Ever since Van Halen Road Trip The First, my friends and I have been commenting on how awesome that was and how we need to do something like it again. So when Van Halen’s new album “A Different Kind of Truth” came out and the subsequent tour was announced, clearly we had to do it again. Hence Van Halen Road Trip The Second.

When the original tour dates were announced we were amused to find that Ed and the boys almost seem to have drawn a ten-hour circle around Salt Lake City and put the tour stops on the fringe. Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Anaheim, LA, and San Francisco were all on the schedule, but no Salt Lake.

No big deal for us. We looked at all the dates and picked the place and time that worked best. In this case, it was Anaheim.

(Later, Van Halen announced that, in fact, they were coming to Salt Lake after all. Then they canceled that show along with the rest of that tour leg. We’ll see if they reschedule it.)

Here’s Greg loading the sweet Mazda CX-9 we rented for $14 per day due to a sweet connection Greg has. At that price there’s no reason we would take any of our cars. The CX-9 got great mileage and was very roomy and comfortable for three guys.

We left Sunday, June 10 after church. The plan for Sunday was to head to Las Vegas. We stayed in the TownePlace Suites in Henderson. Greg used some of his Marriott Rewards points to pay for the room so it didn’t cost us anything.

We ate at the Wynn Buffet Sunday night. We asked the staff at TownePlace Suites which was the best buffet in town and they sent us to the Wynn. Maybe they thought we said “most expensive”. $40 for a buffet is a lot. It wasn’t bad at all, but I thought the much less expensive Planet Hollywood buffet I had a few months ago was better.

Monday we headed to California. We knew we were close when we saw the traffic jam.

First order of business was to go to Disneyland. I admit that three guys going to Disneyland together was a bit weird, but Dallin works for Disney so we got in for free. Coolest thing of the day? Toward the end of the day we headed to Space Mountain to ride that last before we left, but the line was way too long for us. We headed off a bit dejected. But then I heard this girl behind me saying, “Excuse me? Excuse me?” When I turned around this girl offered us three fastpasses to Space Mountain for RIGHT NOW that they couldn’t use because they were leaving. Sweet!

Monday night we stayed at a SpringHill Suites for free on Greg’s Marriott Rewards points. Tuesday we went to see the USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the San Diego harbor. It was awesome.

If you are ever in San Diego, I highly recommend this tour, especially if you don’t have any kids with you. (Do it with kids too, just plan to do it much more quickly.) Here’s some tips for the USS Midway tour:

  • Skip the simulators, or at least put them off to the end. The one we tried was not that impressive. I’m guessing the others may have been better.
  • Do the guided tour in reverse, since it takes you through the lower parts of the boat first, then to the flight deck and control tower, but you certainly want to be sure you see those parts first. By the time we got to the control tower, that part of the tour was closed, which was kinda lame.
  • Do not miss the guys on the flight deck explaining how the takeoffs and landings worked. That was the coolest part.

We loved the USS Midway tour.

That night we got to the part of the trip we left for:

I was so excited I was literally jumping up and down, I could hardly stand it!

Kool and the Gang opened for Van Halen. Kind of a weird choice. We discussed this and determined that Van Halen doesn’t ever want to risk being outdone by the opening act. Kool and the Gang weren’t bad at all. I’m not sure “Kool” is actually part of “The Gang” anymore, or if there ever even was a guy named “Kool.” But anyway, we came there to see Van Halen.

This is about as good a picture as I could get from about 1000 feet above the surface of the stadium floor. But what do you expect for only $75 per ticket? Anyway, that’s Eddie in front, Wolfgang on bass in the back. You can see Dave strutting across in front of the drums, and of course Alex is behind the drums.

I have to say it wasn’t as great as last time. It seems like Dave forgot he was supposed to be singing the songs. So that was a bit disappointing. But the rest of the band sounded amazing and of course Eddie was, well, Eddie Van Halen.

Eddie Van Halen is not a normal human being. He plays the guitar so effortlessly, so naturally. I will always, always, for my whole life, be grateful that I got the chance to see Eddie Van Halen play live. He plays the guitar like it is connected directly to his brain. There’s a lot of other good guitar players out there, and I’ve seen some of them live (Neal Schon, John Petrucci), but I think what sets Eddie apart is his songwriting ability. Truly my number one guitar hero.

The end of the concert was a big party:

I love Van Halen and love Van Halen concerts. Even with David Lee Roth almost completely non-participatory, it was worth the trip.

But it isn’t just about the concert when we make these trips. There’s a saying something along the lines that it is about the journey, not the destination. These trips are really fulfilling for Greg, Dallin, and I because of the time we have to just renew friendships. Dallin said to me today that someone asked him what was the funnest part of the trip, and he had to say, “well, the whole thing.” That’s pretty much true. Every moment, from the instant we left until when we got back, was thoroughly enjoyable and great fun. Every guy should be able to do this once in a while, and we are all thankful for great wives who understand and let us go.

Plus, $14/day car rentals, free Disneyland passes, and three hotel nights on Marriott Rewards points made the trip super affordable, and even more braggable. Can’t wait ’til next time.