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Our blog started as a Travelog (my wife Sarah and I followed The Dead and Phish in an RV summer of 2004) - but now it is Mr. Mike's blog about life and that sort of thing. A working class family man - trying to start our own hippie business and managing telemarketters all the while.
Monday, July 26, 2004
Day 12: June 17
Today we have about 500 miles to Denver and need to be there by 5:00 (plus an hour time change in our favor) so we have to haul ass. We have decided to head to the movie theater and try to find tickets - what a great idea to simulcast a Phish show into the movie theater. We were falling behind schedule a little bit but made it into Denver around 4:30 - I led us astray a little by going down Colfax Ave for a long time. But we found the 16th street mall and then had to find a parking space for the big rig. Sarah is our close quaters driver and really had a challenge with downtown Denver at 5:00 p.m. But we did it - and found a parking lot where we could take up two spaces for 12 dollars - and it was right by the theater. We went up to the box office and they were 2 minutes away from releasing more tickets (Score one for Mike and Sarah) and we got in about half way through the 1st set. This was just crazy - Phish at the movies - the theater was going nuts kids were dancing all over and throwing glow sticks and it sure smelled funny in there... The camera work was incredible - I just stood back and admired - the second set was really rocking and very long - hard to believe that Phish is going to call it quits while watching this show - they were having so much fun! Alot of the show was introspective for me - I had found out that my friend Scott had passed away from cancer a couple days ago - my head was filled with memories and my heart was heavy. Caught me crying during Divided Sky but it felt good. I was so glad to have known Scott and he taught me a lot in my life - from being my boss to helping me be the boss - it is better his suffering is over. Sarah was dancing throughout the show and I was just watching. We had a great time here - ran into Erwin after the show and talked with him for awhile. Then to the Flying J northeast of town (with internet capabilities) and to sleep.
Day 13: June 18 Dead @ Red Rocks
Today we slept in and were getting ready to do our first Dead show. We were planning to do another round of pasta so we got to the lot around 3:00 p.m. We had to pull some tricks to get into Red Rocks without having tickets - but it was no problem. They parked us with the other RVs and School Busses in a lot that was not paved; they have been having a lot of rain in Denver too so the ground was very soft. It seems like everywhere we go it is raining or that the rain is following us - lucky thing we grabbed a great deal on rain gear back in Illinois. So we backed in to a spot and marvelled at the great scenery of Red Rocks; I had only been here once before for my first Phish show (June 9, 1995) and this was Sarah's first time out here. It is definately one of the most beautiful venues in America, but we learned they only have parking available for 4600 and the venue holds 10000 - so no wonder it is hard to get up there without tickets. Sarah and I cruised around the lot a little bit and bought some beers - found out from security that you can vend but they want you to be mobile - which puts a damper on the pasta but we are going for it anyway after the show. It started raining soon after we were walking around and then it started pouring - so we mostly hung out inside the RV and contemplated how the hell we were going to get out of this muddy parking lot. People were getting stuck as they came into our lot so the parking people took them somewhere else. There was a green school bus that really got stuck in the back of the lot. Spent some time pushing cars out and meeting people. We had plenty of time to kill since we were not working til after the show - we played a game of Stratego. I even took a nap after a bit. We set up around 11:30 and the show got out about 12:30 but we were tucked away pretty far in the corner and there are no lights in the Red Rocks parking lot. Most of the people were soaked and cold; they got right in there cars and drove away. We did make a few sales and then security came by and then security came by again and then security came by one more time. Honestly we must have been told to pack up by 30 people in about 15 minutes and the last group just sat there and shined their lights on us - one lady was a real bitch and we yelled back at her. So we got packed up and tried to figure out if we could make it out. There were a couple other rigs really close to ours and we watched an RV get stuck so we didn't even try to move. We spoke to diferent security and the tow truck guy and they said we had to stay the night - which was fine by us. So we stayed up late drinking beer inside the RV - it was cold tonight and we had the heat on. We were playing Rummy and stayed up til 4 am. Everyone kept to themselves in their vehicles until morning.
