Mar. 19, 2017

Text

Hello friends,

Sorry for my delay, I hope all are doing well this Sunday morning. I myself am doing good having arrived last Thursday from Anchorage. I’m now fully focused on my last stop after spending the last few days running around getting the gigs mobile back on the road. Unfortunately I had to spend my Hawaiian budget on the repairs and now the tour has been extended once again from my original target date of January, Lol!

The truck needed right side bearings which in hindsight probably was brought on by me at some point when I decided to use the safety warning grooves on the highways in Idaho and Eastern Washington last month when the drive was covered with snow and ice. Not having four-wheel drive left me with very little traction and I thought I was being clever by using the grooves to help me stay on the road for those hundreds of miles, but in the end it just ruined the bearings with all the vibration and jarring conditions I put the truck through. If I knew then what I know now I probably would have done the same, having no choice but to keep moving forward from those awful freezing conditions. I’ve had to deal with obstacles in almost every state as I encountered them and not worrying about the next stop until I reached it. that was the only way I could keep my sanity during all this time. Fortunately for me I was able to find a great person and mechanic named Ken in Fremont who helped me fix my truck and even gave me a few days to come up with the money. Thanks Ken!

Changing topics, I left Alaska as you can imagine feeling down and frustrated with the outcome even though I knew from the time I booked the flight last month that my chances of success were dim to none taking in consideration my limitations, time frame but mostly time of year. What I kept hearing from the locals was that I was there at the wrong time of year and that the spring and summer were better times to land a job easily if I wanted. “You could work all day long, seven days a week if you want,” was the theme of the visit. “Come back later this year and see the beauty of the state,” was another. Obviously it was not a vacation trip as has been the case from the start but a working tour. It will go down as a visited state with no job to log. I certainatley have more to say about my time there and will tell of it once I begin putting together the book. Still what I saw from the plane and just walking around and riding the buses (in 17degree weather) only gave me a glimpse of the natural beauty, people and culture of the state and wet my appetite to hopefully return some summer day in my twilight years.

And now only Hawaii remains as my last stop of 51, I hope to depart next Monday the 27th and stay in Honolulu for a week to ten days. I won’t have my tools and truck once again but I know a few people down there having lived in the area back in 2013-14. Believe me when I tell you friends: waiting for the bus on the Hawaiian Islands in March is far different than a bus stop in Anchorage! That being said I hope to fill my site with pics and videos especially for those folks who have never been there. Then back for my final nine hundred miles to Tucson with quick pit stops in L.A. and Phoenix to visit family.

I will be checking back in a couple of days and hope you are with me all the way to Tucson next month! I certainatley appreciate your support and encouragement all these months. I would not have reached fifty states without the moral support and well wishes from all of you great folks!  Have a great day and check my Gigs album #3 for updated pictures!   #Yo-Ga-Fla

Juanjohn