June 1 - Vernon, BC - House Concert @ Asta K's

We had a hard day getting from Winfield to Vernon because the distance was longer than we expected, the hills were steeper, the heat was scorching, and we were hung-over from bottles of red wine graciously provided by our hostess Kerry the night before. I woke up feeling nautious, which only intensified as the day went on, until only a few kilometres from Asta K's place I had to pull over to be sick. Shortly thereafter, Derek had to pull over to cool down. It was mutually agreed that heavy imbibing the night before biking was NOT a good idea. =) As seems the theme of my trip so far, a guardian angel again appeared to help me out - two, in fact. The first was a woman who had been at our Winfield show and just happened to be passing by checking her mail. She offered to take my gear up to Asta's for me, making my load lighter, and gave Derek and I cool drinks. Second was Ty, the boyfriend of one of our hostesses (Kris) that night, who came to give me a lift up the last few kilometres. Derek, of course, refused to get in a car (he has promised himself no motor vehicles for the duration of this trip), and cycled the rest of the way up (he is hard-core cycle man!). Both of us felt immensely better upon arrival and immersion in cold water, Derek in a shower and I buck naked in a creek that ran through the property, which was idyllic: Three beautiful log cabins tucked away in thick woods with the mentioned creek running through it, complete with a foot bridge made of planks on fallen trees and a wading pool in front of a small waterfall. If Asta and Kris' home was by the ocean and had a garden, I would be tempted to stay with them and never leave. As it was, I was pretty tempted anyway, and had no desire to leave in the morning. Asta and Kris put on the ritz, setting up a little festival-like stage for us complete with cedar boughs and Christmas lights, and a tickle-trunk provided some fantastic costumes that came in handy towards the end of our performance. People kept arriving as the evening deepened, bringing food for a pot-luck and tents to camp in. It was the last day of classes for Asta et al at their massage therapy school, so a party was gearing up. We played an acoustic set (our second such show in as many nights) that tested the limits of our voices and our knowledge of and willingness to play loud party songs. During our break, though, Ty brought us a little amp and microphone, and we got ourselves plugged-in for the second set. After that, things really perked up. People got dancing and enjoying themselves, and Derek whipped out a ton of party tunes he knows. I finished up my night before him, played "My Hammerhead Baby" after dropping my vest and drawers, exposing a shiny red sleeveless shirt, 1980s aviator sunglasses and a skin-tight pair of black and white vertical striped pants that apparantly looked quite good on me. After I finished playing, I felt mellow and famished. Our lovely hostess Asta whipped me up a super salad and even better conversation until 2AM when I had reached my zenith of exhaustion. I went back to my tent by the brook and made sweet love to the Sandman for 7 hours or so, experiencing THE best sleep in my memory.