The road trip from hell...

Picture of the Day

"Okay, where the fuck am I?" 

Quote of the Day
"Hey, you know what's funny. Hydroplaning."
~Sharon during a rain storm on the ride home in the death box

Random Fact of the Day
The volume of the Earth's moon is the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean

Song of the Day
Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man


SO this was the most outrageous Bonnaroo trip ever. Christine and I drove to Tara's house, where we would meet up with Tara, Buck, Sharon, Steve, and the three adults. We left around 5:30 pm or so, the adults in the truck and all six of us in the 5th wheel RV, which was eventually nicknamed “the Death Box”. We laughed as we were bounced around, having a great beggining to the trip.

It got dark and some time around 10, I was awoken to five people screaming and the smell of something aweful on fire. I had no idea what was going on, but it smelled like burnt rubber. We had a flat tire, but we couldn't just tell the adults in the truck since we were in the RV, so we called them and yelled "STOP!!!!". We pulled over and bounced around like crazy, eventually to come to a stop on the side of the highway. Our jack was not high enough to reach the axel of the RV, so we had to make this ghetto rig out of boards and the jack that was supposedly safe. We had probably ridden on the flat tire for a good two minutes or so, and what was left of it scared the shit out of us...


Our first flat tire, or what's left of it at least 

So we finally got the flat tire sorted out, after 26 minutes of shuffling around the RV and jacking it up. The spare tire, which was full sized, was only half full of air and didn't look too promising at all. A shitload of wires under the tire grid got cut and were hanging down, so we duct taped them to the bottom of the RV and hit the road again.

It was some time around 1 when we finished our bowl. Literally moments after finishing, Tara and Sharon begin freaking out and I feel the RV on the rumble strips, bouncing us around like we're on a (shitty) rollercoaster. I look to the back of the RV and see red and blue flashing lights. Cops. We're all fucked, not going to make it to Bonnaroo. What I didn't know is that the adults up front had just finished doing what we had done. Sharon said something like "We're all going to jail" as we pulled over, and those would be the last words spoken in the camper for the next 30 minutes. We sat in complete silence, not moving a muscle. I was shaking uncontrollably, and closed my eyes for a few moments of meditation during this stressful police encounter. We hear the doors of the truck opening and closing, and sort of assumed either the adults were getting searched or arrested. Then I hear Taras mom talking a mile a minute to the cop (she has a knack for that) and they both head to the back of the RV. They're crouching under the RV and grabbing wires and stuff for about 10 minutes, and we all start to think that everything may turn out alright. After what seemed like weeks, Tara's mom thanked the police man and the RV slowly began moving. We SCREAMED happily, knowing that we just dodged another bullet on this horrific trip on the RV.

Remember at the beginning of the trip how we were all laughing every time we hit a bump. At this point in the trip, we were all nervously silent for each bump. We caught some (cautious) sleep and woke up at around 11 am when we were rolling through the hills of Kentucky. After about an hour, we heard a huge
*POP* kathud kathud kathud

and soon were pulled over on the side of the highway with another flat tire on the RV, same side, other tire. The only problem this time was that we didn’t have another spare tire. We pulled out our chairs and threw rocks at a can for a while, then decided to see how many truckers we could get to honk at us. (Probrably 100 or so did) After about an hour of trying to call AAA, I was told the police were coming to tell us what we can do. Once again, I was not looking forward to another encounter with the police. SOOOOO the police man arrived and was very friendly and helpful. He gave Tara’s mom a ride into town to get both the flat tires replaced with new tires, so we had four good tires on the RV and a spare in the trunk.

We got into the line for Bonnaroo at around 1:30 and it was hot as hell. We decided to hop out and play some Frisbee for a little bit, and no sooner than 10 minutes after throwing the disc, we saw the RV pulling away as the line seemed to completely disappear. We started walking where the RV went, and about 15 minutes later realized we had no chance of making it if we walked. So in the 95 degree heat, we ran about 5 miles to catch up with our RV, countless people in line laughing at those stupid hippies running with the Frisbee to catch up to their ride. Upon arriving back in the RV, we were covered in sweat. We arrived at the gates of Bonnaroo around 4:30, which means it took about 23 hours to complete the 12 hour trip from Michigan to Tennessee....


This is part I of the Bonnaroo saga, the trip down. Tomorrow I'll talk about all the shows, who was awesome and who could have been better. And always remember...

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

~GT