The Rolling Stones Zip Code Tour 2015 Blog

About this blog

I will be on tour with the Rolling Stones this summer. Every show. Three months, visiting 14 states in USA, one show in Canada, a special show at the Fonda Theatre, rehearsals in Los Angeles, time and travels between shows, emotions, highlights and some boring stuff in-between. This blog will be the day by day show by show city by city story. It is not really "me" doing this, I would rather hide than writing a blog, but I might reply to many questions this way, it might save me time and I may share info easier than by replying to many e-mail.

If you don't care, then don't bother to follow this blog. If you are interested, feel free to visit. I am a private person, I don't talk much about myself or about my friends. I assume everybody else might me private. You will never see your name or a namer or or a picture here of anyone without their approval. If you want me to mention your name, or have your picture here, in this blog, please tell me, I would normally not even ask, but it would be great if someone approved to me so that I could mention a name and/or use a picture. After all a tour is not just about the band, but also about the fans.

The Rolling Stones are not private when they are on tour. As soon as they are on stage, they are giving us so much pleasure and joy. Off stage they can give us some pain, like we try to find out where they are or what they do, where the club show might be and so on. Just like with you and me, I do respect the privacy and the security of the Stones. I will never post anything that put their privacy into question, like where they rehearse or where they stay.

We all love the Stones. There is a great tour ahead of us. I am three weeks behind on this project - on purpose - but I will catch up and fill in the blanks soon. There will be details about the three weeks in LA too soon.

As for comments in this blog, I am not sure if it will work or not. Until I have added all the framework, comments are off. If you think comments should be allowed, please tell me by e-mail. Same if you do NOT want comments here. I might open up for comments here later today or tomorrow may be, I just need the framework done first.

My e-mail address for comments : iorr@arena.no

Enjoy!

Bjornulf

Asker, Norway, Sunday May 3, 2015

Leaving home early morning. Saying goodbye to the family for the next three months. Going on the tour. Mixed emotions.

First a flight with Scandinavian Airlines Systems - SAS - from Oslo to Newark New Jersey just outside New York. Then another flight from Newark to Los Angeles, where the Rolling Stones are expected to start their rehearsals for the Zip Code Tour any day now.

Why do I expect them to start rehearsals in Los Angeles, and why do I go on May 3? After 44 years following the Stones, you get a sort of hunch, a mix of solid information, hints, experience, leads, and adding up all of this, I go now...

Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 22:55 by bv.

Los Angeles, CA, USA, Sunday May 3, 2015

Nine time zones and two long flights later, I am arriving at my good friend Dean's home in Hollywood, Los Angeles. This will be my home for one and a half weeks from now on.

I am in LA before the Stones. That is part of my plan. I want to be here before they start the rehearsals. There are rumours about rehearsals in Europe, NYC, also other places in USA. I use my best judgement and go to LA.

Ronnie arrives a couple of days after me. The rest of the band is in place mid-week, and they start the rehearsals by the end of the week.

We are checking out all the usual rehearsals places in the area. They are NOT at the Burbank studio they used two years ago. We are there every day until we understand they are at a different location. So we have to look more into it.

By the end of the week we find the place. All the signs we need to have are telling us the Stones are at the Third Encore studio. So we spend more time there. We see Rinnie arriving. Keith, he makes us see him so thank you it helps to be a fan they know, then they will make access and be visible. Then they go undercover. They don't want a large crowd out there, so we try to stay away.

When the autograph hunters arrive we try to stay away by the traffic lights. The car comes by and we manage to make cointact over there. It is a cat and mouse game.





Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:03 by bv.

The Los Angeles rehearsals 2015

The reason why I arrive early is because I love the rehearsals. Also my wife ask me to go as soon as they start rehearsing. I don't listen, I am not present at home in my mind anymore. This is the part where we look for the rehearsals, what happens, and what we see.

After one and a half week staying in thye central Hollywood Hills area I move near the rehearsals site. I need to keep in walking distance, so I stay at the nearby Marriott. Soon I meet old friends from the crew there, it is a small world.

