Jodie Ponto Photography

What most people don’t know is that touring musician is really a synonym for trucker. The vast majority of time on tour with a band is spent in a vehicle. Life becomes a series of whizzing dashboard scenes and you become more intimate than you ever thought was humanly possible with gas stations, CBC radio, side of the road pee stops, and creative methods for amusing yourself and staying awake on long-haul drives.

That said, here is what 7,500kms of BC and Alberta roads looks like through my iPhone and the Vangina windshield.

Banff National Park, AB

Jasper National Park, AB

Crowsnest Highway, AB

Crowsnest Highway, AB

Medicine Hat, AB

Kootenay Pass, BC

Highway 95, BC

Kootenay National Park, BC

Kootenay National Park, BC

This is what the 90 year old Lone Star Saloon on the Alberta Prairie Steam Train looks like before it fills up with rowdy Rotarians and an all-girl rock n’ roll band.

I’ve peed on more roadsides this summer than you probably have in your entire life.  The two that put the icing on the prettiest roadside pee cake were both in Jasper National Park.

It was 3 hours into a 4 hour 80′s playlist and we were en route from Calgary, AB to Freedom Fest in Moose Jaw, SK.  I was behind the wheel belting out If I Could Turn Back Time when the van’s back tire popped harder than those sailors who watched Cher prance around on the USS Missouri in nothing more than a fishnet body stocking.

This is the 2nd consecutive year we’ve broken down on the Friday before the Canada Day long weekend (check out photos of last year’s adventure in road travel hell here). Coincidence or not, we’ve decided Canada Day long weekend’s eve shall forevermore be a day spent drinking, not driving.

Busted flat.

The Badlands.

Waiting on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway while Miss Quincy fishes the spare tire out of the Vangina.

You know it’s a blustery day when Shari’s ass-length dreads blow in the wind.

Shari “The Chip Burglar” Rae holds up Miss Q & Holly while waiting for a new tire in Medicine Hat.

So long warm winter beach days in Vancouver.
Hello frostbite & snowblindness in Calgary.

Click on the blizzardorama for a closer look.

This is what it looks like when you manage to sneak out of a Miss Quincy show in Jasper and claw your way through the hemorrhage of people ogling animal shit themed souvenirs and stupidly swarming bears with their cameras.

My relationship with my home and native land is like an arranged marriage that, after 25 years together, I’ve realized I’ve actually grown madly in love with. Case in point: Waterton Lakes National Park.

Why did no one ever tell me this place existed? Folks have been doing an awfully good job keeping this prairies-meets-Rocky-Mountain paradise a secret, and if I can get all tour guide on you for a moment … Go there now before Lonely Planet endorses the crap out of it and it and it starts bursting with visitors Banff & Jasper style.

Rehearsing in Waterton Lakes National Park during Miss Quincy’s 2011 Summer Tourcation:

On tour it’s rare for me to find moments for photos that aren’t centered around music or related shenanigans. This weekend we found ourselves in the rural farming hamlet of Mirror, AB for a summer kick-off party at the wee and lovely Lake Bend Hall. As the show started I went out to Virgin Ruby to retrieve my camera and noticed the evening storm had broken into a magnificent post-rain glow and I couldn’t help but abandon show ship and head out into the light. Big thanks to Glenda & Terry for hosting us and for the ghosties that surely live in the walls of the Lake Bend Hall for deciding not to join the slumber party we had there.

Miss Quincy’s ass kicking girl band arriving in Mirror.

The Lake Bend Hall.

Cockshutt!