I just returned from my friend Ella Guenther's wake. I'll miss her funeral tomorrow, because I'll be hauling tilapia to British Columbia. I leave in a few hours.

Ella was almost ninety. I saw her last Friday morning from my rooftop, which I was shingling with Dad. She drove by and waved up at us, looking enthusiastic and healthy. We learned she died later that day from an aneurysm.

When I was the Dunn County Museum Curator, Ella and I collaborated on the Dunn County Historical Society's newsletter, "Tales & Trails." She was the editor for thirty years! She loved words and wordplay, and she mischievously sprinkled many of her writings with puns.

Ella G. deserves an elegy. (Her punnery must've rubbed off.)

Bye, Ella.

Blogger is finally working again. I'm going to post photos and blogs that I wasn't able to post over the last few days. Scroll down to catch up.

I'm supposed to be on a mini Minnesota/Wisconsin music tour right now. I found out two days ago, however, that my cousin Rodger died, so I cancelled all three shows, including tonight's set at Winona's Boats & Bluegrass Festival. (Sincere apologies, Tom).

Rodger was more an uncle than a cousin, due to his age. He was a great, sweet guy, and as real a cowboy and man as you can get. His only son, Justin, takes after him in all those ways. Justin is getting married in Killdeer tomorrow to beautiful Sarah Jane Koenigshof.


R.I.P. Rodger Nupen (1947-2008)

As some of you know, Dunn County is experiencing an enormous oil boom. It's bizarre. Traffic has tripled due to all the oil workers in their pickups and semis.

Here's an article from Great Britain's Telegraph that explains the situation better than I can. It features a three-minute video that spotlights my friends Ted & Dawn Kupper (awesome people) who recently acquired a couple oil wells on their ranch.

Adios, Paul Newman.

You rank right up there with Humphrey Bogart, in my eyes.

I recently tracked down an old college friend, Josh R., who was a Bukowski-inspired poet and surfer back in the '90s. I learned that he has created a successful business.

He printed up 10,000 little promo booklets for his company this week and, in the process, is generously spreading my brand around, too. Click on pic to see details. (Vanity note: I've released ten CDs, not eight.) He also made a Sandman listening page on the website.

Happy 66th Wedding Anniversary, Farfar & Farmor!

I just read a great novel: When We Were Orphans. It's by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Depression. What for? When everything is coming up sunflowers, I only notice shadows.

Summer's last full moon is waning. It's all I can think about.

My train-hopper companeros--Brandon, Trent, & Izzy--helped me rip the weather-beaten cedar shakes off my house today.

Tomorrow the friends will find a fast rattler in Dickinson and ride outta this dusty old state.

Fare thee well, old fellows! Remember this: "Patience makes the hobo strong."

And this: "Any man who eats pork & beans can't be all bad."

My friends Paul and Kristin got married yesterday in Killdeer. The reception was in Dickinson. I enjoyed catching up with my old pal Margi, whom I've not seen in over a year. She's now a biology professor at DSU and doing great.

Tomorrow I plan to tear the old wood shingles off my red house.

Hello from Killdeer Mountain. It's hard to believe that I've let a whole summer slip by without spending quality time up here on my parents' and grandparents' land. The bullberries and chokecherries are ripe, deer and bird are abundant, the temperature is perfect. The leaves, alas, are changing color too soon.

I have a few days off before my next international truckin' run, so I plan to make the most of it by doing some construction projects with Dad.

Today I received a disposable Sponge Bob camera in the mail from Scawy Monstur in Portland, OR. They want me to take 24 random pictures and then send the camera back to them, for an art project they're compiling. I can be as creative as I wanna be.

I also received an email from the Western Folklife Center Coordinator in Elko, Nevada. She requested that I apply for their 2010 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Getting accepted would be like making it to Nashville's Grand Ol' Opry, in my eyes.

Jonny "Corndawg" Fritz is in town.

