Lucca

Lucca - Leaving Schauffhausen around noon we continued on through the Alps into Italy. We were aiming for a 5pm rendezvous at Mike Persil's house just outside of Pisa. With Ralph at the wheel driving with determination, this only left time for fuel, bathroom, and smoke breaks.

Swiss Smoke Break.

The scenery was amazing overall, except a 17km tunnel through the mountain which tested everyone's underlying claustrophobia.

Mike Persil was the man who was behind booking this tour for us and it was a pleasure to meet him and he welcomed us with 1 lb of prosciutto and two bottles of excellent Chianti. What a generous host!

The show was at a upscale bar/restaurant and we can only describe our set as tiny daggers into the hearts of the Italian people which made them slowly run for cover.

Later that night we stayed at the promoters house, out in the Tuscan countryside. One of the cool things on tour is arriving to where you're sleeping at 1 AM and not really knowing where you're at, then waking up and discovering you're either in a shithole or paradise, or somewhere in between. Now we appreciate everyone who has given us a place to stay through the years as we have been on tour, but waking up in this countryside was quite memorable beyond everything.

Zipping Through Tuscany in a Van at 1AM

At 5 AM we were awoken by roosters, grabbed a few more hours asleep then discovered we were in the middle of some incredible scenic Tuscan hills. Pomegranate and olive trees and grapes growing on vines just beats the allure of dirty toilets and bathtubs with broken drains.

Us with Mike Persil