Day 14: June 19
Everybody was awake around 8 am and were getting there vehicles unstuck - there was a school bus from Wyoming that was pretty much blocking everybody else in and they had already moved. We woke up and watched the stuck RV get pushed out, it helped that it was so cold last night to stiffen up the mud a bit. Then we got the Dr. Seuss painted milk truck (next to us) moved by moving some big rock and driving him straight into the gravel lot. There were alot of people getting ready to leave and they offered to push us out too so Sarah drove while 8 people pushed us out! Thank God we were out of the mess - people were already starting to come to the lot at 11 am. We could have stayed but we were rather disgruntled from the night before - plus we really had nothing with to work anyway. We decided to call Dano and hope that he just wanted us to come over to his house. He and Vanessa didn't have any tickets either and said we should just go over there - we went to the Flying J first and I took a nap while Sarah cleaned house. We got to Dano's around 5 or so and went to grab some beer - we will be drinking tonite. What a good time we had; just the 4 of us hanging out and talking while drinking heavily. Dano was burning some of our DVDs and we fired up the PS2 for some intense NHL action. Vanessa cooked tofu stir fry for dinner and we headed out to the bar around 10:30. Dano and I wanted to sing some karoke and his favorite bar had a band and a cover charge so we went to a new one. Some good singers here and a long line before us to sing (about 3 hours) so we just kept ordering pitchers. We eventually got on and sang Simple Mind's "Don't you Forget about Me" from the Breakfast Club and we tore down the house. I kept telling people that we were Minnesota State Karoke Champions when they came up to talk to us. We had a good time and went back home after that. We slept inside at Dano's and went to bed pretty much right when we got home from the bar.
Day 15: June 20
Today we woke up hungover.... we were all in rough shape and nobody got up til about noon. Dano and I went to the grocery store for breakfast ingredients - Sarah slept until the breakfast was cooking. Vanessa and Dano made french toast, waffles, eggs, hashbrowns and sausage! We got Sarah up and she took a shower while they were cooking and then it was time to eat. We pretty much ate it all too and then we sat around and did nothing. Watched DVDs then Dano and I played more NHL Hockey on the PS2. It was Father's Day so we all called home and ended up hitting the road around six or so. We drove to the first rest stop in New Mexico and met some nice kids there.
Day 16: June 21
Today we have a lot of driving to do towards Phoenix and we also had a stop planned at Petrified Forest National Park. We were cruising and cut the driving about equally in half. Stopped at the Albuquerque Flying J and took care of cooler maintenance - seems our fridge doesn't work now - which really sucks. So now in less than a month we have broke the awning, damaged a compartment, lost a deer whistle, broke the fridge, backed into a concrete post (outside of Dano's) and had a curtain break. Oh and the disk drive on this here lap top has stopped recognizing any disc I put in it. Oh they keep trying us, love will find a way. We were at the Flying J for a bit - I used the internet to get a mail delivery from Jake, find a KOA, schedule an oil change and read about the Petrified Forest. Sarah was working with the cooler and we moved all of our fridge stuff also emptied old pots with food that had to be wasted. We hauled ass and made it to the National Park around 6 (which was actually 5 since AZ doesn't do daylight savings) we thought we had to hurry so we did a quick tour of the park, not realizing we had an extra hour. We still had a great time at this park - very beautiful - we suggest it to anyone going through Arizona on I-40. Incredible petrified logs filled with crystals and different colored setiment - huge pieces of wood! We took lots of pictures to put on the website and left the park after about an hour and a half. We stopped at a huge rock shop outside of the park and had a spaz of a man show us around. They had a deal where you pick out a geode for 2 bucks and they cut it in half with a diamond saw blade for another 2 bucks. Sarah and I each picked out a geode; mine was full of moss agate around some crystal and Sarah's was just filled with crystals! Very cool idea and fun to do - we got the last two geodes he was cutting for the day or we probably would have bought more. We left the rock shop and made it to the KOA around 8; got settled in - took care of the tanks and plugged in. We had soup for dinner and I played a game of Madden. Bought a 12 pack of Bud and got drunk - so I went to bed early. Sarah stayed up later.
