THE NEXT 10 TANKS, #31-40, FOR SALE NOW!
YOUR TANK OF THE TOUR.....THE DIARY:
ENTRY #1:
Just to let you all know....we are taking polaroid pictures of each fill up and compiling packages and gifts for each tank owner!! Our goal is to make each gift "indigenous to the area" (Dena's new favorite thing to say).
We will start keeping better tabs so we can post more details, but so far here's the run down:
Each tank is getting us about 240 miles....
Tank #1 took place at the Molly Pitcher rest stop along the Jersey Turnpike on Sunday night, 10/1. We hadn't even picked Jen up yet! Cass, Cathy and Dena picked out the gift...
Tank #2 took place in the Somerset area of PA. Not too far outside of Pittsburgh...and it was later that night...actually more like early a.m. 10/2 before we stopped for the night! I believe Cass and Jen grabbed this gift.
Tank #3 happened in the Columbus, OH area in the earlier part of the day on 10/2 after our 7am take off time to get ourselves to Indianapolis on time. All five of us belabored over this gift.
Tank #4 occurred AFTER our show in Indianapolis on our way back to the hotel....I picked out the gift myself for tank #4, I'll have you know. The girls were tired. Cahty and I pumped the tank and I was charged with gift getting. I'm sure it will be used for years to come by its recipient!
We will be filling up on our way out of Chicago today for Tank #5....we haven't shipped any packages out yet...though they are packed and ready to go. We need to find a post office or some place that ships packages!
Next update coming soon.........
ENTRY #2
THREE MORE TANKS USED ON 10/4/06. Here's a brief recap:
Tank #5 ended up being a slight debacle in that we were in Chicago and got EXTREMELY LOST thanks to our GPS tracking system on our Motorola phone. It took us to the absolute most incorrect location for our hotel and we ended up tearing through the end of tank 4...causing us to gas up for tank #5 prematurely...just outside of Chicago this afternoon (10/4). Tank #5 is the first tank of the tour where we had the official "van wrap." For those of you who come out to the shows, you'll see how Motorola decorated our van with our logo and curb shot photo. It looks awesome! We'll try to post some pix. but if we can't, feel free to take pictures and post them. Gift for tank 5 was found by Dena and Cathy and very relevant to the GPS debacle.
Tank #6 seemed like only a short time later in the afternoon on the border of Illinois and Iowa. This tank's photo includes all five members (some do, some don't depending on whose awake or in need of a bathroom break....) PLUS a special 6th member...Kim, our Front of House sound girl makes an appearance....
Tank #7....I'm tired and fuzzy...I took notes on it and they're in the van. I think we were in Iowa...oh yes, Adair, IA. Cathy found a great gift. This one was later in the night, so Jen was asleep in the van. 4 out of 5 members pumped this one before going into the rest stop to eat Subway for dinner.
We drove until 2am....about 11 hours today...we're in Nebraska. Should be about another 10 hour drive tomorrow to get to Denver! We'll check back in then!
xo
AR
ENTRY #3:
Tank #8 happened early on in the day 10/5 just outside of Omaha, Nebraska. The gas station was set up with a Starbucks behind it, so the photo has us pumping gas with the Starbucks logo above our heads...we had to go to the gas station across the street for the gift because we couldn't find anything "indigenous to the region" inside the gas station's mart. And again, we grabbed lunch at Subway...Good thing we hit the mart across the street, because we found a BRAND NEW MANBUNNY for the van....It's a PEACOCK. We will send photos, but we've dubbed him Mancock Bunny. That's right...so this stop goes down in the record books for sure.
Tank #9. We were warned to stop for gas on the border of Nebraska and Colorado. They said we wouldn't see another "fillin' station" for a while...so we stopped....this was definitely a small town gas stop...the mart wasn't loaded, but we did find a gift, that's all we can say.
10 hours of driving and 30 miles OUTSIDE of Denver, one of the trailer tires BLEW OUT. Are we having fun yet? Triple A to the rescue. They put a new tire on and we were off. It could've been much worse than it was, but we only sat for about 45 minutes. We got to Denver, stumbled into our hotel and are all just waking up now.
Tank #10...Saturday, 10/7 - leaving Denver, CO to get to Aspen. What an amazing drive through the mountains! Beautiful! We were warned in Denver to drink tons of water to stay hydrated, so we stopped about 350 times for bathroom breaks and it made the trip twice as long as it should have been! Only 3 of us were available for the photo op at this stop...cell phones and business going down in the van...and gift was picked out by Dena and Kristen!
We leave Aspen in a few minutes for our 20 hour drive to Seattle. I'm sure we'll have several more tanks to report by day's end.
ENTRY #4
Tank #14 happened first thing in the morning on 10.09.06 in Mountain Home, Idaho. There was moderate debate over a gift. This mart happened to have some very good indigenous to the region type gifts...After moderate debate, we all agreed the recipient likely did not already have one of what we selected. So we hope it is enjoyed...
Tank #15 seemed to come quickly....we were somewhere in Oregon. None of us expected it. Details are hazey, though we did take good notes in the van and they are detailed on the photo we sent...Again, great mart for gifts, we doubt the recipient will have one of these!
Tank #16 just inside the Washington state border. This recipient will get a photo complete with the entire gang minus Dena (lost in the mart) and Eddie Knuckles (tank photographer). This recipient also very strongly and adamently requested they did not want a gift. It worked out well, because this was the first mart we stopped in where we couldn't shake a speck of indigenousness out of it. We could've been in Butler, NJ for all we knew.
We've mailed out at least the first 10 tanks of the tour packages and would love to hear what you all think of them! We're having a riot out here piling out at every stop for the photos and gifts.
Also, we're contemplating making more tanks available....if people are still interested, let us know and we'll list a few more tanks for the tour. Seems we'll be through 30 tanks sooner than expected.....
Entry #5
Tank #17 - leaving Seattle and heading to Portland, OR on 10/11/06. Really lame mart, unfortunately. We did the best we could with what we had to choose from!
Tank #18 - Leaving Oregon and heading into California, 10/12/06. A group effort selecting the gift!
Tank #19 - A few hours later on 10/12, we entered WEED, CALIFORNIA. Needless to say, after being approached by a drug dealer, the group picked out an exquisitely indigenous gift...
Tank #20 - 10/13 heading to the club in Sacramento, CA. Lame lame mart. We hate lame marts. Again, we selected as best we could, but over compensated at photo time with extra big smiles.
We leave Sacramento today and head to L.A. Write more soon....
