On the way down pt. 1

Looking back on it, I think the best part about this whole Texas tour thing was the first sentence that was uttered in the van as we pulled out of the alley that our homebase, Summercamp, backs out onto. We had just loaded up all our pillows, blankets and equipment for our initial departure. As Goo honked the horn to signal to any potentially oncoming pedestrians that we were about to fuck their shit up, he turned to me, sitting shotgun, and said, "Well at least this time we'll be able to control the temperature of the van."

What he meant was, the last times we went on tour in August and September, it was so hot that we sweat through our clothes on an hourly basis, thanks to Thrash Vandicoot's lack of air conditioning capabilities. This time, as we left for tour, we had heat at the beginning of the winter season. It wouldn't take long for Gooey's first words to be showered with irony.

Our first show--Ian's Party on New Year's Eve--we pulled up to The Gasthaus in Elgin, IL, and everything was fine, except that we were hungry. We went to Wendy's to use free Frosty coupons and I guess try out their "new" fries. Awful btw. On the way back to the Gasthaus, not 5 minutes away, the engine overheats. We stayed in Elgin overnight because Thrash couldn't make it out of town without the temperature gauge going all the way to H (Thanks to Mouse for letting us stay the night!). The next morning was spent calling literally every auto shop in Elgin. Being as it was New Year's Day, none of them were open. This wasn't surprising, but still disappointing. As the van continued to overheat, we drove to the only auto-related store that was open on new year's day in Elgin: an AutoZone.