More From the Road with Brian Francis

Still traveling through the US, the talented Brian Francis of the roots band Kh'Mi, has sent another installment of "prose from the road." Keep 'em coming Brian. To hear clips of Brian's music on Hondo Mesa Records, please check out CDbaby.com or itunes.





So it’s a day and two solid nights now since I left Lubbock, and the whole time I’ve been in the van.
Stopping only for gas and food, I sleep in the back. A few hours here and there, mostly at rest stops.

It’s restless sleep, dark and dreamless.

I wake feeling groggy, disoriented. Feelings I overcome with copious amounts of coffee, by pinching myself, by singing loudly along with the radio- what ever it takes.

I’ve passed through the flat lands of the North Texas pan handle, through the lonely red expanse of New Mexico, and up into the mountains and high desert of Arizona- and then,
right around midnight Friday: on into California.

There’s a check station at the border. Uniformed men with guns asking if I’ve brought any fruit, nuts or vegetable matter with me. One asks the questions, smiling, while another shines a flash light through my back windows, looking at what’s inside. I tell them I’ve got none of these things they’re looking for. They wave me forward.
As I pass through the gate I see a U-haul off to my right, parked on the shoulder of the road. It’s back door is open. Two men in civilian cloths are emptying it’s contents out onto the side of the highway, while two of the uniformed men watch. One of these holds a flash light, the other is cradling a shotgun.

I drive till 3 in the morning, pull off into a truck park and tuck myself in amongst the big rigs. The drivers leave them running all night to save on fuel, and the humming of their big diesel engines fills my ears as I fall to sleep.

Once again it’s a restless sleep,
dark and dreamless.