Sunday and Monday were days off; we had a super sleep in the cabin in Golden, and headed off the next day to Calgary. We had lunch (awesome veggie & rice wraps) on top of a hill north of the city, to the side of a dirt road, overlooking the valley. We stayed at a decent hotel with a waterslide (always a bonus) and I got some computer work done while Marcus and Rob visited friends (I guess I need to make some friends in Calgary). Monday night Marcus picked up our tour manager/sound man Joey Hachey from the airport, and on Tuesday we headed off to Medicine Hat.

Rob made us sandwiches at a rest stop about an hour before the Hat, and we immediately found ourselves accosted by bold and curious little prairie dogs. They sauntered right up to us expectantly, waiting for handouts. Marcus and I tossed a football around, and one of the prairie dogs even chased it optimistically before remembering maybe it should actually be scared of the ball. Another snuck into the bread bag while Rob was making sandwiches. We thought they were going to mug us for our dried cranberries.

I’ve written about the Ottoman Lounge before, of course - it’s an awesome room that used to be a strip club in the 70s and has a wonderful light-up colourful disco stage and backdrop. Tuesdays are indie band nights, and we were on a bill with two other Vancouver-area artists, Evan Symons and Unreliable Narrator. Unreliable Narrator cancelled, so we started a little late and each did slightly longer sets. Evan had a neat setup with backing tracks and trippy psychedelic videos accompanying his songs.

We decided on a set that started quietly with Launching Pad and built up gradually to the more danceable numbers. Marcus did another raffle, this time with a t-shirt going to the first person to produce an expired library card. We ended on Happiness vs. Sadness and people wanted an encore. I commented on how awesome the glowy stage was, and Marcus invited anyone who wanted to check it out on stage, so we had about four or five people up there dancing with us as we played Anything More. It was a fun, fun time.

Right now we’re driving north towards Lloydminster, which is right on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan - half the town is in one province and half is in the other. It’s actually quite a beautiful drive through rolling golden fields. We’re slightly concerned that both Google Maps and our GPS directed us to an unpaved road that we would have had to drive on for at least two or three hours. We’ve rerouted slightly to the west, which is a longer distance but appears to be paved… so far….