Nateva Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday morning I was able to sleep until 11:30 because it didn't get hot enough to turn my tent into a greenhouse. I woke up and sat around camp charging my phone and taking the pictures from the previous day off my camera. Kelci met up with me at my campsite around this time, and after getting everything I would need for the day packed up, we headed for the Maine Stage area around 1 o'clock to grab a spot for Furthur. I set up my mat in front of the camera boom between the two stages, so I was about 10 yards back right between the two stages. The giant NATEVA letters on the the hill had been painted to resemble an American flag for Independence Day, which I thought was pretty cool! I got settled down towards the end of Mark Karan's Jemimah Puddleduck, and they were pretty good, kinda a melting pot of musical styles. After Mark Karan was Moonalice, and they surprised the hell out of me. They were incredible musicians, and they really knew how to work the crowd. I would definitely recommend seeing Moonalice if you ever get the chance, you won't be disappointed! All of their music is available for free on their website. After the show they came down and said hi to all the fans, and they were giving away two different free posters in the merch tent. I got both posters and went back to my mat for Max Creek. Max Creek was good, but the most impressive thing about them is that they've been playing for nearly four decades. I'd go see them again if it didn't conflict with another artist I wanted to see, but they didn't wow me nearly as much as Moonalice. Zappa Plays Zappa was next, and I lost my notes of what all he played, but I do remember that it was a great show, and the crowd loved it. I believe I remember hearing Peaches En Regalia, but I can't be too sure until I find a setlist online. I do remember him walking around stage shirtless and that it was a great show. After Zappa was George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. It took about 30 minutes before George Clinton came on, and when he did, no one knew it. Everyone was asking "which one's George" He no longer has the colorful hair, and the all he did onstage was dance around and say "we want the funk" like ten times. At one point he had his granddaughter come out and start rapping about how much she likes dirty sex, and he was right next to her cheering her on. I heard that they had to have two security guards around the production food tent to prevent P-Funk's crew from coming and stealing all the food to bring to their buses. Overall I was very underwhelmed with the performance, but I guess George is just getting old, and all that crack he's smoked is getting to him. It's kind of disappointing, but oh well. Kelci left sometime during George Clinton to go back to her camp to get everything for the night, but I wasn't about to loose my spot for Furthur. After P-Funk was Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band, and while they were great, I was hoping for at least one Allman Brothers' song, but didn't get it. The slide guitar was incredible though, and Susan Tedeschi's voice was awe inspiring. Kelci made it back just before the set was over with Adam and Jen and Max and Sam. The sun was starting to set, and every minute the colors would change. It is the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen. Furthur opened with "Celebration" which is the first time they have played it since travelling as Furthur, and what a celebration it was!!!! After that they went into "Samson and Delilah" then "Mississippi Half Step". I loved singing along to "Half Step", and then they went into "Cold Rain and Snow". Next was "Ramble on a Rose" followed by "When I Paint My Masterpiece". "Masterpiece" was incredible, and we put our arms around each other's shoulders and just swayed to the song. This was followed by "Cumberland Blues" and "Casey Jones". "Casey Jones" ended the first set, and we all set down, and I started drawing on my mat with a broken glowstick until someone brought out body crayons and I started drawing on Kelci's shoulder, and I drew some kind of spiraling sun. Then I started drawing on Sam's arm and did a really cool eye. After what seemed like forever Furthur came back on and we all got up! They opened the second set with "St. Stephen" which I was not expecting!! "Jack Straw" was next, followed by "Dear Mr. Fantasy". Then they started playing "Eyes of the World" and it brought tears to my eyes. I was turning to everyone and hugging them and saying how lucky we are to be here. "Eyes" was followed by "Days Between" and "Help on the Way" into "Slipknot!". This was followed by "Franklin's Tower" which is another of my favorites! The whole crowd was singing along and it was just a magical experience. Next was "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" which was anything but bad. Next was "And We Bid You Goodnight" when I heard this song start, I literally started bawling. Nothing else in the whole world mattered at that point, and I knew it was their last song, and I just couldn't help myself. Hearing Phil and Bob sing A Capella was just breathtaking. I was turning to people I didn't even know and giving them hugs, kissing my friends on the cheek, and just listening in complete awe. After they all went off stage Phil came back out to tell everyone that the reason he is alive today is because someone told a loved one "hey I want to be an organ donor" and he asked everyone in the crowd to tell a loved one that they too want to be an organ donor. I am proud to say that I have been an organ donor ever since the day I got my license. After his donor speech Bobby and the the rest came out and played a very appropriate tune for Independence Day. This tune was "US Blues" and there were well over 100 American Flags being waved in the crowd just like the song says "Wave that flag, wave it wide and high". As soon as they were done playing fireworks started, and went on for about 15 minutes. Also after they were done they put on the song "Fur Elise" by Beethoven and I couldn't help but grab everyone and dance along. We stayed in the same spot for a good 30 minutes after Furthur had gone off, we just didn't want to leave. After taking some group pics and helping to pick up trash we headed out. There was a rumor floating around that GPGDS was playing a surprise set at one of the vendors, so we went to see if its true or not. We went and heard Giant Panda playing, but couldn't find out where. Turns out they were just blasting a live GPGDS set from speakers so that people would think GPGDS was playing live, which was pretty mean and funny at the same time. Another booth had some DJ playing dubstep beats and I went and danced for a little bit while Kelci sat down. After that we walked around looking for a drum circle, but I heard The Dude's voice, and followed it to find The Big Lebowski playing on a big screen with bleachers in front. We stopped and watched for about 30 minutes before heading back to her campsite to drink some sangria. After finishing the box of wine and getting everyone's contact info we went to sleep as the sun was coming up. It was an AMAZING end to an AMAZING weekend. Without a doubt Sunday at Nateva was the highlight of my trip, and I am an absolute Furthur fan now, and I think everyone should have the opportunity to see them at least once.

Nateva Saturday!!

Saturday morning I woke up later than usual, around 10:45. I went to Nick's tent and hung out there for a little while before going to see Roots of Creation at the Music Hall. We left and headed for the end of Ryan Montbleau on the Maine Stage. John Brown's Body played next, and they were fun to listen to. They played "Among Them" which I enjoyed. Halfway through JBB I went to check out The McLovins. The McLovins are 15-17 years old, and they can cover Phish songs incredibly well. They were way to good to be that young! Kelci was done with her WET shift, so we met up in the Chair Room and headed back to her campsite so she could change and so we could grab some beers. We got back and ended up hanging out with the whole group in the campsite for a couple of hours, and I missed the entire Drive-By Truckers set, which I really wanted to catch, but I had fun! We made it just as She & Him started playing. She & Him were incredible yet again, of all the sets at Nateva, She & Him was probably the loudest. Zooey was looking just as beautiful as ever, and she rocked out to Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven". After She & Him Grizzly Bear opened with "Southern Point". I was right up front for Grizzly Bear with Sam and Max, and about halfway through the set Kelci came up and tapped me on the shoulder and I went back and joined her and Adam and Jen around the camera boom area. Grizzly Bear played Lullaby into Knife, which was incredible. It was amazing to see how much soul they put into their music, and its impressive just to listen to the things they can make their voices do. We left Grizzly Bear a little early to get front row for Sound Tribe Sector 9. STS9 opened with "Twilight" just as the sun began going down which was impressive in itself, and the show only got better from there. They had the best sound quality of the entire weekend, which was great after the disappointing sound at Waka. They played a good mix of old and new stuff, which I was excited about. This show was one of the highlights of the weekend for sure. The Flaming Lips were on after Sound Tribe, and Kelci and I went to get good spots while Sound Tribe was on their last song. We were on the left side of the stage about ten people back. They opened with "The Fear" with the naked girl dancing on the screen behind them, and Wayne and the rest walked out of the screen from her "flaming red lips". There was confetti everywhere, and massive balloons floating about the crowd. Wayne got into his giant hamster ball to roll around the crowd again, and Sam later told me that she got kneed in the face by Wayne as he was rolling about(Edit: it was actually Maxine who got kneed). They played "She Don't Use Jelly" into "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" which was very cool. They of course played "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and followed this with "See the Leaves". They played lots of songs off their new album Embryonic, but mixed in lots of old favorites. They played "Taps" like they do at every concert until the war is over, and they ended the set with "Convinced of the Hex". For the encore they played "Do You Realize" again, I think this is their standard encore. Overall an incredible show, and everyone was surprised that hadn't seen them live before. After the show was over we went to meet up with everyone and see Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad play late night in the Port City Music Hall. GPDS was good once again, and EOTO was scheduled to play after. I left a before EOTO started to go get a good position for Toubab Krewe. I met up with Nick, James, and Abhi front row for Toubab Krewe. We were close enough to touch the instruments. Toubab Krewe was amazing! They're most well known for the instrument Justin plays called a Kora, which is a 21-string harp-lute from Africa. He also plays a smaller harp-lute with 12 strings. During the first song they couldn't get enough sound from the Kora, we could barely hear it being right in front of it. It turns out there was some sort of technical difficulty, and the Kora didn't work the whole night. This is the equivalent of say seeing Phish without anyone playing lead guitar. But Toubab Krewe was still able to put on an amazing show, and everyone left thinking that that was how it was supposed to be. They are amazing musicians, and I can't wait to see them again. I was dog tired during the set, so about halfway through I went and sat in the back for a little while before checking out EOTO for about ten minutes and going back to my tent to go to sleep. I was able to listen to Toubab Krewe from my tent as I fell asleep, which was very nice.

