February 24th, Retrophonic's Studio - I worked with George and Jim on some guitar  and lap steel parts on "Don't Ever Let It Get You Down" for the The Big Lonesome CD and two new songs that George and I wrote for my new solo CD #4 "I'm Back Again".

February 25th - I went by George's this morning and finished up "Telephone Lightning" a song George, Sue and I wrote. Also"The Desert" and song my grandson Braylen named and George and I wrote. Later we went and had dinner with Laurence and Barbara at Playa Chac Mool near the beach. We had a great time, it was nice to catch up with our friends.

February 26th,  Carpetbaggers DAVE, George and Sue at Hurricane Grill and Wings - It was a little rainy out so we set up inside under the tent. I had a blast! We did two new songs George and I wrote, "Telephone Lighting" and "The Desert". Sue helped on one of them and both went over well. Jim DeVito stopped by and dropped off a couple of the mixes for Sue. She will be in Retrophonics Studio in two weeks to cut her parts on six new tunes for my new CD "I'm Back Again".

February 27th, Carpetbaggers DAVE, Sue, George, Tony and Frankie at the Corner Bar - Always a great time on Thursdays. Looking forward to my trip to the west coast!

February 28th thru March 3rd, Orange, California - Jim Grimes took us to the airport.We flew with Delta and everything went great! We arrived at John Wayne Airport on time and didn't have any problems until we went to get our carry on bags that we checked at the gate in Jacksonville. I know what your thinking, they did arrive but could not reach us because the carousel had stopped working. We were delayed about 30 minutes until they figured out how to turn it back on. Beside that, it was a great flight over. After getting our luggage in the car we drove to a mexican restaurant that Lou and Diane liked. We went for a walk in downtown Disneyland that evening.  Lou got busted for trying to hide his pocket knife in the woods, he surrendered it without a fight. I think he said it was his favorite blue one. The last time I was at Disneyland was in the early 70's.

They knew it had been a long day for us, so after Disney we called it, and went back to their place for a nice dinner outside under the pergola in their beautiful back yard and discussed our itinerary that Lou had worked up for the next few days.

The second day I got up early and went with Lou to check out his place of business and the beach closest to his house. When we got back we loaded up the girls and took a ride north to that same beach and then down the coast to Newport Beach. What a wonderful day, we saw some of the coast and took a boat ride seeing all the homes of some of the famous people that lived or once lived on little man made islands.

We also saw some sea lions hangin' out on a marker bouy as we motored a little bit into the Pacific. We had dinner at Ruby's and then went back to Lou and Diane's and watched old video's of The North Star Band and a group Lou played in when he got to California, 30 some years ago.

The 3rd day I got up with Lou for coffee and to look at some videos of everyone we know.

We went to Hollywood later and had In and Out burgers for lunch. I took a picture of us with the sign. We drove all around the area, saw a lot of homeless people everywhere we went it's sad. We saw the Queen Mary, the hills, the valley, the mountains, we went everywhere. Lou cooked us a great steak dinner when we got home. Then we watched "Nacho Libre" with Jack Black.  It was a hoot.

The 4th day I beat Lou to the coffee. This was a great trip I hate for it to end.

We had breakfast at Watson's a famous site, where some of the movie "That Thing You Do!" with Tom Hank was shot. We headed for the airport, said our goodbyes got through security, on the plane to Atlanta then to Jacksonville. Jim Grimes, our friend was waiting for us and took us on home. I hate flying but I would make that trip again in a heartbeat.

Lou and Dave at Laguna Beach

Lou and Diane were the best hosts ever and I wish they weren't so far away because I really enjoy their company. I think we might be back there again in the near future and then on to Hawaii if Theresa gets her way!

I was really worried about the long flight and found out it wasn't all that bad. It was so good to see my ole bandmate Lou and his wife Diane. Thanks for letting me live my dream! Stop texting, start talking! Don't liter! Smile it could brighten everyone's day, even your own! Early detection can save your life! Talk about the good things that are going on around you, there's enough people talking about the bad! Keepin' it Real! -David

see you down the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
check out my upcoming performances here:
http://davidwattbesley.blogspot.com/p/schedule_31.html