Day 17: June 22 Dead @ Phoenix
We woke up and got to work - laundry, dishes, showers etc. We walked all around the park and found lots of petrified wood and stones. We left the KOA around 11 am and headed to our oil change. Went to Denny's while getting the oil change, had a shake with some mozzerella sticks. Great deal on an oil change for 25 bucks! Found the dollar store on the way out and hauled ass to Flagstaff - we are still about 4 hours from Phoenix and have Sam's club stops to make. Elvis and Andy are supposed to be at the show today - Sarah used to work with them in the kitchen and now they live in Phoenix. We are behind schedule, but should still be alright. Hoping to sell burritos and maybe gazpacho in the 100 degree heat. We got to the lot around 6 or so and it was still 100 degrees! Nice lot - nobody bugging you nice and flat plenty of room - we like the Cricket Pavillion. So we decided to load up some beers and Sarah put a few clothes on a pole over her shoulder and off we went exploring the lot. Had a couple people look at clothes and then we found Elvis & Andy - they were looking for tickets so we went up by the box office. Security told us we couldn't be selling up there and then let us be, Sarah had a spunyun ask her to fix her sewing machine and I got a miracle just standing there with my finger up - wasn't saying nothing or doing nothing - this guy just gave it to me! Still got it? Elvis and Andy had found $20 tickets and I knew I wasn't going in - so I got to give it away again. Found a brother who's mama was in and he was stuck outside - so he was the perfect one! I used to hate when one of us was in and the other was out. Then we talked to some east coast cooler kids for a while and soon realized it was time to get to work. We went back to the RV and started pumping out the burritos. We had found real nice, big tortillas at the Sam's Club in Phoenix and were making some fattys that we will charge $4 for. Sarah also made a couple good signs that listed all the ingredients for the burritos - that helps set us apart from all the other burrittos out there. Few people trust burrittos because kids will put anything in them and you never know when they were made - but we still did alright and finally made some money - selling around 60 burrittos. We ended up giving alot of them away too though (an increasing trend we are finding on Dead tour). We were some of the last people on the lot like usual and stayed close to the venue at the Flying J up the road.
Day 18: June 23 Dead @ Chula Vista
Today we had some driving to do from Phoenix to San Diego area - so we tried to get going early. We have been wanting to get to the lot early and get the clothes set up, but it hasn't been happening. We were driving W on I-8 and there was a border patrol stop with a lot of Dead tour traffic going through - we thought we would get stopped for sure in a big RV but somehow they just waved us through. Fine with us - there were parts of the drive where you could see Mexico over to our left and the border patrol stop was well into California in the mountains. This drive was very twisty and turny and had a lot of long bridges - Sarah had to pull off the road and let me drive for a bit. But we made it into San Diego and the temp dropped - also you could almost smell the ocean. We got stuck in some traffic on I-805 going south but made it to the show around 5:30 after a stressful drive. We put out a blanket and sat around - Sarah had finished the gazpacho and had a sign out for it, but there wasn't much traffic where we were. We packed up some beers and went for a stroll - tonight's work was easy - so we were going to take it easy for a while. Ran into our friend Allen from the New Mexico rest stop - he was spun and needed to go poop, so we took him back to the RV. There was a whole grass lot where shakedown landed and we decided we would have to move our soup to the forefront tonght. This would be tricky because there are cops all over the place down here (Southern California) but we would have to figure out a way. We mostly made soup during the show and hung out around home - we ran into Valencia here which was a big surprise; she is an old friend from Phish tour 98. I guess she just moved out to LA and has been working around at different resorts all over the country since the Phish