I walk over to the rehearsals every day. It takes less than half an hour. We see the Stones, but the building complex is large and we hear nothing. You must be quite an addicted fan in order to stay at such a place for weeks without anything to see except for a few other fans, and of course the band coming and leaving. But as long as I am there I know what they do, where they are, it is like sitting close by the camp fire, it feels safe.




Bjornulf



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:07 by bv.

Woodland Hills and Topanga, week-end of May 16, 2015

I am taking the week-end off biking in the Topanga Hills a.k.a. the Santa Monica mountains. I did the same during the 2013 tour in Los Angeles. They have the best MTB rental place I know, right in the heart of the Topanga Canyon, and the hills are amazing to bike, lots of steep paths, ands some great downhill racing, even if the paths are a bit dangerous, I don't want to spend the tour opening in a hospital bed...

Woodland Hills is a great place to be, and as long as it is week-end I don't miss much, except the Saturday rehearsals. I return to Los Angeles and Hollywood by Monday, because the coming week will be busy. I know they are planning a show at the Fonda Theatre, and it will be a tough tough ticket, so I need to be in LA and not far away then.



Bjornulf



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:09 by bv.

Fonda Theatre, Wednesday May 20, 2015

I arrived to Hollywood Los Angeles by Monday at noon, moving into a hotel in walking distance to the Fonda Theatre. When there is a club show then rule number one is stay close.

I walk over to the Fonda many times, I see they are building up for the show. Trucks, security, all the signs I need to see. By Tuesday I see people queuing up outside the Fonda.

Wednesday May 20 it is show day. As I walk in the Hollywood area I see the sign is up. The Zip Code sign saying the Zip Code of the Fonda Theatre. So it is confirmed.

I work on getting a ticket and eventually I get the "go" and I know I will be inside for the show at the Fonda.

So many fans are here in LA now and they want to get into this show. The capacity of the venue is 1200 but they will only have around 700 inside, the rest is space for recording equipment, cameras etc.

I am queuing to get in, the 100 or so who puchased tickets online are let in before "our" VIP tickets, also the few who were interviewed about Sticky Fingers are let in, then it is us. I head for the left side i.e. Ronnie side. Luckily a few models leave their front row spot just as I arrive. I stay in a great front of stage area and I never leave my spot until after the show is over.

See the Fonda Theatre show reports here: [www.iorr.org]






Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:19 by bv.

San Diego, Friday May 22, 2015

I took the Amtrak train ride from Los Angeles to San Diego the day after the Fonda Theatre show. The train ride was great, you go by the coast and you have the Pacific ocean to your right all the way. Highly recommended ride. Also, by adding $19, I got business class seats, which means great seats, lots of space, free coffee, free food, and I could work on my PC doing the Fonda show reports on my way, no time lost on this train ride. I will for sure look for more great train rides on this tour. So far I have no flights booked, I need to book 14 flights very soon!

These pictures below were taken in the afternoon of May 22. I was walking over to the Petco Stadium, the Stones trucks outside the stadium is a great sight. Also, I am a romantic dreamer, when I see a wedding couple walking by outsidse the stadium it is such a great sight, they look so happy, I wish them well and I hope to see moree happy people on this tour!









Bjornulf



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:22 by bv.

Comments please? Yes or No?

Should I allow comments here in this thread? Please let me know b y saying "Yes please comments or v"No thank you no comments please". May be it would work, may be not. I don't want to moderate, it takes time, and I don't like it, so having no comments is the easiest for me. On the other hand, it is easier to talk if there are comments pøosting available here. So... comments please. Thank you.

Bjornulf

No thank you no comments please.

If this is supposed to be your Tour Blog, I don't see a need to blow it up with comments. There will be threads enough for that. You may delete this comment

No comments would make it much easier to follow.

No thank you no comments please

OK thanks for the feedback; so I will leave it without comments. My e-mail address is available on the top of these pages anyway.