Nateva Friday!!

Friday morning I woke up and walked around talking to people and eventually made my way over to the WET tent to pick up some promo. I talked to the staff for awhile and left to go put the posters up. I put up posters all over the camping area, and when the Maine Stage area opened I went and put posters on every single porta potty in there! I met some other WET members who were putting up posters inside the porta potties, and they told me I could take pictures of them for my street team points. :) While I was putting up the posters I was able to listen to Greensky Bluegrass and the beginning of Felice Brothers. I headed back to the campsite to drop off some stuff and pick up some things and headed back for the end of Felice Brothers. Umphrey's McGee played next, and they rocked it!! Keller Williams followed up Umphrey's, and I was very impressed. He walked around barefoot playing one instrument and looping the sound, then another, then another until it sounded like a whole band was playing. He is soo much fun to watch play, and its very obvious that he LOVES what he does. Al Schnider of moe. came out and played a few songs with him. He also played Breathe, which is one of my favorite songs ever! During Keller's set the crowd spelled out "LOVE" for an ariel photo, but I didn't make it quite in time to be in the letters. Jakob Dylan & Three Legs were up next, and they were suprising. They jammed more than I expected them to, and the women sounded amazing. I headed to Nick's tent real quick and caught some of The Heavy Pets at the Port City Music Hall Stage. After a little Heavy Pets I went to check out Jackie Greene. I made it back just as he started playing "Scarlett Begonias". Passion Pit followed Jackie Greene and drew a large crowd. They played "Moth's Wings" which is my favorite song by them. They also played "Sleepyhead" of course. They ended their set with "Little Secrets". Ghostland Observatory was next, and I made my way right up to the front. They put on an amazing show as always, and the entire crowd was surprised. They ended up being the sleeper set of the weekend. They played "Sad Sad City", "Vibrate", and many other songs I knew. Aaron was a dancing machine as always, and their laser show was incredible. Ghostland has one of the best laser shows I've ever seen, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is the only thing that comes close. The lasers were during the entire show too, so it was nonstop laser action!! After the show I walked around and set down near the middle of the crowd for moe. I wasn't right up by the front, but I could see everything just fine. While waiting on moe. to come on I started talking to the guy in front of me wearing a Chewbacca costume. I went and set down with them and found out that they were all vounteers at the festival. Chewie's name was Adam, and the rest were Kelci, Jen, Cessie, Dave, Samantha, and Maxine. I think I got everyone...but I know I missed someone. Moe. put on an awesome show, and I really want to see them again sometime. They played Captain America, which I was really excited about, and they played Rebubula! Since its moe.'s 20th anniversary they were all wearing suits. Keller William's joined moe. onstage, and he was decked out in a suit, which is very weird to see Keller in. He was still barefoot though! After moe. I walked with my new family of friends and we went back to their campsite to drink sangria. Since they were WET voulenteers their camping was in a different place. It was farther away than my campsite, but it was in a nice secluded area, and it was dead quiet back there, which was nice. We drank some sangria, and then all got in Kelci's tent since it was getting quite chilly. We took turns drawing on her tent, I drew the stylized moe. logo. Jess did a really cool drawing of a mushroom and a martian. We named the mushroom Millie and the Martian Mark. We left after a little while to catch some of Big Gigantic at the Port City Music Hall. Big Gigantic killed it again, they never fail to impress. After a little while, I went back to my tent to go to sleep.

Nateva Thursday!!

Abhi and I left Boston around 3pm to head to Nateva. We stopped to get gas about 20 miles south of the venue, and I met lots of people headed to the festival. One of the guys I met told me he was working security for the festival, and we talked for awhile. We got to Oxford, ME later that night and were put in a line of cars. The line wasn't moving at all for a good hour or two, and when it finally started moving the lines kind of disappeared and it turned into a funnel of cars going into the 4 gates. Once we got up to the gates the same guy that I had met at the gas station came to check my car and my ticket. He just opened my ice chest to make sure there was no glass, and waved me on through, which saved a good bit of time. We got up to the actual gate and they ran out of wristbands, so we had to wait for more. Every other line had wristbands, and ours wasn't moving at all. People were starting to get mad and yell at the workers, so I invited them over to talk, and told them that I knew it wasn't their fault and that voulenteers shouldn't be treated that way. Once they got the wristbands they didn't even ask me for an RV pass since I had been so nice to them. We were directed to a spot with no other campsites at all, and by the end of the night there were only like 6 tents and cars in my area. We got camp set up and met our neighbors who shared a few microbrews with us. It was freezing, at one point it got down to 45 degrees according to my car's thermometer. We missed the entire Lotus show, but we wandered around the venue and I bought one of each of the limited edition posters. We made it over to Nick's campsite and met his neighbors and then went back to the tent to go to sleep.

Ringo Starr and Boston

Monday morning we woke up rather late, around 11:30 and began packing up our stuff. The cleaning lady came by to tell us that it was past check out time, so we really had to hurry. After getting everything loaded we went to grab a bite to eat and hit the road. Nick and James were heading up to Maine to get their tickets for Nateva, and I was heading to Boston to meet up with my friend Abhi, who goes to Berklee College of Music. Getting from Maryland to Boston cost me over $63 in tolls, one of which was $25 alone. I told him to get lost, that I'm not paying that, so he said the camera would take a pic of my license plate and mail me a ticket. Lucky me, I have temporary tags, hopefully they can't read them. Once I finally got to Boston after getting stuck in NYC 5 o'clock traffic and construction traffic on one of the toll roads, I had hell trying to find a parking place. Once I finally found one Abhi came out to meet me and we walked around for a little while before heading up to his dorm to go to sleep.
I spent the next day updating my blog and walking around Boston. Nick and James got into Boston later that afternoon, and I met them at a Best Buy parking lot so I could park my car and trailer to go to the show. Abhi couldn't make the show because he had to study for midterms, so Nick, James, and I headed for the Bank of America pavillion to see Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. As we pulled up we could hear Ringo starting to play, so we hurried and parked and headed to the venue. We were towards the back, but it didn't really matter because most everyone was sitting down and we wanted to stand up and dance. Ringo Starr's All Starr Band included Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, Rick Derringer, Richard Page, Wally Palmar, and Gregg Bissonette. They played "Yellow Submarine" and had some really cool visulizers for that song. Then Edgar Winter played "Frankenstein" which was mind-blowing. They also played "What I Like About You", and Rick Derringer played "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo". They ended with "Give Peace a Chance" and I think "Let It Be". It was a great performance, and amazing to get to see so many talented musicians playing together on one stage. After the concert I waited in line to get posters while James and Nick went to pick up the car. Once we were in the car we went to Boston Commons to walk around the park and relax until Abhi was done studying. Once he was done studying we met him and walked to another park close to his dorm. We walked around and played on the swings for a while before Abhi had to be back and we needed to find a place to stay. Abhi didn't have room for all of us there, so the three of us went to Wompatuck State Park about 30 minutes south of Boston to spend the night. We got camp set up and went straight to sleep.
I woke up the next morning before Nick and James, so I walked around the campgrounds for awhile and went up to the main entrance and flirted with the girl that was working there for awhile, and she told me about a natural spring with drinking water in the park, and after we got packed up we stopped to fill our jugs with the cool spring water. We then headed back to the Best Buy parking lot, and when we got there my car was gone. We figured out that it had been towed, and I was furious. After spending $150 to get my car out we parted ways again. Nick and James wanted to get to Nateva as early as possible, so they headed up to maine to camp out in a state park near Oxford, ME so they could get there early Thursday morning. I had to stay in Boston to wait on Abhi because he had a test that was over at 2 Thursday afternoon. I stayed in his dorm again that night and the next day when his test was over we hit the road.

Home!!!!