hiatus. Gave us a great idea to do the same in the RV - we wouldn't have to move around so fast and we would get paid and still could maintain the website with clothes and we would have time to explore lots of places. It is a great idea because tour is already wearing on us. We all sat around and shot the shit for awhile and Sarah was cooking the lentil soup. Soon it was time to start working and we moved all the soup over to center stage and started going for it. It was very slow to start - tons of people practically running out of the show to their cars and out of here? I dunno what that is all about - but over all we did alright had a couple busy spurts but nothing like Phish tour was. We would have sold out that pot of Lentil soup in about 40 minutes on Phish tour - alot of people were scared of lentils out here? What the fuck. Sarah got a lot of compliments and return customers also a lot of people seemed surprised to see soup on Dead lot - like we went overboard or something. Maybe they aren't used to much more than burrittos and quesadillas - they better get ready then cause the Midwest Soup Kitchen is out here now! We ended up giving a lot of this soup away and staying on the lot longer than we were supposed to. We headed up the road aways and stayed at a Wal-Mart. We also decided to skip Irvine's show tommorrow based on reports from the kids on how hard it is to sell anything there. The venue is in Los Angeles and they are strict - we don't like LA anyway so it worked perfect.
Day 19: June 24
Well we slept in today and had to put the house back together a bit. We had hoped to get past LA and find a RV park for two days to relax. But we mostly drove all day today. It took us nearly 8 hours to get through LA (which should have been 4) and as soon as we found a Flying J we stopped for internet. Come to find out there was really no RV parks around here and we hadn't ate all day - so we decided to eat at the Flying J restaurant and discuss the business. We had decided to purchase an Ez-up during our business dinner with the hopes of more sales with clothes hanging from the shelter. Sarah had the buffet and I had an omelet. We were very full and tired after we ate and stayed at the Flying J all day long. We had Jake send mail general delivery to Vista CA so we had lots of junk to look through. Tommorrow we are headed to an RV park for sure.
Day 20: June 25
We have plenty of time to get to Shoreline for tommorrow's show and have decided to take it easy in an RV park today. We used the internet at the Flying J and found San Luis RV Resort which was about 3 hours north and only about an hour from Shoreline. We also had found a big grocery store to get ready for burrittos tommorrow and a Wal-Mart to find our EZUP! This was a nice drive today off of the interstate a while and made our way to Los Banos. We went shopping at the Food 4 Less and found great prices on everything. Only took 50 some dollars to get our burrittos ready for tommorrow. Then we found the RV park; we were really excited right off about this one - but soon realized it was mostly full of construction workers from Oklahoma. They were working on better power lines for the park and thus our power was down until 6. It was hot as hell here and the hook ups were on the wrong side anyway. We had a lot of dishes to do here and other work - and we were drinking beer today. We did go swimming during the heat - but the pumps that circulated the hot water weren't working without power and this pool was cold. They did have a nice idea for a misting patio that had nearly 100 different bird houses hanging from it. We sat under here for awhile and watched the birds come and go. This RV park got annoying really fast - lots of little lap dogs barking all the time and no power. We finally got power but it kept shutting down because of everybody's air conditioners overloading it. Why wait til Friday when the park is nearly full to mess around with power lines? When it turned to night I tried to help by dumping the little bit of lentil soup that didn't sell down the sewer at our site. It didn't work. The soup was too thick and caused a blockage - Sarah said the plan was to fill the pot with water and then dump it down because of how thick lentils get. Oops - oh well we didn't care because this place sucked. We were hauling ass in the morning.