Bjornulf

San Diego, Saturday May 23, 2015 - Friends of SONOKO NIMURA dinner

Sonoko Nimura was my best tour and travel friend for 20 years. Sadly she passed away six months ago to this date. This tour is the first tour I have been following rehearsals without the company of Sonoko. Today there was a "Friends of Sonoko" informal dinner at the Hard Rock Hotel here in San Diego, just one block from the Petco Park. I did not take any pictures, as I felt we were private, but if someone do have a picture they want to share here please let me know. I wasn't sure I could go, as I am too sentimental, but it turned out it was a very nice and informal event, where I could meet may be 50 fans and friends from all over USA, Europe, Japan and the rest of the world. You may read about Sonoko here:

Sonoko Nimura in memory

Before that, during the day, I was looking for a proper rental bike, and it turns out there is a great bike place near my hotel. Most rental bikes are bad bikes, sorry to say it, they are for tourists and they don't have proper breaks, they are useless if you put safety first and you want to bike fast and for hours. So I got my relatively good quality tourist bike with a repair kit and all I need, it is still a hybrid, but it is good enough for biking San Diego. So I took a ride for an hour in the city, over to the merchandise, and they have LOTS of stuff for sale. This is just a bit of it...







Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-24 21:33 by bv.

San Diego, Sunday May 24, 2015 - SHOW DAY!

The sun is shining, it is a beautifil day, time for a bike ride around the city, and tonight, the official tour opening here in San Diego. I wonder how many songs we will get from Sticky Fingers.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express San Diego Downtown. I was 20 minutes walk from the Santa Fe downtown train station, and 20 minutes walk to the Petcop Park concert

venue. Not very central at all, but cheap. The choice of place to stay turned out to be just perfect. Why? Because the hotel and the service was just perfect, and

because just across the street, I had one of the best restaurants I have been at on any travels, the Italian restaurant Soleluna. Highly recommended both:

Holiday Inn Express San Diego Downtown, 1430 7th Avenue, San Diego
Soleluna Cafe, 702 Ash Street, San Diego

I had most of my meals in San Diego at the Soleluna Cafe, working my way through the menu, trying out different desserts every time. On show day all of the area around Petco park was completely crowded. I walked quickly back to the Soleluna Cafe in 15 minutes, and had one of my best meals there, the perfect pre-show meal, quiet, relaxing, perfect service, perfect food.

Then back to Petco Park, for the official opening of the Zip Code tour!

See the San Diego show reports and pictures : [www.iorr.org]

For comments please contact me at e-mail: iorr@arena.no













Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-21 01:13 by bv.

San Diego Old Town, Wednesday May 26, 2015

I did TWO things in San Diego:

1. Stones show
2. Visiting the Old Town

The Old Town of San Diego was a real great memory. Such a nice place. I biked out there, I stayed and watched all the great old buildings. If you go to San Diego as a tourist, make sure you have the Old Town on top of your list!





Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:33 by bv.

Solana Beach, Wednesday May 26, 2015

I took the train 40 minutes north of San Diego to Solana Beach, because there were talks about another club show.

There was a rumour about the Belly Up, and I had this from a n umber of different sources. So I moved north the 45 minutes or so from San Diego to Solana Beach, and checked into a hotel that was ten minutes walk from the Belly Up. Perfect place to be in case there was a club show here.

Then I walked over to the venue, I had a ticket to a concert at the Belly Up the night before the Stones were expected to be here. I wanted to see the place, how it was, and I did not expect to be inside for the Stones show.

Once inside the Belly Up, I realized immediately this was the place. I had a dinner at the restaurant. B B King was in a picture on their walls. The restaurant was directly connected to the Belly Up side door. Inside the Belly Up there was tons of pictures of every single great performing artist in USA. This was the California "Brixton Academy", except it was much smaller, just 600 or so capacity. More like the Las Vegas Joint, even smaller than that one.





Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:30 by bv.

Del Mar Mesa, San Diego, Thursday May 27, 2015

In the morning of the day of club show I was taking my just rented great mountain bike out to the Del Mar Mesa. This is my biking map i.e. the pulse meter log. Red means red zone i.e. pain, orange is steep hills high pulse, the rest is cruising around, biking the trails of Del Mar Mesa. The numbers are stops I made, one of them a hotel where there lives famous people. Had to go by, it was in the area.

