Fallen Thoughts

:: 7.02.2002 ::

now that I've had a week to let it all sink in, my thoughts on last weekend remain the same. Bonnaroo was amazing! in the weeks leading up to it, I tried to not anticipate it too much so as to not build myself up for a (hardly possible) letdown. when it came time to head out, I was pretty much beside myself, but I kept it cool.. gotta get there first.

the day started out with a trip over to North Pearl to pick up Kevin. he'd stayed up late the night before catching up with his old roommate and had to be up at 8 AM for an important appointment. of course he was exhausted, so he decided to catch a quick nap - about 10 minutes before I showed up to pick him up. so I sat impatiently waiting for a good 2 hours when I decided I should probably go ahead and take care of a couple of things around town and give him a chance to wake up. I got back about an hour later and there he was, sleeping like a baby. he came around pretty soon and we got on the road around 3 PM and headed out to Savannah to pick up Mary Ellen and a few things for the weekend.

while on the way there, we found out that Mary Ellen's bags had been lost somewhere on her flight from California. it didn't necessarily slow our trip, but she had to rummage through years of old clothes to find something to take for the weekend. by the time we got to her house, she was all ready to go, but of course her mom didn't think so. after about 30 minutes of cleaning out her kitchen, she felt we were prepared and we said goodbye.

next stop, Kevin's house. of course when we get there, his mom has a full course meal waiting on us.. bless her. we sat down and ate and then it was HER turn to be a mom. she filled the den with so much stuff - it was like being in a sporting goods store. being the nice guys we are, Kevin and I decided it'd be best to go outside and throw the frisbee while the women did all of the packing. so we got all the stuff in the Honda and we were off again. we made a quick run to the Savannah Airport in hopes of Mary Ellen's bags being there, but no luck. so now it was on to Atlanta to pick up Esther, who had been waiting at her hotel for us to pick her up for WAY too long.

after getting lost for a bit, we finally made it to Esther's hotel. I walked in and caught a dirty look from the doorman, quickly reaffirming my guilt for leaving her waiting for a good half-day. I looked across the lobby and saw her sleeping quite uncomfortably with all of her bags surrounding her. guilt trip #2. I woke her up and gave her a big hug and helped her with her things. she gave a warm goodbye to the doorman and the woman working the front desk, which I couldn't help but find hilarious. I'd left her waiting so long that she was now on a first name basis with the ENTIRE hotel staff. as we're packing her things in the car, she shows me the things she brought for me - a variety of beer, a pack of dutch camel lights, and a great smile. guilt trip #3. we somehow managed to fit everything in the car (Kevin and Mary Ellen could pack a family of ten in a dorm fridge, I swear.. - and what's even funnier is that I brought one bag of clothes, a loaf of bread, and a jar of peanut butter. you do the math.) and we were truly Bonnaroo bound. sure, it was 2 AM and we were just leaving Atlanta, but hey, we're going to Bonnaroo!

after a short drive, we reached the exits for Manchester. well not actually.. we got about a half-mile from the exit ramp and came to a standstill mid-interstate. little did we know, we'd be watching the sunrise from this very spot. about 4 hours and a mile later, we made it to the convenience store. woo! a little stretching, a little breakfast, a little bad coffee, and we were back in the procession to the gate. about an hour later, the gates came into vision. we made it! the guys at the gate checked our tickets, gave us our wristbands, did a brief (and I mean BRIEF) check of the trunk, and we were in. Bonnaroo, at last!

to be continued..

:: posted by Michael at 3:30 AM [+] ::

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