I'm home now, safe and sound!! That means that I have internet access and time to catch up my on what I've done the past two weeks!! I'm going to just keep the updates coming, but it will probably take me a couple of days to get caught up.
Once this is caught up I have the daunting task of going through the 30gb worth of pictures and videos that I took!! That will take me a little longer to do, but once I have them all labeled I'll upload them.

Sorry for the lonnnggg delay...I haven't had Internet. A full update will be made tomorrow

PHISH!!!!!!!

;Saturday morning around 8:00AM I got a call from Nick and James that they were getting into Columbia, MD so I gave them directions to the Wal-Mart where I was parked. After they found it we went into Panera Bread to get some breakfast and use the WiFi to look up hotels in the area. We found one only 8 miles away for only $66 a night, but check in wasn't til 1PM. We went to Wal-Mart to pick up some snacks and waters and other supplies, then went to the hotel to see if we could check in early. We weren't able to check in early, so we just dropped James's car and my trailer off in the parking lot and piled in my car since it had more room. We drove around checking out the area, and saw a place called SoccerDome where we dropped Nick off to watch the World Cup game. James and I found a cool city park on a lake to walk around until Nick was ready to be picked up. When we got there he was covered in sweat from playing soccer by himself inside. We headed for the hotel and got checked in and put the World Cup USA game on for Nick and James. They both ended up falling asleep though, as they had been driving all through the night, and when it was over we headed out the door for Phish!!
We got to the venue and had to make almost a complete circle before we could enter the parking lot across the street from Merriweather Post Pavilion. We got our car parked in front of a Sears sign so we could remember where it is. We got there and went in right at 7 o'clock, which was when they were scheduled to start. We managed to find a pretty decent spot on the lawn to sit down and watch the concert from. They started playing right around 7:30, opening with "Crowd Control" into "Kill Devil Falls". They then played "AC/DC" bag, which jammed! A little while later they played In an "Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel, and no one around me had ever heard of it before, but I love NMH! I found out later that it was the first time Phish had ever played it! That was followed by "Stash" and "Backwards Down the Number Line". They ended their first set with "46 Days" and "Suzy Greenberg". During the set break I held our spot while James and Nick went to use the bathroom and get waters. They got back just as Trey was walking back onstage, perfect timing!
The second set opened with a "Rock & Roll" cover by Lou Reed. They played "Free" which was awesome, as it was the first Phish song Nick had ever heard. There was a 15 minute version of "Tweezer", "Wolfman's Brother", "Slave to the Traffic Light", followed by a "Tweezer Reprise" to end the set. The encore for the first night was "Show of Life" into "Good Times, Bad Times". It was an absolutely incredible experience, and by the best show I had seen all summer. And that was just the warm up!!
We had some trouble finding our car, it seems that there were two entrances to Sears, and we were looking at the wrong one. We found it though, and made our way back to the hotel. Once we got there we put in the Phish DVD IT and watched the first disc before going to bed.
We woke up around noon Sunday morning and made sandwiches and got everything together that we would need at the concert. We got to the parking lot around 4:30 and walked around talking to people for awhile before heading closer to the venue. We entered the venue around 6 o'clock and got a good spot set up right in front of the stage on the lawn, We made friends with our neighbors, and found out that this was his 79th Phish show. He said to ask him if we had any questions about the show.
When they came out onstage Trey was at the keyboard, Mike was on guitar, Fishman was on bass, and Page was on drums. They opened with "Walfredo", which I found out was the first time in 10 years they've played it live. They played "Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan" followed by "Divided Sky". The first set ended with "Sample In a Jar" into "Bathtub Gin" into "Brian and Robert" and finishing with "Run Like an Antelope". It was absolutely incredible!! I had been hoping to hear "Sample", "Bathtub Gin", and "Antelope", and got them all right next to each other!!!
They opened the second set with "Wilson" which was followed by "Meatstick". Quite possibly the best two songs to open a set with, soo much energy and soo much fun!!! They then went into "Saw It Again" and they kept throwing bits of "Saw It Again" into the entire second set. They went into a 16 minute rendition of "Piper" followed by "Ghost" (another song I was hoping to hear), followed by a cover of "Jumpin' Jack Flash". They then did another reprise of "Saw It Again" into "Contact". They ended the set with a 20 minute long "You Enjoy Myself" and I got the ENTIRE song on video camera. This was the song I was looking forward to the most, and for them to end the night with it 20 minutes long was incredible!!! They came back for their encore and played Jimi Hendrix's "Fire". It was an amazing end to an amazing night.
We went straight back to the hotel and crashed hard.

RAIN - A Tribute to The Beatles

When I woke up in Blacksburg I headed to find the town's YMCA to take a shower. I found one, but it was a store similar to Goodwill, not a gym. I went into the office next door and asked where there was a Y where I could take a shower. There wasn't one in that town, but the nice lady gave me directions to the community center where I could take a shower. After the shower I went to Starbucks to get some breakfast and use the computer while I waited for a store called Nice Dreams to open. at 12:00 I went to Nice Dreams to pick up some posters for All Good that I could put up at RAIN and Phish. I then hit the road to Vienna, VA. Traffic getting into Vienna was a nightmare!! It was bumper to bumper, and there was no wreck or anything. I got to Wolf Trap and the gates had cones in front of them so I went to find somewhere to use the bathroom, as I'd been holding it all through traffic. I ended up just going in the woods. I went back to Wolf Trap and parked and made some Ramen noodles while I was waiting on the gates to open. I was one of the first people on the lot, but it filled up really quickly. I packed up a sandwich and some promo in a bag and went into the venue. I started putting up posters for All Good and one of the ushers stopped me and told me that I could go to Federal Jail for putting up posters in a National Park, so I stopped putting them up and just waited on the concert. They opened with a clip from the Ed Sullivan show playing on the screens introducing them as RAIN and then the curtains went up and they began playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The stage was set up like an old TV band, with no props or anything, just a sign that said "APPLAUSE" and some white arrows pointing at the band. They looked just like the early Beatles, hair and everything. After a few songs there was a solo of "Yesterday" while the rest of the band went to change. They put some vintage funny commercials on the screen during the break, and when they came back they opened with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" complete with the drumset and outfits and everything! They played Eleanor Rigby, Strawberry Fields, and When I'm 64 this set. Then there was intermission, and I met someone who happened to be from right outside of where Nateva is going to be. We talked for awhile, and he asked if I wanted to sit with him up on the lawn. I had been getting tired of sitting down for the whole concert so I joined him. He had an ice chest with some beers and we sat up there and listened to the second set from the hill. They played "I Am the Walrus", "Norwegian Wood", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and "Come Together" among other songs. After a short speech about the Beatles and thanking everyone, they started playing "Give Peace a Chance" and went into "Let It Be". They then took their bows and went off stage. For their Encore they came back and played "Hey Jude". The show was awesome, and the venue was really cool. There were some awesome 60's era visualizers on the screens. After the show I went to my car and waited for traffic to clear out before heading for Columbia, MD. I got into Columbia and found a Wal-Mart parking lot to go to sleep in.