As I left for my bike trip in the morning, I went by the Belly Up venue. There were 50 or so people queuing up for tickets, and there were the Stones trucks there. And I met security people and crew members I know from the band. So for sure there would be a show here tonight. I had no expectations for getting into this show. It was private. So I just planned to be outside listening. I went out biking all day, and I did not arrive back until 6pm.







Bjornulf



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:36 by bv.

The Rolling Stones private club gig at the Belly Up, Solana Beach, Thursday May 27, 2015

It took a long time because there were so many memories, but I finally did it. These are the Belly Up reports:

The Rolling Stones at the Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA, USA, Wednesday, May 27, 2015





Bjornulf



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 23:24 by bv.

Goodbye California, Hello Ohio

Another train ride along the coast from Solana Beach into the Old Town of San Diego, then a quick ten minutes taxi ride to the San Diego Airport. I had a couple of hours on the airport so I did some work, but still way behind on the work schedule. The travel started at 10am and two flights later I was in Columbus Ohio around 11pm i.e. close to midnight. A total of 10 hours travel time and 3 hours time zone difference.

California was great but a bit busy, especially the last week. Nearly four weeks into the tour travels, including the rehearsals, it feels great to have the Stones going into the routine of playing two shows per week. Between the shows there will be travel, but you know they will not just pop up on a club stage while you have fish tacos or watch a hockey game in a different city.

Tonight there are two major events happening at the same time. Tim Ries is having his band mates Bernard Fowler and more performing at a club in Columbus. Also, at 8pm the game seven Tampa vs Rangers at MSG is on. I think I will be at a sports bar crossing my fingers for the Rangers. So far the NHL play-offs have been amazing, I have just been reading about them, saw the Rangers win a game on TV while in San Diego, at the BOB's bar. Now I will have the chance to see who will make it to the finals. And tomorrow, the other game seven semi final, Anaheim vs Chicago Blackhawks.

On with the tour. Goodbye California. Hello Ohio Stadium!







Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-30 00:47 by bv.

Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH, Saturday May 30, 2015

With just two days and three night in Columbus, Ohio, there was little time for tourist activities. I did a quick trip downtown with bus number 18, it cost me two dollers each way. Many nice buildings downtown, and a river that is flowing through the city, but the river is "under construction" i.e. lots of works and not really beautiful as it is now.

Back to my "home area" near the stadium, lots to see, a stadium with a crowd of 60,000 or more is an amazing sight. People, old and yound, some dressed up, some dressed not, some queuing for food, many queuing for merchandise. High heals, no heals, and then, eventually, the Stones on stage.

For the concert, please see these pages:

The Rolling Stones at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH, USA, Saturday, May 30, 2015

Some memories from show day, downtown and at Ohio Stadium...



















Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-01 06:16 by bv.

Southwest Airlines to Minneapolis, MN, Sunday, May 31, 2015

Arriving late Thursday May 28 into Columbus, and leaving early morning on the day after the show gave little time for touristing in Ohio. Too bad, because Columbus was great, the temperature was great, 33 C which is 91 F, and I wanted to stay in Columbus a few days more. But... for years it has been "standard procedure" for me to get into the next city during the morning after the show, getting out just before noon. This leaves little sleep, as I usually work with photos and reports until 3am or 4am during the night after the show, then leaving around 9am for the airport. Good news, I will have four days in Minneapolis!

For this tour I will have 20-25 flights, some direct, but usually two flights into every new city. So far San Diego via Phoenix into Columbus, then Columbus via Chicago into Minneapolis. It is hard to find direct flights, and if there are direct flights, they are expensive.

