Phoenix, AZ - Tuesday March 21st:


We’ve not long ago left the Phoenix show. The band left from the stage; when they finished the last song of the set they climbed into the bus and we set off for Las Vegas, wheels turning before the outro music had finished.

Sprint have loaned us a prototype wireless internet router which means we can get online as we drive, so I’m updating the blog from my bunk. In the back lounge Danny and Julian are discussing the new baseball game Julian got for the X-Box; in the front lounge Fab, Albert and Nick are watching Armageddon on TV. Nikolai’s bunk is opposite mine on the top floor and he’s ridiculing me for being such a sap by suggesting entries (“Fab’s opening a beer, Nick’s changing Channel with the remote—no! Wait! Albert’s standing up again…”) Maybe he’s got a point…?

We had a man-feast on In-N-Out Burgers when we got on the bus. We bought a bunch of them for the after-show food. In fact, since Dallas, we’ve been on an In-N-Out Burger countdown (officiated by Albert). So much so that when we landed today in Phoenix the very first thing we did was stop for Double Double burgers on the way to the show. They're so more-ish that Fab and Nick think there might be skag in the burgers. I’m pretty sure there’s crack cocaine in the chocolate shakes.

There’s eight of us on the bus and there were only 7 shakes. I’ll be honest: I did bad things to get mine.

In fact, I did bad things twice. It’s the night we shall never speak of again.

But really, you forget everything when that icy, frothy chocolate bubbles up through that straw and into your mouth.

Well, nearly everything…

So, to recap: we’ve been in AZ for a total of 6 hours and we’ve been to In-N-Out twice already. Gluttons we are.

Full of burgers and shamefully replete with solicited chocolate shakes I’m going to read Peggy Archer’s and Gong Li’s blogs in my bunk and go to sleep. Maybe that way Nikolai will stop heckling me although I somehow doubt it. He's in a mean mood, I know the signs. It's only a matter of time before he'll want to pull over at a truck stop to see if there's any bare-knuckle action going on. Then there'll be trouble.