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

First off, sorry for the delay gettin this posted, I haven't had a spare minute to update since last week.
Monday night after leaving Knoxville I drove down to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and went on the Cades Cove loop road. It is an eleven mile long one-way loop through a valley. It was beautiful, and I saw quite a few deer, and even a couple of bears. The only downfall is that people would stop in the middle of the road every time there was an animal bigger than a rabbit. I mean, deer are cool and all, but it was a little ridiculous how often there were traffic jams on that road. It was so bad that about halfway through the loop it got dark, so I didn't get to see the second half of the loop, but the fireflies were really cool to watch light up the fields. After getting out of the loop, I drove a ways into the park to a campsite called Elkridge where I set up camp and went straight to sleep.
When I woke up Tuesday morning I got dressed and headed straight out to explore. I started off by heading towards the Park Headquarters outside of Gatlinburg, and on the way I saw a sign for Laurel Falls. I thought it sounded pretty cool, so I parked and walked to the trailhead. Expecting it to be a dirt path, I was barefoot; but when I got there it was paved with asphalt the entire way, which tore up my feet. After hiking the 2.5 miles up to the waterfall, I climbed up and got up underneath it, which felt amazing after the long hike. I was surprisingly the only person who got under the falls that I saw, and there were A LOT of people there. It was a beautiful waterfall, and the hike up was gorgeous, but it was a little too crowded and I didn't like the asphalt. After the hike back I continued on my way to the visitor center where I picked up some maps and information, postcards, and a sticker. They also had a pretty cool museum with taxidermied displays of the different wildlife of the park. I asked one of the rangers where a good place to go to get away from all the crowds would be, and he reccomended going to the other side of the park to a place called Cataloochee. I took his advice and left the visitor's center around 1pm. I decided to take the scenic route that goes mostly through the park instead of going around the park on Interstate. The drive was absolutely gorgeous, and extremely diverse. At about the halfway point I took a side road to Clingmans Dome, which is the tallest point in the park, and sits right on the Appalachian Trail. The trail up to Clingmans dome was paved also, but it was only a half mile. The mountainside is covered with spruce and Fraser Firs. This is actually the only place Fraser Firs grow wild any more due to logging for use as Christmas trees. Once at the top of the trail there is an observation tower that gives 100-mile or more views on a clear day. Unfortunatly pollution greatly reduces this view on most days, and on top of that it had already begun getting cloudy in the distance, so I didn't get to see that far. The view was still incredible though, don't get me wrong. After I got down from the ovservation tower, I walked down the Appalachian Trail for a little ways and then headed back to my car. I then continued on with my journey to Cataloochee by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I finally made it to the Cataloochee park entrance around 7:30, but there was still a long gravel road down to the campsite and trails. Once I got there the first thing I saw was a rabbit in the road that I was able to pull right up next to and take lots of pictures before he scampered off. Then I got into the valley where Cataloochee is and was greeted by a bull elk. I got on the road that goes through the valley, and saw many many elk along the way. I even saw 3 elk calfs and a sharp shinned hawk. I talked with some of the rangers, who said that there are roughly 100 elk in the park since the reintroduction program began in 2001. By the time I had finished driving around the valley it was getting dark, so I made the decision to head back to my camper at Elkridge. Looking at the map I saw 3 different ways to get back: the way I came which took quite a while, go around the outskirts of the park via interstate which was the longest route, but was probably the fastest, or take a road due north to the road that leads to Gatlinburg, which was the shortest distance by far. I decided to take the short way. Biiiiggg mistake!!! It turned out to be a 15-mile gravel road up and down the mountains with switchbacks all along the way. I would have loved to drive it during the day and see all the views, but at night all I could see was the road in front of me. I saw one other car the whole time I was on it, and that was at the very beginning. By the time I got to the north end of the park it was after 11:30, more than 2 hours after I had left Cataloochee, and I still had a ways to go! by the time I got back it was 12:30 and I had put over 150 miles on my car just that day.
I crashed hard and was awoken by a park ranger telling me that I needed to pay for my spot. I had forgotten to pay for the second day, so after I went and paid I hooked up my trailer and headed back to Cade's Cove. This time I dropped off my trailer in a parking lot before I went on the road and talked to a ranger about where I could try to see a river otter. He showed me a trail that was around the halfway point of the road where I could get off the trail and follow a stream to try and see an otter. I drove down Cade's Cove and saw some more turkey and another bear off in the distance. I got to the parking lot for the trail around 12:30 and began hiking, barefoot again. The trail followed the stream for about a mile when the path goes up the mountain and the stream goes around. I went down to the stream and walked along it for a ways until I came to a deep pool where I hoped to see some river otters I sat on a rock in the river and waited and looked around for a good 2 or 3 hours, but I didn't see any otters. I did see all sorts of fish, crawfish, a snake, and lots of birds though. I walked back up to the trail and continued walking up it a ways. Once I found out that I was only halfway to the waterfall and that I couldn't get under it, I decided that I should begin heading back so I could explore other areas of the park. I got back on Cade's Cove loop road and on the way back saw two Pileated Woodpeckers right by the side of the road. I pulled over and watched them and took pictures for about 20 min before going to get the trailer and head for a new area. I headed into Gatlinburg since I was running out of gas and I wanted to get some cell phone service, and I drove up and down the main street a couple of times watching all the tourists. I also went to Ben & Jerry's and got some Ice Cream that was amazing! I then went back into the national park and parked in a parking lot to go to sleep in my car. I woke up rather early, around 9 o'clock, and headed for a new area of the park called Crosby. i got to Crosby and hiked on some of the trails around there, and got to see some old-growth forest with huge trees. I left there around 5 on Thursday afternoon and headed for Blackburg, VA. I got to Blacksburg and tried to find a campground nearby, but there weren't any so I slept in a parking lot again.

Sorry for the delay folks, there's absolutely no service or electricty in the smokeys

Leaving Dexfest

Sunday morning I woke up and walked around and took some pictures of the campsite before breaking down my camp and buying a shirt and poster on my way out. I left the campground and headed straight for Knoxville. I found an Econolodge outside Knoxville with an Outback right nearby, so I got a room and unpacked EVERYTHING from my car and trailer since it had turned into kind of a disaster zone. I then took a shower, which felt amazing, and watched a little south park and worked on some more hemp necklaces before heading to eat at Outback. At Outback I got a 10oz Ribeye, a loaded baked potato, and potato soup. Everything was amazing, it was nice to get a real meal into me!! I had a little leftover so I boxed that up and went down the street to a TCBY in a gas station and got a half chocolate half white chocolate mousse cup. I then went back to my hotel to watch True Blood before going to sleep around 11pm. I slept like a baby in the huge king size bed, and didn't wake up til almost 11am. I got up and started organizing all my stuff and packing it back into my trailer and car. Once I got that done I ate the rest of my steak and began trying to go through all my pictures that I've taken so far. Around 2:30 housekeeping came by and kicked me out to clean the room so I headed towards Knoxville to go to a Barne's & Noble, which is where I am now. Tonight I'm probably going to go down to Smokey Mountain National Park to camp and hike tomorrow morning.

OOPSS!!

I saved the email address to update my blog as @blogspot.com instead of @blogger.com so they didn't make it online, so I'll post them now. Sorry ya'll.

Dexfest Saturday!!

Saturday morning I woke up pretty early, around 9, and went to the pool for awhile. After relaxing a bit and taking a little nap from 12:30 to almost 2, I headed down to mainstage to see Greenhouse Lounge. They put on a really good show, and their drummer absolutely blew me away. I hope they are able to do a Shreveport show. After that was a group called Deep Fried 5. I found my friends and set my mat down next to them again and took a little nap during Deep Fried 5 and Charlie P. After Charlie P was a band called Agobi Project. They sounded very similar to STS9, but their guitarist was actually better. They put on a great show, and they had some great songs. I recommend listening to them. After that I went and grabbed a bite to eat before Papadosio came on. I had heard of Papadosio before, but never heard any of their music. They had probably one of the best sets of the whole weekend. They drew in a huge crowd, especially considering it was only 8 o'clock. Papadosio is another band I really recommend listening to. They're like a jamband mixed with electronic and dance. They are going to be at All Good and Camp Bisco, where I definitely plan on catching their set. After Papadosio was a rapper called Count Bass D. He was a pretty good rapper, and he was old, he said he was born in '77. Even though he was pretty good and had some good beats, the large crowd that was at Papadosio disappeared for the most part. After Count Bass D was DJ Kidsmeal. DJ Kidsmeal had performed with a couple of the bands the day before, and I was impressed with his turntable abilities. He brought the crowd back up to a pretty big size, and for good reason. He had a great DJ set, mixing dubstep, rap, jam, reggae, and everything in between. After DJ Kidsmeal was Conspirator. Conspirator consists of Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuts, so I was surprised when I saw a third person on drums. It turned out to be Lane Shaw of Pnuma Trio. Marc Brownstein was absloutely amazing to watch. He jammed out on bass, and danced the whole time. At one point he said "When we were asked to do Dexfest, I was like'seriously?', but I got here about 10 hours ago, and this is one of the best festivals I've been to all summer. Don't ya'll wish The Disco Biscuts were playing? Maybe next year, but I'll be here for sure next year, even if I'm not playing!" and he was right, Dexfest was incredible. I spent a good amount of time watching the live art installations in front of the mainstage during Conspirator, and almost bought one, but didn't have enough cash on me. Conspirator played a good mix of music, starting out sounding alot like Disco Biscuts since there was a drummer, but for about the last 30 minutes it was just Marc and Aron playing. I was pretty tired after that, but I went to the Pavilion stage to check Arpetrio for a little bit. He had played some sick dubstep, and had a really cool visualizer. After watching a little of that I went to my tent, but couldn't fall asleep so I got to hear Bowie Van Ling's set on mainstage, and the beginning of MINDELIXIR. MINDELIXIR was really good, and I want to check out more of their music. I finally fell asleep sometime around 4:30am.

Dexfest Friday!!

