeous and we were both thizzin (metaphorically). Most of that night was spent being excited and walking around. We slept like rocks in real beds for the first time in a while and woke up to do some more splorin’.

Throughout the day we popped in and out of shops on Main street and everyone we talked to knew about Tease (where we were playing) and said they’d try to stop by. Most notably was the owner and company of tree house books who did come to the show that evening. It was a super intimate; set we were unplugged but people were really listening and this guy drew this sexy picture while we played. I was amazed and excited by the concept of art inspiring art. At this point this was the best show yet. We hung around for a bit with the bartender and this other traveler discussing brutal music and the bare naked ladies. When we got back to the hostel we took an excited walk and ran into a deer. When we got back we was drawling in the living room of the hostel eating wheat thins and some girl came down stairs in her underwear (bOiNg!). The next morning we stripped our sheets and said good bye to wonderful ashland.

We had no show that day so we were going to try our luck in Eugene OR inbetween ashland and portland at an open mic. We went there and on the way stopped in canyonville to eat. On the way out from crunchin we went into an antique shop where some lady we met has 48 cats. She wuz real friendly though.

We arrived in Eugene twenty minutes before the open mic started. There were a couple of other youngsters at a table that I thought would be our Eugene local competition. Everybody else in there was clearly an OG and we were excited. As the second guy went up he introduced “Lions Hill” from Santa Rosa CA! They were the other youth I mentioned. We were actually following the same route, They had played in redding the day before us. We all giggled. They were awesome and their guitarist looks like and plays like johnny marr. Check them out at myspace.com/lionshill. We played and made the announcement that we were homeless. Right when we were done two people offered us a place followed by two more offers and free beers. Eugene had certainly won us over. After we played and hung around we went to “laughing planet” for a veggie burrito. My god sean and I dropped dead from eating that thing. It was great. We went back to the Cafe after that and I talked to this amazing blues slide guitarist about technique. Onwards to Rose’s house…

At Rose’s we all rejoiced with beerz, golden melodies and trampolines. We sat around a campfire. Real estate in Eugene is much cheaper than in the Bay area, the key phrase here is: “and over here is the orchard…” we played a super super emo version of “sweetest fruit” with our new pal Aya on the violin and then some bob dylan sing along’s. THEN WE SLEPT.

The next day we had some time to clown so Rose took us down to the river. I had not been in a river since guernville (yuck) it had been years and years for sean. (sean avoids water because apparently whenever he’s in a boat he falls out) It was pretty intense but overall a capital time. Little did we know that we were receiving some fucked up sun burns while we were jovially splashing through the river. We bid Rose farewell and she gifted us with a bell pepper and some almond milk for the road. To portland…

We arrived in Portland after some boingbox traffurk and rolled to Jess and Jimi’s house. We engaged in some knife throwing and male on male aloe vera back rubbing. It was then that we experienced the weird system of Cart food in Portland. It was strange and made my stomach hurt but you know what I always say… What chu gonna do put it inna shoe!!! We slept like lizards on heated rocks that night (sun burn) and awoke the next morning to go SPLORIN!!!!!!! Powells books was K3wl and I got some new Ted Kooser (my favorite poet) books I aint never seen no where before. Sean got a funk bass book… we took a silly picture. It all happened. I think at this point I was still thumbs downing portland partially because of the stomach ache and all the trouble it took navigating downtown. Powells made it go a little more west. Then we headed over to Hawthorne street to scope out aritchoke music where we would be playing that evening. Let me put it simply… artichoke music is the shit. The two owners Richard and Jim are some of the coolest music store guys/guys in general I have ever encountered. They stock shit tons of art & lutherie guitars AND i played a banjo for a solid twenty minutes without interruption. it was amazing. Then we trecked up Hawthorne into various vintage stores and all that stuff. Great thai food. blah blah blah yo-yo.

That evening the show opened up with an amazing harpist, followed by three great songwriters and an accordion playing story teller. We closed out the evening to a sold out crowd and that room was so respectful it was fantastic! This is where our girl Jasmine and her man Metro met up with us. We were to stay with them for the evening. We went to a 24 hour place called the Roxy and ate veggies. Hamms and sleep after that. The next morning Jasmine showed us around all the coolest spots. She is skamazing. we were supposed to have a show in Seattle that day but they fell off so we ended up in portland all day. There was a cool semi private show going on in a vintage shop that night and it was there that I got my first denim shirt, not to mention the best button ever (happy valentines day). This is also where things got kind of sketch. I put paper towels in my ears as ear plugs cause I’m all about my ability to hear. At the end of the show when I went to take em out the one in my left ear wouldn’t come out… It just got poked deeper with all my efforts. We went back to jasmines and ate burritos and fell asleep in chairs. The next day we bid Jasmine and Metro farewell and my ear was still clogged…My thumb was somewhere north west by the time we left.

WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!?!?!? WHERE WILL WESTWOOD & WILLOW FIND THEIR NEXT ADVENTURE? WILL THEY BE DETAINED AT THE BORDER? WILL THEY SLEEP IN A BOX IN SEATTLE? IS THE RUMOR TRUE THAT SEAN GOT A BUZZ CUT??? FIND OUT IN TOUR PART 3!!!