I did not book any flight at all until two weeks ago, except for my intercontinental flight into Los Angeles, returning from Quebec July 16. So I needed all those 14 flights show to show in America. After checking out the major airliners like American, United, Delta and so on, they were all very expensive, and not so flexible. Then I checked ot the low budget airliners I had been adviced about, like Spirit, Jet Blue and so on. Some of these were ok, others were a pain, their websites were bad, they wanted to sell me hotels, rental cars, snacks, upgrades, checked luggage, in short everything except for fight between cities. I was recommended Southwest. When checking out their hubs, prices, website and policies, I realized they were just the right airliner I needed in North America this summer. My first three travels were booked a couple of weeks ago, and yesteday I booked another five city connections, some via Chicago, some via St Louis.

I travel light. Ten kilo (22 lb/pounds) is all I have for this nearly three months travel, including my PC, which weight two kilo, one kilo cables and pocket camera, and the bacpack same 40 liter backpack I use for Kilimanjaro trips, also one kilo. I need the airliners to understand I need to carry this, I don't want to check it. If it gets lost I might not get it until I am off for the next city. I change city two times per week on tour. If they have an eight kilo max carry on policy, they are out of business vs me. Southwest allow two pieces, one large, one personal. I have a backpack that weights one kilo. Then I have 9 kilo to pack in it. For flying I have this miracle 68 gram (!!!) daypack backpack, that is 2 oz... really made for daytrip when climbing mountains. It is rock solid, weight nothink, takes no space (the size of a little finger when not in use), and it is my secret weapon in getting everything on board. Once off the plane, I have one backpack, 10 kilo still.

Ultraseal daypack Sea to Summit 68 gram:
[www.seatosummit.com]

Osprey Talon 44 backpack
[www.backcountry.com]

These are my best friends, SAS, Lufthans, KLM, Quantas, Southwest, Singapore Airlines, Thai, they all accept these as carry on, which is exactly what I need.

I am not a loyal customer for airliners. If they mess with me, I dump them. For years I did not fly with Lufthansa, even if I am a Star Alliance Gold (Diamond actually) member, because they treated me badly regarding an extra small bag with my PC. One piece only, they said. I said, they weight only 2-3 kg each. Nothing. One piece only, said Lufthansa. So I used SAS, KLM, BA, Air France and anyone exceept LH for years. Then they got more friendly after 5-6 years, probably change of policy/management, and I started using Lufthans once more. These days Lufthansa are great.

Southwest have beeen working great so far. Always on time. Always friendly. Cheap, easy to book, excellent easy to use web site, all flights in one place, no papers, everything online, every person has got a boarding queue number. I will probably stay with Southwest during the whole tour.

Some pictures from the Southwest flight from Chicago to Minneapolis:







Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-01 06:45 by bv.

Work work work in Minneapolis Monday June 1, 2015

The travel on Thursday from San Diego to Columbus, and then on Sunday from Columbus to Minneapolis, killed my "free time". I neëd every hour of the day, seven days a week. I know from previous tour that travel is killing my schedule, but this time my work pressure is harder than ever.

So what do I do for making a living? I manage a company that I started in 1990 on my own. The reason why I started the company was I worked too much. There were some years in the 90's I had a normal working life, but these days the work pressure is insane.

My company are experts at digital strategy and managing plus improving web site performance through measurements. We have the largest banks, insurance companies in Norway as customers. Also government, the largest industry companies and so on. But we are still a small company, with just eight employees including myself. So I manage my employees, but first of all I make sure my target customers get all the support they need. Every single day they come up with something new, an Android or i Phone app they need to meaure, a new webshop, campaigns, online banking, self service processes and so on and on and on. Summer holidays start June 23 in Norway. Then school close, business slow down. The first three weeks of june are always a nighmare work wise. We work 10 hours per day, because all the projects they have in the pipeline have to get going before the project leaders go on holidays during June/July. Norway slow down for six weeks from late June to first week of August.