Friday morning I woke up around 10:30 and got in my car and napped for about another hour before getting up. I walked around the festival for a little while talking to people and putting up promo for Camp Bisco and Underground Sound. I used one of my VIP meal tickets at a sandwich shop and ordered a fried peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich. The lady making it said that earlier the drummer for The Malah had ordered the same thing with bacon, so I decided to give it a try on half of my sandwich. It was interesting, not bad, but not something I would make again. After that I went and swam in the pool a little while and listened to whatever DJ was at the poolside stage. I headed down to mainstage around 4 o'clock and caught the end of Thunderbear's set. after that set was over I found some friends that I had met earlier in the day and set up my mat next to theirs for Sonmi Suite. After Sonmi Suite was a group called Gravity A from New Orleans, and the drummer was wearing a Saints Jersey. They played what I would describe as Electro-funk, and they sounded great. They did a cover of the Grateful Dead's Shakedown Street which was pretty cool. After Gravity A a group called Corleone came on. They played more of a dub sytle electronica. After them was a group called This is ART, which was good, but nothing overly impressive. Then came Telepath who did a great show. I was backstage again for most of this show too. I left Telepath early to go see Zoogma, but they were already they were late starting so I went to see EOTO once they started. After about 20 minutes of EOTO I headed back to see Zoogma, and they put on a pretty good show, even though they had a really small crowd. I got to meet the manager for the band Greenhouse Lounge and talked with him about doing a show in Shreveport, LA. He was all for the idea and gave me all his contact info so I can get in touch with him when I get back. After watching a little of Zoogma I headed back to EOTO stageside and it was pretty amazing getting to watch Jason Hann and Michael Travis throw it down from so close. EOTO's sets are 100% improvised live with Jason on the drums, and Michael on pretty much everything else. EOTO had probably the biggest crowd of the whole weekend. At one point during the show I saw someone getting carried out on a stretcher and someone else passed out on the ground. Rumors began circulating that someone OD'd, but I found out later that it was just heat exhaustion and dehydration. After EOTO was over at 3am I went back up to my tent and heard a little bit of Starkey's set before I crashed.

Dexfest Thursday!!

After I got my camp set up and took a nap I went to go see The Malah at 10:15 on the Main Stage. Since I was VIP I was able to go backstage and watch the show from the side of the stage. They also had a keg of Yazoo beer set up for the VIP, and it was actually really good beer. The Malah put on a good show, and they were followed by Big Gigantic. I had seen Big Gigantic once before when they opened for Rusko in New Orleans, and knew it would be a good show. For this show they brought out another keg, this time it was an ale that was dark, but really good. Big Gigantic played a good variety of music, everything from dubsteb to trance that sounded similar to Disco Biscuts. After that was a group called LABCOAT: Two Fresh, Bookworm, & Jables. This was a DJ set, and each DJ had a turn spinning, and then at the end they all got up together. After this show I went back to my tent and listened to the beginning of EP3 before falling asleep around 5am.

Chattanooga to Dexfest

Wednesday morning I woke up around 11am and packed up camp pretty quickly and made it to downtown Chattanooga by noon. Once I found a parking place among all the construction and Riverbend traffic I headed for the Moon Pie store. Riverbend is a small annual arts and music festival in Chattanooga similar to Red River Revel. The Moon Pie store was a little underwhelming. Now don't get me wrong, I love Moon Pies, but I was expecting more than a small store within a bookstore with gelato. I bought some Moon Pies and a book and an R/C Cola and headed toward my car. On the way I enjoyed the "workingman's lunch" of the early 1900s which consists of a 5 cent Moon Pie and 5 cent bottle of R/C. I headed for the other side of the river to go to Rock/Creek outfitters. I looked around there for a while and then got on the road for Knoxville. Once in Knoxville I found a Borders to use wifi at and stayed there for almost four hours reading and using their wifi to download the new True Blood episode. I then continued onward toward Panther Creek State Park right outside of Morristown. I ran an extension cord into my car and watched the True Blood episode, which was just as great as last season, and crawled into my backseat to sleep. I awoke around 7:30am and walked to the showers. After cleaning up I drove around the park and found a 2 mile hiking trail down to the lake. I took it down and saw soo many beautiful sites along the way. I passed a teacher training for the Appalachian Trail who could not believe that I was hiking barefoot. I saw many different kinds of birds, and even some butterflies. After I made it back to my car I hung around the overlook reading my book for awhile before heading to Morristown to pick up a package my dad sent. In it were gift cards to Outback, Cracker Barrel, Barnes & Noble, and Visa, some candy, and my dads amazing cookies. I then headed south to a Cracker Barrel to use my new card. After eating I headed for Dexfest snout 20 min away. I got there, upgraded to VIP and got my campsite set up before 5 o'clock. I have an amazing spot right between the stages and vendors. I am probably 200 yards from the main stage, and I'm in the shade! After meeting some people I took a little nap in my camper for about 2 hours, and now I'm fixing to go see The Malah and Big Gigantic. Dexfest looks like it's going to be a pretty awesome festival!

Update

I finally figured out a way to update from my phone without the posts being broken down into 160 word posts. I can now email my posts from my phone, and that will allow me to post more timely updates. I am now at a Border's in Knoxville, and I will post an update of my day's activities when I get to my campsite.
Dexfest starts tomorrow!!!

Tuesday in Chattanooga

I managed to catch up on my sleep Monday night, sleeping for almost 12 hours. When I woke up around 11:30 I set out for Downtown Chattanooga to see the Tennessee Aquarium. I went to the River Adventure Building first, starting with the seahorse exhibit. There were seahorses of all shapes, sizes and colors on display. I then took the elevator upstairs to see the greenhouse with otters, birds, snakes, and fish. The rest of the museum was a long winding ramp down with a huge tank on one side and exhibit halls all around. There was a turtle exhibit that was pretty cool, and I got to see divers feeding the stingrays in the saltwater tank. After spending almost 3 hours in that building I went to the Ocean Adventures building. From the outside it appears bigger, but the river building had many more exhibits. One exhibit I liked in particular at this building was the jellyfish exhibit. There were all sorts of jellies and octopus and squid. Then there were penguins!!! I spent awhile watching the penguins before heading downstairs to the fish tunnel. There was a tunnel with many different viewing ports that allowed you to see all sorts of different fish in their largest tank at over 600,000 gallons. After leaving the Aquarium I was hungry and wanted to use internet, so I grabbed my bag out of my car and headed for a Panera Bread to get a quick bite and get online before Avatar IMAX 3D started at 7. I've seen Avatar at least a dozen times, but only once in 3D, and never in IMAX. It was just as mindblowing as the first time I saw it in 3D, and when I left I was exhausted. I got back to camp and fell right to sleep.

Monday in Chattanooga

I woke up around 6am to the sound of leaving RVs Monday morning. I managed to sleep in fits for the next four hours before beginning to break camp. My neighbors had left the day before, and most of the spots around me were already vacant by the time I was leaving. I cleaned up my camp in the hot sun and after making sure all my trash was in trash bags and all my gear packed up, I hit the road. There was a fairly long line getting out, but it moved at a fairly decent pace. We'd wait for about a minute or so and then move up ten cars or so. This went on for about 20 minutes before we were able to just drive. I headed south towards Chattanooga on a scenic highway instead of Interstate. I made a detour to Sewanee to see The University of the South. I had wanted to take a tour, but I smelled like the north end of a south-bound donkey, so I decided not to offend anyone. The campus was absolutely gorgeous, with large stone buildings set into the beautiful landscape. I saw lots of people walking around with everything from fishing gear to dogs to tennis equipment to suits. I then got back onto Interstate towards Chattanooga. Along the way I saw almost nothing but beautiful landscapes, farms both big and small, more fireworks signs and superstores than most likely anywhere in the world, the very occasional car, and "See Rock City" advertisements. I have been to camp in the area around Chattanooga called Lookout Mountain, but had never been to Rock City or Ruby Falls, but had heard much about them. I headed towards Rock City first, and managed to find it pretty easily by following the large black arrows that said "SEE ROCK CITY" in bold white letters. I paid almost $65 at the gate for a combo ticket to Rock City, Ruby Falls, and the Tennessee Aquarium & IMAX. Rock City is basically a nature/garden path through some very cool rock formations. It has some spectacular views from atop the lookout point, where it is reported that on a clear day you can see 7 states. It was a pretty clear day, so I maybe was able to see all 7 at once, but who knows? After going through Fairyland which was a bunch of dioramas of old folklore characters lit with blacklight, I headed for Ruby Falls. Once I arrived I found that the next tour wasn't for another twenty minutes, so I sat down and ate a chili dog and walked around the gift shop. Once the tour began we were led into an elevator that descended 260 feet into the mountain. We came out in a narrow cave that had been enlarged to allow standing. After a half-mile walk passing numerous cave formations we made it to Ruby Falls. The cavern was dimly lit at first and once the entire group had entered, the lights were turned on. The fall is the tallest underground public waterfall in the world at 145 feet tall. The stream is 1120 feet under the mountain, and the water comes from an unknown source. We then made the hike back out, passing more formations along the way. The elevator took us up to an observation tower where we could overlook the city of Chattanooga and the river that flows alongside it. Ruby Falls was much better than Rock City, and more worth the money. After leaving the falls I went to Krystal Burger to use their internet and grab some food. I then headed for the western Chattanooga Kampgrounds of America. These campgrounds were 15 miles away in an entire other state, not exactly how close I had wanted, but the only campsite that advertised wifi in the campgrounds. Once I got there I had trouble finding a campsite, and once I did I set up and headed toward the bathroom. Their bathroom had a lock on the light switch, so I had to use the bathroom in complete darkness, just my iPhone for light. I then headed back to my camper looking forward to being able to finish my blog posts and watch the episode of True Blood I had missed while at Bonnaroo, but alas, there was no wifi signal at all, so I just went to sleep.

