Steve Dilling has agreed to share the ups and downs, in and outs of a long IIIrd Tyme Out road trip with our readers. They will be traveling from coast to coast, and back again, this first two weeks of April. Here is his second report.

Day 3 of our trip was pretty non-adventurous.  Russell, Jack and myself took shifts driving while enjoying the beauty of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  As night fell, we made our way into California.  We had a full day of riding, listening to music, watching DVDs and, at last, a much anticipated game of ‚Äòhigh stakes’ blackjack!  One of the bus rules is ‚Äòquarter-hand limit’‚Ķ‚Ķlike I said‚Ķ..real ‚Äòhigh stakes’!!!

Day 4 started in Barstow, CA. and it was time to get the bus cleaned up!  Eight guys immediately jumped on it and started washing, then it was time to polish the chrome wheels.  Man, the bus looked GREAT!!  We jumped back in and headed towards the Bay area.  It was a bout a 400 mile trip and we mostly played cards and enjoyed the scenery.  We arrived at the home of Bill and Maria Nadauld in Hayward, CA. around 4:30 p.m. (pacific time) and spent the rest of the day hanging out with them.  We had an AWESOME dinner and watched the UNC Tarheels win the NCAA basketball championship.

Day 5 found us waking up in Hayward with a trip planned for me, Edgar, Justen and Maria to spend the day in San Francisco.  We walked around the world-famous Embarcadero and Pier 39.  Then we took a cruise out in the bay.  We went under the Golden Gate bridge, sailed around Alcatraz prison and the San Francisco Bay bridge and it was AWESOME to see these places up close!!  We got back to the bus and it was time to go to work.  We loaded up and made our way to Berkeley to play the Freight and Salvage and arrived around 4:30 p.m. for sound check.  This is a venue that just about everyone that you can think of has played.  The wall in the dressing room has been signed by everyone who has performed there in the past.  There is so much history!  It was cool to read all of that.  Showtime was at 8:00 p.m. and we had a good crowd that came to listen and enjoy some music and they were very responsive to us!  It was great to see our buddy, and great mandolin player, Tom Rozum in the audience!  We had a nice visit with him and it was a great night!  We finished the show, got loaded up and back on the road by 11:30 that night.  Russell drove us for about 3 _ hours down hwy. 101 south where we shut down for a good night’s rest.

Day 6 has us traveling to Santa Maria, CA. to our dear friend Joe Quealey’s home to visit and enjoy a nice BBQ!  As I write this, we are currently sitting in front of his home and will be here until about 4:00 p.m.  Then we’ll head on over to Santa Ynez, CA. where we’ll be performing tonight at the Marverick Saloon.  It should be a great time!  I will update you on this in my next post.