Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sun 9/13/2009 11:57 AM

Sun 9/13/2009 11:57 AM

Notes from the road...

Goshen, Indiana is a happening little town! After 14 hours or so in the van, we finally arrived from Tulsa. We played the night before at Cain's and got little to no sleep before having to be up crazy early for a television appearance on Friday morning. Sleep deprived and feeling loopy, we made the journey northward. While long, the drive wasn't bad and we arrived to check into a nice hotel and we promptly headed downtown to some of Rhoades's favorite haunts. His old pals became our new pals and we spent another long night together laughing and looking at our watches wondering why we even get hotel rooms. Dennis pointed out "It's not like we ever even use them." He has a keen sense of the obvious.

Dennis makes new friends in Goshen

Saturday afternoon found us waking up late and venturing out with Rhoades and his folks and a couple of close friends to Shipshewana, a little Amish town not too far from Goshen. We had a family style homecooked meal that, coupled with the cooler weather up here, reminded me of Thanksgiving in Texas. We enjoyed their company all afternoon long and couldn't help but notice all the horse-and-buggies trotting around town. I've never spent much time near Amish country so there were lots of new sights for me to take in. The flowers everywhere were beautiful but not too fragrant for the smell of horse poop in the air.

Horse buggy

Horse puckey

I'm not too sure what use the Amish have for crossbow pistols either, but I bought one that looked like a toy -- but turns out is quite a powerful little weapon. We fired a couple of bolts in Rhoades's folks' front yard only to all stand back in awe at the power of my cheaply made crossbow. Suddenly it didn't seem as good an idea as it had when I purchased it. Yeah. Good job, Dodds. I'm gonna get myself into some trouble with this one.


Historically, little is known about the origins of the Amish crossbow pistol.


Constant Spring is the name of the bar we played last night to a sellout crowd. Dustin says we were only the second event to sell the place out. The last time was a benefit of some sort. (Go Two Tons!) The show was a sort of homecoming and Rhoades was king for a night. (Today he's back to just being a nuisance.) The small bar was packed with people and we had a great time. Thanks to Jason for having us out there, and to all the bartenders who took care of us and everybody who made our stay so hospitable and such a great experience - especially Phil and Cheryl Rhoades who so graciously helped us out with our hotel rooms, fed us lunch on Saturday, made us breakfast this morning and filled up our gas tank on the way out of town. God bless you guys. Your kindness is much appreciated and hopefully we'll be back up there again someday. The weather today is cool and clear and I can't wait for cooler weather back home. Today finds us continuing on northward to Green Bay where we'll stay and perform at the Oneida Casino for 3 nights. Stay tuned. I'll have updates soon...

- Dodds

King for a day; Rhoades-Bomb circa 1993

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