Monday monding May 31 I have 100 e-mail from work and 40 from IORR. There is no way I can get away with this. I have to work hard. Very hard. I wake up at 7pm, have breakfast, call work which is now at 3pm in Norway, and start working, working, working. Luckily internett is aboslutely exceellent. No breaks. I shift out the first 50 e-mail by four hours, then half of the 40 IORR e-mail in an hour or so. Then I head out into the streets of Minneapolis to find a bike. I look for the One-on-One bike store and mess around in the city, but I don't find it. But I find the post office, and I get postage stamps for postcards, and I walk by one of the five star hotels in town and get postcards. Then back to work. I bough a sliced bread and some bananas in the morning, so I am fine with food for the entire Minneapolis stay. I don't spend any more money today. I don't leave my "office". I work until midnight. It has been a 16 hours shift with a two hours break, but I am now down to 20 pending e-mail for work and 15 for IORR, that is good. The day has been very productive. The best day since Tuesday May 4, when I worked 14 hours non-stop in LA.

Comments or questions? Feel free to e-mail me at iorr@arena.no

Bjornulf



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 07:48 by bv.

Biking Minneapolis + Charlie Charlie Charlie Tuesday June 2, 2015

After such a successful working day on Monday, I feel I have deserved some biking time. I also found out that streets have S and N which means South and North attached to them, so I was messing around at the wrong streets yesterday. I soon find my bike rental shop. They have a great 29er, a good mountain bike. Most of my biking is on streets on travel, but an MTB is by far more superior when it comes to bumps in the roads, avoiding accidents, breaks are pro, and they have front suspension. It was the perfect bike. The price tag said $3k but I will not leave this bike on the streets. It is staying safe in my room during the nights.

I head out for the lakes around Minneapolis. There are plenty of lakes, and the biking trails are excellent. Best biking city so far on any tour. Then after some three hours of biking I pass by the airport on my way back home, and I take a detour to check out the Stones venue for tomorrow - the TCF Bank Stadium. Very quiet out there, but there are some trucks, may be a dozen or so fans only.

Next up I need to cross Mississippi river back to downtown Minneapolis. I mess a lot and I spend an hour biking here and there. As everyting is flat in Minneapolis, it is not easy to see where you are. I have a GPS on my Polar pulse watch RS800CX, but I don't use a GPS map. It is more fun just to bike... Finally I get back around 5:15pm. I have an appointment with good old Jim from Chicago at 5:30pm at the Dakota, so I am short of time.

At the Dakota Jazz Club 5:45. I made it for the soundcheck. Tim Ries, Bernard Fowler and Chuck Leavell is around. I am a a table with Jim and his daughter, and we have a great time. After 85 km (53 miles) biking for 4,5 hours I am so thursty and hungry. Tim Ries is really great, so is Bernard Fowler, and Chuck Leavell, as well as the very talented guitar player. We see Charlie arriving as the show is starting, and from experience (Sydney 2014 last fall) I know chances are great for Charlie sitting in on a song after the break. Then the break, Charlie walks right next to our table to backstage, and after the break Charlie is on stage for Ruby Tuesday.

A great relaxing day off work!!!

More here:

Charlie Watts on stage with Tim Ries at the Dakota tonight : [www.iorr.org]















Comments or questions? Feel free to e-mail me at iorr@arena.no

Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 07:52 by bv.

Show day Minneapolis Wednedsday June 3, 2015

Show day means I must work double, both IORR and work. Also I still have my bike, and I have plans for doing a quich two hours ride at noon. Thunders and heavy rain at noon is delaying my plans. I work until 2pm, then head out for biking. I spend 35 km (22 miles) out there in the great paths, and arrive back around 4pm. With already appointments for 4pm at the Brit's pub to meet friends I got really busy to head back. The Brit's pub was my water hole in Minneapolis.

Then out to the venue at 6pm, slight rain, but for the show luckily no rain.

For the show see pictures and reports here:

The Rolling Stones at TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN, USA, June 3, 2015 : [www.iorr.org]









Comments or questions? Feel free to e-mail me at iorr@arena.no

Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 07:54 by bv.

Postcards from Minneapolis Thursday June 4, 2015

I love sending postcards to family and friends. A postcard is a sign of a thought. You are not at home, you are on travel some place, and you want to share a memory with someone who is close to you. So I send five postcards from every single visit I visist, to my five grandchildren. I hope they still remember me when I am back late this summer. The youngest age two will probably be very reserved when I am back, but the oldest were born during the 2005-2007 tours, they understand what I am doing these days.