He rode his R850R BMW motorcycle to Dunn Center this mornin'. We had an excellent day toolin' around the county. He's soon off to Spearfish, SD, for a show.

The filming is purt near complete--now the editing begins.

Yesterday's Dunn Center Auditorium show was sweet. Many came.

All in all, the last few weeks have been epically action-packed. I'm toast.

In two hours I climb back in the big rig and roll north to Calgary. Live fish for sale!

Life is currently strange and shifty. The documentary is in full swing.

I can't believe I just drove (with Goodall) to the west coast and back, again, in the last two days. On Monday we do it again.

My brain is melting.

Leaving Bozeman, now.

The tour is over. Driving back to Dunn Center, ND.

Things are unraveling and being re-woven at breakneck speed. Only the filmmakers will be able to document and relay these happenings. Lack of sleep has me hallucinating. Strange electrical currents illuminate my sleep-walk into destiny's abyss.

The day started on an unexpected note--Jonah flew back to Seattle. Long story.

Now Nerviz and I are in Bozeman. Our show tonight at The Filling Station was experimental. Long story.

The Bismarck show was mercifully cancelled. I'm in my own shack in Dunn Center tonight for a five-hour sleep. We leave tomorrow for Bozeman, Hot Springs, Bellingham, Portland, and Olympia. Five shows in five days. And then back to NoDak. And then truckin' again.

And then more truckin'.

Bring it on, ol' highway.

Lots to say, lots to say, and no time to say it. The last two shows have been the best of tour, so far. Columbia, MO, rocked hard. More on that later. Winona, last night, was incredible.

I believe fillmmaker Elizabeth is getting what she needs.

www.rolloutcowboy.com!

(Click refresh when you get there, just in case you still have the old www.rolloutcowboy.com cached.)

We're off to Des Moines, Iowa. Last night's Chicago show was at a tiny sports bar. The Olympics were on.

We're hoping that our luck turns around, starting today.

If not, Nerviz says he's going to kill himself on stage at tomorrow's Indianapolis show. Be there!

It's hump day in Chi-town. Home of both R. Kelly and Hugh Hefner.

After last night's thrilling yet abysmal Cincinnati show, we drove to our friend Cyndi's pad here in Chicago. On the way, we pulled over at an Applebee's near Indianapolis to rest for two hours. I slept behind some shrubbery.

Filming for Roll Out, Cowboy resumes today. The filmmakers have a new, improved website. Stay tuned.

I need a massage and chiropractic adjustment.

Three shows down, a dozen more to go. Pittsburgh has been a fun two-day vacation. Tonight's show was poorly attended--two people--but merch sales were surprisingly ample. I won't complain.

Moustaches and I have been playing a lot of ping pong, and that has been relaxing.

We're at my old buddy Bill Daniels' fantastic three-story $8000 house, in the very industrial town of Braddock, PA. Pittsburgh is fifteen minutes away. We play there tomorrow.

Moustaches and I drove all night after our Cambridge, NY, show, to get here. Yesterday's gig--part of The Mill Valley Festival--was in upstate New York, way up in the hills along a river. It was something akin to a mini unadvertised Woodstock.

After three long days of driving, The Moustaches and I arrived in Philadelphia, where we've just completed our first show of the tour. My pal Jonny Fritz (aka "Corndawg"), an inspired songwriter and performer, set up the show and played, too. Moustaches rocked. The crowd also liked my set. I sold $150 in merch.

Two nights ago we crashed on Alex Stevens boat house in Winona, MN. Last night we stayed with Rhonda and Kyle in Canton, OH. Tonight we're staying at Tracy's here in Philadelphia.

After the show tonight, Tracy and Troy, an old Montana friend, took us out for Philly cheese steaks.

Hi from Sauk Centre, MN. We're headin' to Winona for a good night's sleep on a Mississippi River houseboat.

Our first show, this Thursday.

Philadelphia, PA.