A Deep Breath and a Lot of Driving

For those who came out to our San Diego show at Scolari's only to be disappointed by our no-show, we apologize immensely. Hopefully the other bands explained our situation; if you have any other questions for us, please email us at orthewhale@gmail.com or at www.myspace.com/orthewhale.

We are all very tired and as I'm the only one of us not sleeping at the moment, I'll try to explain as succintly as possible:

We set out for San Diego at around 10am from San Francisco. At around 12:45, with all going well so far, we smelled a burning smell. We assumed for a second that it was coming from the truck in front of us. Unfortunately, we were wrong. A few seconds later, someone noticed smoke coming through the vents and out from behind the van. We pulled over quickly onto the shoulder and jumped out of the van. We don't have an exact cause but basically, we think Cleo just had had enough. It was hot, she was beat up and dragging a heavy trailer, and she simply gave out. Some fluid (transmission fluid or oil) leaked out onto one of the pipes underneath the engine and started a small fire. Luckily everyone's quick action and some help from a nice trucker and another awesome driver helped put the fire out and make sure that everyone and everything were under control. After a while, we were joined by two fire trucks, a helicopter, and two low flyings planes coming to make sure everything was safe and put out.

After towing the van and trailer from the middle of the I-5 to Matt's great uncle's house in Fresno (60 miles or so), and realizing it was already 3pm, we conceded the fact that we would have to cancel the first show of our big summer tour. With a ton of help (and a 5 1/2 hour drive up from San Diego) from my parents, we procured a new vehicle and at 3am on Sunday morning we set out for Austin, Texas.

After a long, arduous, fun, ridiculous, and slightly insane 20 something hour drive, we are here in Austin. Here are some highlights: "hey baybay", Matt's chupacabra rap, Lindsay falling asleep with her mouth open, the Thing?!, Patton Oswald and the Chipmunks Christmas record, our new nicknames, our new ride, our new trailer, the smell of West Texas, the crazy lightning, the plagues of locusts, toads, and blood, Dr. Terrence Noseworthy (our favorite Texas stray dog), and oh so many more. We've been taken in by Julie's cousin and her family and we'll be staying here for the next two days.

Can't wait to go play our first show of the tour tonight. Seems like we've been on tour forever and we haven't even played. Weird. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's helped us out in anyway (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, girlfriends, boyfriends, random people, firemen, cops, etc). Looking at this list, I can't even imagine how many people will continue to help us. If you're in Texas, come see us in Austin tonight. Hopefully I can find some barbequed tempeh.

Love,
Alex and OTW