In the evening of April 16th Gustaff and I arrived in Grand Junction, Colorado for our first stop in the final State of our 82 day music road trip across the United States.
We had planned to stay 2 days and performing just one show, but our hosts convinced us to spend one more night so that we could perform “one” more show. We ended up playing three more shows! The local high school had a ‘Comparative Religions’ class and it had been somewhat of a tradition that every time Gustaff was in town he would do a presentation on the Baha’i Faith for this class. The teacher had come to really love the Baha’is and Gustaff in particular. When we arrived he welcomed us with overwhelming energy and
excitement. The class enjoyed our presentation so much that we were invited to come back for the afternoon class as well.
When we returned in the afternoon we were pleasantly surprised to see the classroom was packed full with students! Gustaff and I had to carefully tip toe through the crowd, that had to sit on the floor since all the chairs were taken, to get to our seats.
That evening we performed a devotional concert at the home of our hosts, and a few of the students from the school earlier even showed up for a third show in the same day! Once again everyone loved it and by this time many people knew our songs well enough to sing along.
The next day we made our way to Woodland Park near Colorado Springs. There had just been a large snowstorm in Colorado and this drive was through the highest elevation of our trip so far. Luckily all the roads we took were open and although there was a lot of snow, the roads themselves were clear and safe. It ended up being a gorgeous drive through the Colorado Rockies.
Once again Gustaff and I were put to work right away performing a Devotional that night. The next morning we were up bright and early to play from 8:45-10 at Cafe Leo, a local coffee shop. I was surprised to see how many people were there so early, and many of them were very grateful for some uplifting live music to go with their morning coffee. That evening we had another show, this time at the Ute Pass Brewing Company. Our payment for performing here would have been two beers each, and since neither of us drink we performed for free (water). We played for 2 hours until close, with a few families and couples showing up, and our friends staying until the end. Afterwards we topped the night off by visiting with these friends back at the house we were staying at before heading to bed.
The next day we were off to north Denver for our last show together in Westminster at the Rodeo Market Community Arts Center. The turnout was great and we even got to live stream it on Facebook for many friends online to tune in aswell. It was a really cool venue to perform in and the show went really well for Gustaff and I. Instead of staying in Denver, immediately after the show we headed south to Florence where we stayed the night.
Here’s a clip from the livestream that night:
The following morning, on April 23rd, Gustaff and I said our goodbyes to each other and went our separate ways.
Stay tuned for a recap of the whole road trip, and a hint as to what will come next on my adventures.
As for Gustaff he will continue his EP Shadows tour. Find him on Instagram @besungugustaff_ or check out some of his music on gustaffbesungu.bandcamp.com