Bonnaroo Sunday!!

Again this Sunday I took it pretty easy, especially after such a long night. I woke up around ten, but got in my car with the A/C on and slept for about another hour before waking up and going to meet Jordan for John Butler Trio. We were again able to get up right up to the front of What Stage because it was the heat of the day. We worked our way into the shade of the stage and were able to watch the whole set in relative cool. He had an another amazing performance, when he played "Ocean" it brought Jordan to tears. One guy in the crowd that I talked to had never heard of them before and he was absolutely blown away, calling it "one of the best performances all weekend, definitely top 3!". After that we headed to Which Stage for Regina Spektor. It was oppressively hot for Regina Spektor, but we both managed to stay for the whole show sitting in the back on my mat while I made a hemp necklace for Jordan. She then left to go back to her tent and pack so they could leave as soon as Dave Matthews was over, and I went to see John Butler Trio play at the Sonic Stage and wait in line for his autograph signing. The line had already started before he even began playing, and continued to grow the whole time. Once they started playing the crowd grew to the biggest of the weekend at the Sonic Stage. They only played a 30 minute set this time, but the smaller stage made for a much more intimate experience. I was surprised that whole band didn't have solos at his performance earlier in the day, but I came to find out that they were saving them for their short set. While the solos weren't as long as the ones at Wakarusa, they were still every bit as good. When they finished their set at 4:45 they made their way into the signing tent next door and the line slowly moved forward while Cross Canadian Ragweed began playing on the stage. I made it into the tent at 5:10 with only ten minutes left in the signing. I managed to get two CD's signed by the whole band, and my photo taken with John Butler! I missed John Fogerty's entire set to get the signatures, but it was well worth it! I went to charge my phone at the Fuse/Twix Take a Break lounge, and was able to hear some of the Dropkick Murphy's while I waited in the shade. Once my phone had charged for the allowed 30 minutes I headed to What Stage for Zac Brown Band. I sat way in the back on my mat and worked on the necklace and relaxed for awhile. I headed to Phoenix right before they started at 7:10 and got almost the same spot I had for The Flaming Lips, right in front of the popcorn stand to the right center of the stage. About an hour into the hour and a half set Jordan texted me, and she just so happened to be right behind the popcorn stand, so we met up and headed to see Dave Matthews. We put my mat down up on the hill about halfway back through the crowd, but we were far enough away that all we could really see was the massive screens on each side of the stage and the massive collection of screens onstage used just for this performance. He opened with "Don't Drink the Water" from Before These Crowded Streets and played a good selection of songs, including "Timebomb", "Shake Me Like a Monkey", and even bringing out his friend Danny Barnes to play "Spaceman" with him. He closed the set with "Two Step". He came out for his encore and did a solo cover of Neil Young's "The Needle and The Damage Done" then the Bassist Stefan had a solo before the whole band covered Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower". In all the encore lasted almost twenty minutes for just two songs. It was an incredible end to a great weekend at Bonnaroo! I went back to my tent to crash and Jordan and her friends left for the long drive to Baton Rouge.

Bonnaroo Saturday!!

First off, I have to share what I found out about the Flaming Lips show; it was only their second time to play Dark Side live, and they don't ever plan on playing it again, so I got to see history!!
Saturday afternoon I headed to Norah Jones around 2:30 and caught about 30 min of her show. Her voice is even more amazing live than on a record! After a little bit of that I headed to see Jimmy Cliff on What Stage. Since it was early in the day I was able to get in the very front without waiting in any lines. He was very outspoken about saving Planet Earth and had the whole crowd singing "save planet Earth". I headed to The Avett Brothers around 4:45 and caught about an hour of their set before leaving to meet up with my Shreveport friend Jordan. I met her and her friend Marisa at my campsite and we hung out there for a little while before they left to take a little nap before Stevie Wonder while I went to see Jeff Beck and a little of Ozomatli. Jeff Beck played some of the best guitar of anyone at the festival, and Ozomatli was some good Mexican dance music. I met up with Jordan and Marissa right before Stevie Wonder, and we caught his entire set. He was absolutely amazing, of course! He played Heard It Through Grapevine and Sign, Sealed, Delivered to name just two songs. He probably had the biggest crowd of anyone the whole weekend. After that we went to check out The Eclectic Method at the Lunar Stage. They played a 30 minute set in between Stevie and Jay-Z. After that show was over we headed to see some of Jay-Z and got to our spots right before a ten minute countdown showed up onscreen. Right as the countdown got to zero, Jay-Z walked out, and the crowd went wild. We got to hear 99 Problems, H to the Izzo, and Death of Auto-tune among others. During Death of Auto-tune he said "Free Weezy", which was my favorite part of the show. After about an hour and fifteen minutes of Jay-Z we headed to Thievery Corporation, and met up with Jordan and Marisa's friends Taylor and Alden at the show. We listened to Thievery for about 20 minutes before leaving to hear Kaskade. Kaskade had a great show on the Lunar Stage, almost the biggest crowd I saw there other than Crystal Method. Lunar Stage was right next to This Tent, which is where Deadmau5 was playing. We left Kaskade to see Deadmau5, but he showed up almost 45 minutes late, the crowd was huge, and the music wasn't loud enough. We could hear Kaskade over Deadmau5. He did have a pretty awesome stage and DJ table, along with his signature mouse head helmet. We left Deadmau5 after about 15 minutes to catch some more of Kaskade before heading to the Disco Biscuts at 3am. The Disco Biscuts had an even better performance than at Wakarusa. Waka had more people at it, and their set was awesome there, but at Bonnaroo they played for 3 and a half hours! At 4:30 after they left the stage they came back on and said that they had gotten permission to keep playing!! They ended up playing for over 3 straight hours with no stops, even between songs!! I finally ended up leaving around 6 to go get some sleep, and they were still playing! I crashed pretty hard when I got to my tent.

Bonnroo Friday!!

Yesterday after my bagel I packed up my backpack and headed for Centeroo. I had to wait in line for like 25 min to get my bag searched, and I was only able to catch the tail end of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. I then went and caught about 45 min of Umphrey's McGee before heading to check out Damian Marley and Nas. Umphrey's had a good set from what I saw, but they were much better at night with lights. Damian Marley and Nas were pretty good, but the crowd was enormous and so I only hung around for about a song or so. I made it to She & Him about 20 min before they started and stayed for the whole set. They did a great show, and Zooey Deschanel was amazing!!! Her voice is as good in person as it is recorded, and M. Ward did a really good job also. When that was over I headed to check out The National. On the way I stopped by to hear a Tori Amos song, and she has an amazing voice! When I got to The National I spread out my blanket and listened to them for about 45 min before going to see Tenacious D. I walked through the crowd at What Stage for a little while listening, but it was soo packed I just headed for the back. I got to hear Wonderboy and Fuck Her Gently, but not Tribute. About halfway through Fuck Her Gently I left for Les Claypool. I only saw about 20 min, but the little I saw was amazing!! He had a really cool stage set-up, but I knew I wanted to catch Michael Franti so I didn't stick around too long. I got to Franti right as he was starting, but I was able to make my way up to about 20 yards back from the stage right next to the path from the sound board to stage. As always he put on a great show and did a great job of involving the crowd. He came and danced in the crowd a number of times, and walked around the crowd with singing quite a bit also. He walked within 5 feet of me like 15-20 times! I got to dance with him and get a high five from him and his bassist. At one point he brought the whole band out to play in the crowd!! Overall it was one of the more memorable shows I've ever been to. After Franti was Kings of Leon and the crowd was ENORMOUS!! I hung around for about an hour and 15 min before going to get a good spot for The Flaming Lips. I got to hear Closer, Milk, and Use Somebody, along with a few others I can't remember. I got to Which Stage at like 10:45 and it was already pretty full of people even though The Flaming Lips don't come on for over an hour. I went to the bathroom and grabbed a snack before finding a spot to wait. I got about 40-50 yards back and close to the center. I had a great view of the screens and the band. The Flaming Lips put on an amazing show, the first hour and a half was all originals such as She Don't Use Jelly, and Do You Realize to name a few. At one point Wayne Coyne got into a giant balloon and rolled around on top of the crowd! There was confetti and balloons and bubbles everywhere the entire show. When the war in The Middle East started he promised to play taps every night until the war was over, so he of course played that and used it to segway into Do You Realize. After playing that to end their set they took a 15 min break to let Stardeath and the White Dwarves set up before Dark Side of the Moon. They did an absolutely incredible job performing Pink Floyd's most famous album. During the song Money they threw out giant balloons to the crowd with money in them!! I didn't get my hand on one, but a couple bounced around for awhile before anyone popped it. By the time Eclipse was over it was 2:30, which is 30 min later than they were scheduled to play, but people still hung around for a good ten min asking for an encore. Wayne came onstage, but not for an encore, just to shoot confetti at the remaining audience. I missed Bassnectar's entire set, but it was definately worth it! I'll catch him again later this summer. After that mindblowing show I walked down to hear The Crystal Method play for a little while, then caught like ten min of Galactic. Galactic surprised me with their show, they had great lights and stage setup complete with multiple lasers. I was tired though so I didn't stay long. I went tocheck out LCD Soundsystem and got to hear them play Daft Punk is Playing at My House and left as soon as that song was over. I then went to the Brainquility tent for digital meditation on the way to my tent to crash. I woke up this morning and finished Beatrice and Virgil, and although it wasn't as good as Life of Pie, it was still a great book with a surprise ending. Now I'm just sitting in my car charging my phone and making hemp necklaces before I head to Norah Jones at 2:30.

