Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about road trippin'.

THE PROMPT: "In honor of the journey ahead, list your must-haves for a successful road trip. Feel free to expand with your favourite road trip anecdote."

Good evening everyone! Welcome back to a "finally official" "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" . It's gonna be a good month...I can feel it! Good luck to all the participants and judges...now, let's get into it!

Road trips. Who doesn't love a good roadie? In my world, you only need a few things for a successful road trip (besides the obvious...money, gas, a working vehicle). Good friends, great tunes, sunshine, and make sure you're ready to have a memorable experience. You don't necessarily even need a destination when you've got the perfect mix of ingredients going on.

I've been on a few in my day. Back in '99 my family drove from Buffalo to Nashville to see some family friends. One year some friends and I took a guy's weekend out in Cleveland. And not too long ago we drove with some family to Savannah, GA for a wedding (you can read details about that starting here: "Redefining "Historic", Day 1" ).

But the most exciting ones for me have been the day trips. Driving with your boys to see a concert in a city that you don't call home. The pins on my map would look something like this: Pittsburgh to see Wu-Tang Clan and Rage Against The Machine; Barrie, ON to see Cheap Trick and Pearl Jam, and later to see Radiohead; Rochester and Syracuse to see The Tragically Hip. Good times with great dudes.

I think I've shared this story before, but I'll share it one more time. Possibly the best and worst concert experience occured on the road trip to Barrie for Pearl Jam and Cheap Trick. It was a four hour drive up there, which wasn't bad...four of us squashed into a Chevy Beretta jammin' PJ the whole way...I wanna say this was back in the summer of '98.

We got there fine, all was well, and we separated a bit because Cracker and (I can't remember if Matthew Good or Matthew Sweet) were playing on another stage. We reconvened as PJ was setting up, and had a decent spot about 50 feet from the stage. We were all big Pearl Jam fans...we'd all go to the midnight release parties when they'd put out a new album, and for a couple of them we'd head back to my apartment and play the newest cd over and over and over. When Binaural came out, my buddy Verno and I played it for hours, drinkin' beers and shootin' the shit 'til almost 8am. We lit cigars and sat on the patio talking about the album.

But anyway, so the concert's about to begin. Everything's great, and literally three seconds into this song, the opening chords, everything changed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S73ypK3As8I The crowd surged and rushed to the front of the stage. It was mayhem! Our group got split up...DMFM and Verno got pushed one way, and me and this sweet dude Mark got swept up in the rush to the front of the stage. In seconds, I was 10 feet away from Eddie Vedder.

The problem with that? Ten feet from the stage is where the mosh pits are. But hell, I was 23, still had a decent body, I didn't care. I was dancing along to the music, not being too aggressive, but enjoying myself while trying to GTFO of there as well as keeping an eye on Mark. It seemed like the more I tried to back out and get away, the more the crowd swelled and kept me in.

This worked out fine until the crowd surfing started about three songs in. At that point, you're more concerned about your life than the show you've been dying to see. Around the fifth song, one chick got really close while riding the crowd. I put my arms up to try and move her along, but one man does not defeat a crowd. She got swung around and kicked me in the face. My glasses and my favorite hat went flying! I scrambled for a minute or two to try and find my glasses, but gave up; the crowd was too tight. At this point I should mention that my vision is terrible...20/300 in one eye and 20/400 in the other (at the time).

I gave up. A few songs later I managed to work my way out of the fiasco, but I couldn't see a damn thing. I tell people all the time when the subject comes up it was the best concert I ever heard. But it was hard to enjoy. I was practically blind in a foreign country, I lost my friends, and it was getting dark. I was covered in dirt from the pit, and it was the end of August. I was hot, sweaty, and the more I stood still, the sorer I got from the abuse I was subjected to. Not a good situation.

The show finally ended, and I just followed the crowd out in the direction they were going, wondering what I was gonna do. I climbed the fence of the beer garden and hit the main road of the outdoor venue and kept walking. As I turned a corner, my arm was yanked and I was pulled aside. My friends had waited for me by the main entrance, hoping to catch me. Now, this was in a time where cell phones weren't as useful...our phones didn't work in Canada the way they did now. Jeez, come to think of it, text messaging didn't even exist back then.

I was so glad and grateful, and sore as all get-out. I crumbled into the back of that tiny Chevy Beretta, a sweaty, dirty mess. No matter how I sat, I couldn't get comfortable. What's worse is the Molson Ampitheater in Barrie had probably the worst parking lot structure in all of mankind...it took us two hours to get out of the parking lot. Couple that with hitting late night Toronto traffic, and it made for an eight hour drive home.

We stopped somewhere along the QEW at some roadside diner for a bite to eat. We sat down at the booth, and I had to hold the menu super close to my face in order to read it. The guys were making fun of me, and I just smiled. I didn't realize just how disgusting and dirty I was from everything being kicked up in the pit until then...because my teeth had dirt on them. I was so simutaneously grossed out and laughing that my nose started running...and when I blew it, it was all dirt that came out.

We finally made it home around 6:30am, and I was so exhausted that I couldn't even shower. I collapsed in my bed, knowing I'd have to change the sheets. My body was spent and my mind was shot. But it was my first real road trip, and it was an experience that I've cherished to this day and beyond. Hell, I didn't even mind paying $250 for new glasses a week later after wearing my sports goggles to drive and wearing my previous, weaker pair just to function at work. But that hat...a plain black Nike hat with the white swoosh on the front and a velcro closure, faded to brown when I would leave it in my car's back window...I miss that hat all the time. That will never be replaced.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

When we went to Nashville in '99, I made two mix-tapes (oh, did I love making mix-tapes ) for the ride. I know this song was on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcFUSxKhITk&feature=related

This song just reminds me of the open road...no worries, no cares, just driving. It's beautiful for a sunny springtime day (which today was not) when you can just turn the windows down and the stereo up and see where the road takes you. It'd be the perfect song for a road trip if it were only a couple hours long. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mW05m41_GM

And this might be the best song ever about a road trip gone awry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WILyWmT2A-Q&ob=av2e

VITAL STATS:

I don't normally watch hoops anymore, but it's NCAA tournament time. We were visiting family and the womens' semi-final UConn/Notre Dame game was on, and I like ND so I watched with Jess' brother-in-law. I enjoy watching sports with him because we can talk about the game as educated fans. UConn had this really tall, butchy lookin' chick who was a beast when she was out there, but got into foul trouble. They showed her on the bench with a stat graphic, and the first one that jumped out was 6-10. We were like, "Damn! She's tall!" But no, that wasn't her height. It was her shooting percentage from the floor. Whoops.

It's been a busy weekend. We hosted a few of Jess' ex-coworkers and family last night, some of whom road-tripped themselves back home for a weekend of showing off their new arrival, and one who is awaiting a new arrival of her own. It was nice to see all of them again.

Who works on a Monday? Ugh. I've gotta work in the morning. The only thing worse in my job than working on a Monday is having to work a Sunday morning. No thank you.

So with that, I'll leave you be. Thanks for stopping by the first official April entry...29 more left! Peace, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXfUSmdGa6E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOer13WNPfk