the handsome family in pioneertown

sounds like a dream come true for mr. zach. the handsome family is playing somewhere somewhat close! in an old cowboy town! the sunday after thanksgiving (we later regretfully learn to be the most traveled day of the year) we pile in the car and jump on the highway towards california. along with everyone else in the world. what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive took 6-7 hours? by the time we got there the sun was pretty much down. but we could still see a little bit. insane rock formations and more joshua trees than i have ever seen. the place was crawling with rabbits! we pulled up to the little lodge. had to pull the manager away from eating his dinner in his apartment in the lodge to give us the key. he told us not to trash the room bc rickie lee jones is checking in to it right when we leave. it is her favorite room he says. we walk on over to pappy and harriets where we run into brett of the handsome family. hanging out in the audience was victoria williams who seemed to be doing well despite her fight with MS. it was a really good show. they played things they normally don't. we had a nice sleep falling asleep to the sound of howling coyotes and got up at 5am to begin our drive home so that i could be at work by 8am. unfortunately our fancy new back way we found that would have been faster had no gas stations. we managed to coast on fumes alone for miles!! amazingly coasted into a gas station and cancelled our road side assistance call. thank goodness. we were in the middle of desert. i literally saw a mirage. i kept asking zach about the lake up ahead. and it was a mirage. so, i ended up being exactly 2 hours late to work. but we made it! was it worth all the hassle? uh . . i think so? we will make a return to pioneertown for sure. a very cool place.