Bonnaroo Thursday!!

Wednesday night while in Walmart I found out that the gates had already been open so I left and took the back way into Bonnaroo. The back entrance just looped around to the main entrance, but it allowed me to skip the whole 3 mile long line on Interstate. I got my campsite set up by 3:30am and met my new neighbors in a Winnebago. We shared a beer and talked for a little while before I went to bed around 5. The next morning the heat again woke me up like clockwork at 9:30, so I crawled outside and slept in the shade on the ground until 11:30. My neighbors were getting up around that time too, and we got a huge tarp and hung it up between our campsites, giving us plenty of shade. We then went and checked out Centeroo and all the vendors and tents and such before coming back to the camp to cook hotdogs. I left to go check out Miike Snow around 7. He put on a really good performance, and the crowd was dancing. After that I caught a little bit of Neon Indian, and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't know what to expect, but they put on a real good show. I left Neon Indian early to catch the Dodos who were amazing, and I would definitely recommend seeing live. Their music is very 60's and 70's. After that was Blitzen Trapper who put on a solid show. In between Blitzen Trapper and The XX I got a recycling bag and picked up bottles and cans and such. I brought two bags to the Clean Vibes Trading Post and got a Bassnectar shirt for it. I then worked my way into the crowd for The XX and listened to about 30 min in the crowd before I went and sat down on the lawn to listen. I made it to bed around 1:30 last night. This morning I've just been hanging around the campsite and checking out all the vendors in the campsites. I just ate a cream cheese bagel and I'm getting ready to head to see Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Nashville to Manchester!

Today a little before 6am I was awoken by the sound of rain. I stayed awake for a few minutes listening and making sure my trailer didn't leak. I had no problem falling back into a slumber, and when I reawoke it was almost 10:30. It was still sprinkling off and on so I sat in my tent and watched South Park on my computer and read my AAA Travel guide. By 11:45 it had stopped raining and I waited until 12:30 to begin breaking down camp. I decided to try and find a bookstore of some sort, so I found a Borders near Vanderbilt's campus. I spent over 3 hours there browsing and reading. I ended up purchasing Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel, which I am currently reading. After leaving Borders I wanted to try White Castle since I had never had it before. What should have been a simple task turned into a long journey, much like the movie. The first one I got to was closed due to flood damage, so I found another one with my iPhone, but when I got to where it should be I couldn't find it. After looking for awhile I realized that there was some sort of shipping company or something named White Castle. The next one I found was 22 miles south so I got on I-24 and headed towards it. Once I got off the exit I drove past it twice before noticing it inside a gas station. I ordered 6 mini burgers, a fry, and a coke. It was everything I expected and more. We need one in Shreveport! Then I got back on I-24 towards Manchester. About 10 miles down the road I got pulled over AGAIN! This time I was pulled over for not having trailer lights. The officer was very polite and just gave me a warning and directions to Bonnaroo with instructions to fix my lights asap. I turned around and found an Auto Zone and got the harness extension that I needed and got back on the road. I got to Manchester around 9:45 and found a Wal-mart to park and spend the night at. The entire parking lot is full of people camping out. RV's, tents, canopy's, and even just tarps draped between cars are everywhere. I'm sitting in my car now listening to Neko Case and reading Beatrice and Virgil before I go get ice and a power inverter from Wal-mart.

Leaving Waka and Nashville

Monday morning I was woken up by someone going through the campsites with a megaphone telling everyone that a storm was on the way and should be there in about an hour, so I got up and began packing. I kinda just threw everything into the trailer in no real order so I could get out quickly. Just as I was about to be turning out of Mulberry Mountain I noticed two dudes trying to catch a ride to Louisville, so I offered them a ride to Nashville if they pitch in on gas money. Right when they got in it started raining, everything was just working out perfectly! They were really nice guys, they had caught a ride to Waka with a friend, but didn't want to leave on Saturday when their friend did. We talked for awhile, but they fell asleep pretty quickly. Once I was just on the other side of Memphis I got pulled over. The officer said the reason he pulled me over was that he couldn't tell where my temp tags were from. He even said my speed and driving were fine. He asked if he could search my car, and I told him that I had nothing to hide, so him and one other officer spent a good 30-40 minutes searching every nook and cranny of my car, but of course there was nothing for them to find. It was pretty annoying having to stand on the side of Interstate-40 barefoot in the hot sun while they took their time searching me. Once we got to Nashville I dropped my new friends off at a Starbucks at the intersection of I-40 and I-65. I then went onward to find a shower, and just 3 exits down there was a YMCA right off interstate. I stopped there for a shower and to try and find somewhere to stay the night. I found a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) right outside of Gaylord Opryland that looked nice, so I headed there. The flood had destroyed all their buildings including their bathrooms so two nights was only $50. I got my trailer set up and crashed pretty hard.
This morning (Tuesday) I woke up around 10 and started taking everything out of my trailer to get it organized. I spent about two hours getting everything put together and cooking my bacon before it spoiled. I then went to this shop called Scarlett Begonias that my awesome friend Mallory recommended and got some cool beads from South America there. I asked the guy who owned the store where some cool places to go around the area were, and he told me about a park right across the street that had a full scale replica of the Parthenon. I went to take a look at it, and it was huge!!! I then went to an outdoor store next door to look around and found a really cool KAVU hat that I bought. I asked if there was anywhere to go climbing around Nashville and he told me about an amazing climbing gym called Climb Nashville. I headed that way after stopping to get some ice for my cooler. I met two guys who go to Vol State while I was there and we climbed for about 3 hours until 5 when they had to leave. I sat down and got on my computer and worked on updating this blog. One of my new friends, Matt, came back after about an hour and we climbed a little while more before ordering a pizza. After the pizza we did one more wall before I realized that it was 8:30 and pretty much dark outside, so I decided to head back to camp. I've just been sitting in my trailer updating this, and now that its 10:30 I'm prob gonna put on an episode of South Park and go to sleep.
P.S. I'll do my best to post daily after this, but sometimes its hard to get cell service at the festivals.

WAKARUSA Sunday!!

Sunday was a little more relaxed, I woke up around 10:30 and hung out at my camp reading for a little while. I then went to catch a little bit of The Giving Tree Band at The Outpost Stage before going to help Flowers pack up his campsite. Around 4 I went to catch part of Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad before going to see That One Guy again, this time at the Backwoods Stage. After he was done we went back to Nick's tent to finish taking everything down before going to State Radio and John Butler Trio. State Radio Put on a pretty good show, but I enjoyed their set at ACL a little bit more. John Butler Trio had an absolutely amazing set!!! He played a good variety of his old and new songs. About 45 min into the set I saw one of the guitar techs tuning a twelve string, so I leaned up and told James "I think he's about to play Ocean" the other two band members walked off stage and John Butler sat on a stool and played a 15 minute version of Ocean that was simply AMAZING!! After that the band came back out to play Revolution and some other songs. A little while later the bassist went into a ten minute solo that was great, followed by a 10-15 minute solo by the drummer. During the entire performance Flowers and I had been noticing a butterfly flying around the stage, and druing the drum solo it decided to land on one of the cymbals. The drummer stopped playing and started making up a song about the butterfly that was pretty funny. He then got the whole crowd beatboxing until the bassist began playing and John Butler walked back on stage. They played for a solid 2 hours, even though they were only scheduled for 1.5. During the set John Butler prob played at least 8 different stringed instruments including a 12 string, a dobro, a banjo, and a lap guitar. After the show I walked with Flowers back to their tent and told them bye and went to crash in my camper.

