Antarctica is a desert.

which makes anyone actually talking about human beings walking around on Mars at this time sound legitimately insane--Mars also being a frozen desert except that it trades breathable air for gentle nuclear irradiation--but I'm not here to make that point today.

the point of this presentation is that a desert can take different forms...on TV it's the hot sandy place with the pale yellow filter and snake-basket music, but in real life sometimes it's a long stretch of sky between the last dollar we're flying around on and the next.

our little blue home planet is only about 13,000 kilometers around...we are set to travel an actual fucking half of that distance on road this summer.

...like, what??

Canada has always been kind of a funny place to me...according to my research, it is the 2nd largest claimed territory in the world--tough to beat the 11 time zones and counting directly controlled by Russia or history's only total terra-lunar colonization attempt just north of us--but with only ~40 million Canadians in existence, the nation only has about 1.5 times the population of Mexico City.

we can skip the part where I point out further plot holes in any global human overpopulation narratives...point is, we stand a chance at meeting a measurable percentage of the national population over our scenic route from Vancouver to Toronto.

a tour is, by definition, a transient existence. only on a few nights over a month or so will we even be in the same city on 2 consecutive nights....main difference between touring and homelessness is the occasional hotel room.

8 hour drives across wide swathes of the continent, each costing over $100 imperial before tolls, taxes, snacks and supplies.

shxt what if the rental breaks down halfway between Edmonton and elsewhere, is that enough to ruin the tour?

nah we're mostly sticking to the cities, they're living in 2026 too and I'm pretty sure I can translate "roadside assistance" to English...whether we can afford the charge on gig pay remains to be seen, but the solutions do exist in theory.

that said, I never sold you or myself the dream that it's gonna be easy this time around.

ahead of me in about a month are long nights of physical labor, customer service, and unexpected inconveniences...but in exchange, I expect to earn some of the most colorful stories I will ever embellish.

I hope to meet people I would never have otherwise, see places I never planned to, and man, check this out: I'm gonna help make music in front of everybody.

that is so fn cool yall...if not a fantasy, it is certainly a fantasy camp.

one in which we just might actually make it to the league, ain't that a B?

so yeah, with about a month left before we get this show on the road I find myself with more questions answered than outstanding...the only real questions still looming lurk where they always do for a polisci major, in the realm of public mandate.

does anybody outside this room actually want this to happen?

any way you can help us out is the best way...if you can find it in your wallet to help us get ahold of a touring vehicle, you will be on the road with us every day.

if you can throw a couple extra credits in the tip bucket these last few weeks at Sanctuary, we promise to eat it or put it in the tank...and think of you when we do.

if all you have is time enough on break at work to share this post after reading it, then we damn sure appreciate you using your most valuable resource for us.

way I see it we can make it across the desert and have a decently delightful time doing it....but as always, we gotta do it together.

all power to The People.

--Flor!