As a stamp collector when I was a kid, I try to get great stamps, it is hard, but I use to find a post office in every city. Here in Minneapolis I bought a buch of stamps for my cards, I am planning ahead!

Busy days. I work hard on concert reports and pictures from 8am to noon, then checkout, then write my 5 usual cards plus afew more, and I am on the tram to the airport... Busy busy busy...




Comments or questions? Feel free to e-mail me at iorr@arena.no

Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 07:57 by bv.

Dallas is next up - Thursday June 4, 2015

My Southwest experiences are still great. The airplane arrive on time, and leave on time. We follow Mississippi river south and land in St Louis. Some time during this tour I must get a day in St Louis. I just love the city. I need to get up into the Arch once more, and I need to get to the head Anheuser-Busch brewery (Budweiser), where they do real great brewery tours, and where they have the great Clydesdale horses. I will be in the area later in the tour, and hope for a quick stopover...

Then another flight, and we arrive at Dallas Love Field, just north of Dallas downtown. The logistics of my stay in Dallas has been a nightmare. There are some 30 km i.e. 20 miles between Dallas and Arlington, with no proper public transportation. Taxis are too expensive. I ended up with a hotel in Stemmons near the Love Field airport, working on the transportation for show day.

The temperature in Dallas is great, warm 30 C i.e. around 90 F. I head to my hotel, arriving around 7:30pm. As usual, I have spent 7 hours changing city door to door. Seven hours I need for work... Anyway. Hook up to internet. How does it work? A nightmare! So slow. I head down to the reception and tell them I must check out tomorrow morning unless they fix the problem. They say there is a cable in the room, and they say they are fully booked with many guests. The same old story. Without internet my work schedule is dead. I leave them and go for a meal.

First priority in a new city is a room with HIGH SPEED internet. When I work hard internet must be even faster. When I stayed in Hollywood for the Fonda show I got a hotel with terrible internet, after coming back from biking in Topanga. I worked from 8pm till 2am in the morning, six hours, but the net real work was may be an hour for me. A true nightmare. At 2am I booked the next door hotel and moved over there at 8am in the morning. Internet to me is as important as water, power and food.

Second priority in a new place is a nice place I can sit and have a nice meal outside. And since I have very specific requirements for what sorts of places I like and what they serve, I work hard to fing the favorite place.

Some times like in Minneapolis there is no such place. In Columbus I found it on day two. In San Diego I found my best place dining for the entire tour, I am planning to fill in on more details about my San Diego stay here soon.

So I walked under the I-35 E and found this place after some walking around:

Joe's Crab Shack, 10250 Technology Blvd E, Dallas, TX 75220, Dallas/Stemmons Fwy (I-35 E).

What a lovely place. Great seafood, great beers on tap, friendly people, the manager shaking my hand when I returned for another meal next day, and birds in the pond around the place. Best of all, I can sit outside dining. I never see the point in dining inside with aircondition. I am from Norway. We dine inside when it is 20 below zero, we dine inside during winter storms, when the snow and wind is howling on our houses, we dine inside almost all year, but those rare days in summer when the sun is shining and the snow is gone and it is at least 15 C or may be even 20 C i.e. 60 F, then we dine outside!

So I am now a frequent customer of Joe's Crab Shack at Stemmons Fwy for the next three days. Look no more, no worries about slow internet for the moment, I get great food and great service at a good price.-

Back to the room I work from 10pm until 3am in the morning. Internet is improving gradually. The local Norwegian radio station P4 I am streaming on my PC is no longer having stops at times. May be everybody is sleeping. We will see tomorrow. I have a backup plan, there is another hotel across the street.













Comments or questions? Feel free to e-mail me at iorr@arena.no

Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 08:05 by bv.

Dallas day off Friday June 5, 2015

I am having the first signs of tour fatigue. Even if I love children, at all times, I get stressed when there are lots of children making noise in the breakfast area. I feel ashamed of myself, children should be happy and make noise at all times. I am tired and overworked. Too many e-mail, too many questions, too much work, I have a large working capacity, but I am at my limit now.

