ON THE ROAD SANS OUR GURU

Sitting at Nashville airport ready to catch an ass long flight to Reno (thru Vegas). Unfortunately, this trip will be without our spiritual guru, Scotty Wray. Scotty is cooped up in a hospital bed with a looming open heart surgery scheduled for Monday morning. Apparently late in the weekend he started having problems breathing and, come to find out, he's been having mini heart attacks for some time. He's in Baylor Hospital in Dallas and I'm sure he's missing us (especially me) as much as we'll be missing him. We did, however, find a suitable replacement for Scotty for the time being. Eddie Perez will be assuming Scotty's multiple duties in his absence. Eddie currently plays for Dwight Yoakum and was a member of The Mavericks for several years. Scotty even admitted having a man crush in him. He's also been in about 100 music videos because his wife is Trey Fanjoy, famed video director and he somehow sneaks in a bunch. You can see his mug briefly in "Famous in a Small Town."

In the meantime, say your prayers, praise Allah, keep your fingers crossed - whatever your pleasure - for Scotty Wray's speedy recovery.

We're heading for a long West Coast run. It's been a couple weeks since we've been on the road but it feels even longer. We hit Reno, Kelseyville CA, Friant CA, Bend OR, Portland OR, Tacoma WA, Vancouver and a couple other places before returning home.

In other news, I got a free pair of boots from Justin. It's been a long time since I've worn boots consistently, it's taken a little getting used to. I got the pointiest, blackest things you can imagine (go figure). Also in other news, I've successfully linked up to online Madden on XBOX. My college roommate Jake and I have been playing like fiends almost daily. Oh, and how could I forget the whole ML assault charge (turned filing a false complaint charge). That's a whole other entry, I'll wait till I'm short on material to delve into that. For now, I'll sign off and board a 4 hour flight to Reno, layover in Vegas for 90 mins and then another hour and a half to Reno.