WAKARUSA Saturday!!

Saturday morning the heat woke me up around 9, so I got in my car and started the A/C and slept for about another 2 hours, then got up and cooked some oatmeal for breakfast and headed down to shakedown street to check out the vendors there. After checking out all the artists and such I went to see That One Guy in the Revival tent while Flowers and everyone else went to see Tea Leaf Green. I listened to about half of That One Guy's set and went to join up with Flowers at Mainstage for the end of Tea Leaf Green. After that Blues Traveler played, and by that time it had gotten up to over 100 degrees! I had my umbrella set up to give us a little shade on our heads while we were laying down, but it was still stifling. We listened to a little of the Black Keys and went back to the tent to relax in the shade for a little while. We listened to the beginning of Zappa Plays Zappa from the tent, and when they left for Slightly Stoopid I went back to mainstage to see the rest of Zappa's set. When it was almost over I headed for the Revival Tent to meet up with Flowers and catch part of Stoopid. I left a little early to get to Widespread Panic and I fought my way up near the front. I ended up right in front of the VIP section for most of the show. The security was keeping a pretty good eye out for people trying to jump into VIP, but right before they came out for the encore they were distracted by another person jumping, so I saw an opportunity to make it over and I did!! I was right in front of Jimmy Herring for the encore! After that I was pretty tired so I went to catch part of Umphrey McGee's set at the Revival Tent. Their set in the tent was even better than the Mainstage set. They played In The Kitchen with some amazing solos!! After watching for about 45 min I went back to my campsite to go to sleep

WAKARUSA Friday!!

Friday morning I woke up around 9 to go get a limited edition hand signed Wakarusa poster by EMEK that I thought went on sale at 10 so I got there around 945 only to discover that they didn't go on sale until 11. So I went and walked around the carnival for a little while and came back at 10:30 to wait in line. I ended up getting lucky number 7 out of 350!!! After I went and placed it in a safe place in my car I went down to Flowers tent to hang out in the shade and listen to Black Joe Lewis from his tent. They left a little before 6 to go see Railroad Earth, but I went to see Dirtfoot at the Backwoods Stage, and left that early to catch the end of Railroad Earth. After that was Umphrey's McGee, who performed an awesome set!! I left that early to go back to my tent to get some food, and on the way back to STS9 I stopped at this booth called Brainquility. It was a digital meditation booth. I paid $10 for 20min, and they put me in a comfortable reclining chair with subwoofers behind it, she then put headphones on me and glasses with flashing lights. I was told not to open my eyes while the glasses were on. She then started giving my face and arms a massage, and the next thing I know I woke up 36 min later and STS9 was starting. They said that I was absolutely out of it, and they just woke me so I could catch Sound Tribe. If anyone has a chance to do Brainquility, I would definitely recommend trying it out. I somehow found Flowers at STS9 and joined up with him. I was somewhat disappointed in Sound Tribe's show this time. At ACL (Austin City Limits) last year they had much better lights and visualizers. Their music was great, but they didn't put on the show I was expecting. Hopefully they'll make up for it at Nateva. I left STS9 around midnight to get to Bassnectar 30 min early, and it was totally worth it!!! I got there and waited up at the very front of general admission dead center, and about ten minutes before the show started the crowd rushed the VIP section and I made it up to the front by about halfway through the show. After the show he came down front to take his "Family Picture" and I was right next to him for the pic! I also got a high-five and a Bassnectar sticker from him. I waited around to try and get the setlist, but it had already been given away. After that I was exhausted so I went to check out EOTO in the Outpost tent for a few minutes on my way back to my tent.

WAKARUSA Thursday!!

Ok, so here goes:
Thursday morning the heat and sun woke me up around 9:30 so I went and walked around all the vendor tents and checked out the stages. On the way to the mainstage I met my brother William and his friends Spencer and Ryan. They led me to their camp where we chilled in the car for a little while before I left for Mountain Sprout. At Mountain Sprout I met up with my friend Flowers and his crew and we went back to his tent to sit in the shade for a little while before Dumpstafunk. I left Dumpstafunk early to go finish checking out the vendor booths before Papa Mali. I met some really cool people at the Strange Booth who let me sit in their tent and gave me a cold beer. I also bought an awesome bandanna for $10 off the regular price. Flowers found me after that and we went to see Papa Mali, who put on an awesome show as always!! We stayed at Mainstage until Robert Randolph & The Family Band came on. About halfway through the set he broke out into Poker Face by Lady GaGa, and it actually sounded pretty good.

For the Disco Biscuts we moved closer to the front to get a better view. By this time it had gotten dark, and when the Disco Biscuts came out onstage there was a huge shower of glowsticks thrown up by the crowd!! The Biscuts put on a pretty amazing set with lots of variety. I left early to make it the The Machine Pink Floyd Laser Light Show, and I'm glad I did. When I got to the Revival Tent it was alread packed with people! They came onstage and opened with Shine On You Crazy Diamond which is a slower song; after about ten minutes all the Ravers had left and the crowd was much smaller so I was able to make it up pretty near the front. After Shine On You Crazy Diamond the went into Time then Money. About halfway through Money they turned on the lasers and the crowd went wild!! They played a great selection of Floyd songs, everything from Pigs on the Wing to Comfortably Numb to A Saucerful of Secrets. It was a 2.5 hour show, and I left with about 20 min left in the set, so as I was walking to my tent I could hear them close with the end of Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Wakarusa Lineup

Tonight I'm just going to post which shows I went to at Wakarusa, and tomorrow I'll post a full story. I'm just fixing to crash and I just got my camper set up at an RV park in Nashville near Gaylord Opryland.
-Thursday I saw Mountain Sprout, Ian Neville's Dumpstafunk, Papa Mali & 7Walkers, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, The Disco Biscuts, and The Machine (Pink Floyd Laser Show)
-Friday I saw JJ Grey & Mofro, Dirtfoot, ALO, Umphrey's McGee, STS9, Bassnectar, and EOTO.
-Saturday's lineup included That One Guy, Tea Leaf Green, Blues Traveler, The Black Keys, Zappa Plays Zappa, Slightly Stoopid, Widespread Panic, and Umphrey's McGee.
-Sunday was a little more relaxed, I saw The Giving Tree Band, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, That One Guy, State Radio, and John Butler Trio.
My favorite sets in no particular order are: The Machine, Bassnectar, That One Guy, Widespread Panic, John Butler Trio

Last night I left STS9 early to get to Bassnectar. I made it to about 5 people back front and center. About ten minutes before the show the crowd rushed the VIP section and I made it in! I ended up second person in the front :) When he took his family picture at the end I was right next to him. The show was incredible! Now we're watching Blues Travler in 100+ heat.

VIP Bassnectar!!!!

I made it!
I have my campsite set up at Wakarusa, even after some delays. I got to the event and was told I had to turn around and go back down 3 miles of steep, winding roads to get my wristband. When I got there I had to wait in a line for about 45 min to go through security and get my wristband. On the way out of security I saw a guy walkin on the side of the road so I stopped and offered him a ride. He had had to walk that way 3 times already because he left his phone at security. He was from Georgia and pretty chill. After I let him I went to find a campsite. I got my trailer set up with no trouble. After everything was set up I walked around the event site and found the WET (Work Exchange Team) tent to get promo materials to pass out at the other festivals I'm going to. Amy, the head of the street team filled me up a big bag of promo. It probably weighed 10-15 lbs. Now I'm cooking some ramen and Vienna sausage and fixing to go to bed. I've got a busy day tomorrow :)

Leaving!

Its 11:11 and I'm all loaded up and ready to roll! Onward to Wakarusa, then Bonnaroo, then Dexfest, then Rain Beatles Tribute, then Phish for 2 nights, then Nateva, then All Good. I just got my new car, a 2002 Acura MDX Touring in White. Spent all day yesterday driving to Dallas to get the car, then had a trailer hitch installed and didn't make it back to Shreveport til 1030pm.

Well, I better hit the road, but I'll keep this blog updated as much as internet connections will allow.

Til next time ~ Stroud