It is Friday. I start working. Luckily internet is acceptable. It is fine. I walk over to the other hotel to use the ATM there, and to buy postcards. I hear one of their guests talk to a friend. This is what they are talking about: "Wifi? Sucks. So bad!" So I am glad I never changed hotel. It would have been a nightmare moving from bad to even worse.

I do most of my work from 9am until 2pm. Then I head for the pool, time to relax. Actually it is the very first time I spend more than an hour by a pool in nice weather for this entire five weeks so far travel. I try to rest my overworked body, I know I just have to shut out all stress today then I will be fine by tomorrow.

Some more work in-between resting, and the day off worked great. I have 30 unfinished work mail and 20 for IORR at midnight before show day, those remaining ones I can handle before I go to Atlanta I hope. At least work in Norway is now closed for the week-end. There is hope for catching up with work before the tour is over...



Comments or questions? Feel free to e-mail me at iorr@arena.no

Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 08:09 by bv.

The Mississippi River

When I arrived into Minneapolis I was surprised to see how large and wide the Mississippi River was already as north as in the state of Minnesota. The large river is cutting through the area named Twin Cities, because there are two cities nearby each others; Minneapolis on the west side of the Mississippi River, and Saint Paul just on the east side of the river. They are 13 miles i.e. 21 km apart.

If you go to America, make sure you visit a city where Mississippi River is passing by. It is an impressing river. By walking over some of the bridges, you get a feel of how large the river is, just like walking over the Rhein river in Germany, it is impressing. Also, make a visit to Nicollette Island, which lies in the middle of Mississipi River. I followed the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge one way, and then the Third Avenue Bridge on my way back to the city. Later on during my Minneapolis stay, I biked over several other bridges crossing the river. Lots of water flowing by. I wonder how long it takes for this water to arrive into the sea as the river ends up in New Orleans...

This is from Wikipedia:

The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States (though its drainage basin reaches into Canada), it rises in northern Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for 2,320 miles (3,730 km) to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains all or parts of 31 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and tenth largest river in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

More here: [en.wikipedia.org]



Bjornulf

The North America touristing wish list

The ambitions to visit at least one hopefully three great sights to remember in each and every city visited this summer is history. It would be too expensive and too busy. Still, I have my wish list of something I want to do on this travel for North America this summer. May be I will be able fulfill my wish list at some point.

- Amish community
- Mountain trail
- Train ride

AMISH COMMUNITY
Then I was in Columbus and visited the tourist office there, I got a brochure about the Amish settlements in Ohio. I wanted to visit one of these, but they were 2-3 hours driving, and there were no time. Then, as I was biking around in Minneapolis, I met three Amish dressed people, and I was reminded about my wish once more. By checking out on the net, I see there are some Amish settlements near Pittsburgh too. Any suggestions for where to find one nearby the Stones tour dates this summer would be great. Why visit an Amish community? Why not? I mean why watch a sunrise or a sunset? Because of the beauty, because they happen ony once per day. May be it is just a foolish dream, but I want to see how the Amish live and work. Worst case I will stay with them and leave the tour, but I don't think so...

MOUNTAIN TRAIL
So far my travel has been on all flat ground. Apart from the Santa Monica "mountains", or hills like we would call them in Norway, and the Runyon Canyon hill in Hollywood Hills LA, which I had the pleasure of running twice, everything has been as flat as a pancake during my travel so far. When the Stones do not tour, I do uphill running almost every week during summer, and I have a major one scheduled for August 15, Skåla Opp (unless something else is happpening on that date). So I need to find a large raised mountain I can run for 1-2 hours. May be there are some steeper hills later on in the tour. I have to start looking for them, on the maps.

TRAIN RIDE
I have seen some great pictures from Rocky Mountains train travels. They are outside of my travel this time. Also, I wanted to see and hike the Grand Canyon, again outside of my travel. So may be I will do a train ride from Buffalo to Quebec, or may be I will find another track. It is still in my dreams. Later...

Bjornulf