Colorful vans have a magic ability of attracting interesting people. You should just paint your car like a rainbow today, and drive around.

While at a rest stop off freeway 5 somewhere near exit 603, we met Mad Tea Party. (Ironically, they're from Asheville, NC, a favorite stop of ours on last year's PlaidNation tour.)

The Mad Tea Party plays Uke-abilly. Or Retro-Pop. Or Rock 'n' Roll. Or whatever you call a duo that plays drums with their feet while strumming a guitar and singing.

Check them out in San Francisco on Saturday, at Amnesia or the Sonoma County Fair on Sunday 7/27. » Continue reading



From a random country music song, overheard on the radio somewhere between Oregon and California.

Yep. Lots of country music on the radio up here. (Not everyone in California is super progressive.) We expect that to change a bit, when we reach San Francisco. We're looking forward to some good times and fun people in the hilly city. » Continue reading



Today we encountered the longest drive of the entire tour. Five and 3/4 hours, if you're driving non-stop.

But we can't drive non-stop. There's caffeine stops. Mexican food stops. Photo opp stops. So this is a seriously draining drive.

Things encountered so far:
+ Really cool signs
+ A super massive mountain/volcano (Mt.Shasta)
+ A lake that we've deemed houseboat city
+ A Cuervo bottle chandelier
+ A semi-truck with a severed Jesus arm "he spilled his blood for your sins."
+ Loads and loads and loads of country music on the radio. And some oldies.

At this moment, we're about 112 miles from San Francisco. Blogging, tweeting and driving our way down highway 5. » Continue reading



While in Portland today, we got to meet the crew at Ascentium. They're one of AdAge's Top 50 interactive firms. And some really cool people. And we're not just saying that because they greeted us with a ginormous box of cupcakes. (Plaid runs on cupcakes and donuts.)

After a tour of their offices, we got to chat with Mason and learn more about some of the cool stuff that they're doing. They're a unique firm that's a mix of great creative people, backed by a massive crew of back-end geniuses that could write code that would launch missiles, if they wanted to.

They also have one of the most impressive internship programs that we've ever seen. Their interns get stints at several firms, work with a real creative team and real clients. We met intern Christine Vo, who was video taping the Plaid visit. That's a hell of a lot better than the envelope stuffing crapwork that interns get at a lot of bigger agencies. If you're a student out west, you should be looking them up.

Mason not only played awesome host at Ascentium, but gave us the best rundown of what to do in town too. He helped us discover the Rogue Brew Pub. Mmmm. Beer and cupcakes all within 24 hours. Good times.

Thanks Mason, and the entire crew at Ascentium! » Continue reading

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Map/GPS

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PlaidNationTV

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Map/GPS

Blog Feed 

PlaidNationTV

Van Cams

Photos

Schedule

Map/GPS

Blog Feed 

PlaidNationTV

Van Cams

Photos

Schedule