Day 21: June 26 Dead @ Shoreline
Today was the day we were wating for - we have always had a great time at Shoreline and were excited to get there early. We left the mess behind at the RV park and were stopping at a Wal-Mart on the way to the show. The EZUP wasn't at the wal-mart in Los Banos so we were going to try Gilroy. Today's driving was all off of the interstate and was very relaxing - we passed some strong garlic smells and found out that Gilroy is the garlic capitol of the world. We wished we had more time here - but got to the Wal-Mart and found our new EZUP - we even used one of our new business checks to pay for it! Made it to Shoreline at 2 pm and got parked front and center (which turned into shakedown). We figured out, after some time, how to setup the EZUP and Sarah got all her clothes hung from the structure. It was very windy here so it was a constant battle to keep the clothes on the EZUP. We had a great place here, even though shakedown developed around us, we were right off of a sidewalk leading back from the show. We had decided to switch to chili since it was going to be cool tonite and we were able to setup. The only thing Shoreline doesn't allow is open flames since it is on top of an old garbage landfill. So you have to get lucky with the cooking of it - which we did! During the show and before we met a lot of cool people - an old timer named Bird who spoke about Jerry and the old days (1968). Very neat. There was also some drama here - an altercation between kids and cops - not going to spend too much time on this BUT these kids were having a candlelight vigil for a friend of theirs that had died - and since the cops say you cannot have an open flame out here there was a problem. The kids didn't want to blow out there candles and it turned into a stand off - but these kids were screaming pig and what not at the police and that's when a few got took away - this was a little nerve-racking since it was about 20 feet from our RV and it looked like a riot was about to break out. But the cops handled it very well and diffused the situation - we were selling chilli in the meantime and ended up selling out two full pots without a problem. Now this is how soup went on Phish tour! One other thing that was peculiar - another vendor from across the street came over claiming of smelling propane by us - but we couldn't find where it was coming from. We sold out and got out of there - Sarah also had a great day with clothes - all said and done we brought in about 550 dollars; now if only every day could go this well we would be making money out here! Sarah's became sick as we were getting out of Shoreline - I had a Wal-Mart mapped about 36 miles from here (which left us about an hour to tomm's show) - by the time we got to the Wal-Mart Sarah was puking - she was very sick from the propane smell that was developing in our RV or maybe food poisoning. She was up most of the night and we didn't know what was wrong with her. I was asleep and felt bad that she was so sick when I awoke.
Day 22: June 27
This morning our RV stunk like propane bad - Sarah wasn't puking anymore but was very sick. We got up to the Flying J to get gas and we were low on propane and thought that was why it stunk a bit. But the propane guy wouldn't even fill it - he directed us to a RV service center and said we had to get the odor figured out. Well it was Sunday and the service department wasn't working today but tommorrow they could look at it. We went to the Holliday Inn and got Sarah some rest - out of the propane fumes. It was a nice king bed and she slept all day - it was nice being in a hotel. I brought in the playstation and played college football while Sarah slept. Also took the oppurtunity to get some laundry done and stuff like that. We really laid low today and ordered pizza that night. We tried to watch Lord of the Rings again but both fell asleep again.
Day 23: June 28
We had decided to skip tommorrow's show in Utah and we missed last night's in Marysville so we are a little off schedule; but if you're sick you're sick and it's time to stop. I haven't seen Sarah this sick in a long time and thank goodness it pretty much blew over in 2 days. Now we just have to get her rehydrated and we should be ok. Well we left the hotel around 1 and went over to the RV service department - they could get us in in about an hour and that was fine with us. Once they were done checking out the rig they brought us a fitting that was cracked and said we were lucky we had stopped. We could have blown up! This shook us up a little bit - but we were glad to have it fixed and be safe. Then we went back to the Flying J to use the internet because I still need to mail 3 cd auctions. I got her address and would mail tommorrow. We decided to stay in an RV park NE from Sacramento and take it easy still. We have three days to get to Idaho so there is time. We are at the KOA in Auburn, CA one of the original gold rush towns. This RV Park was the best one we have been in so far and we decided to stay here two days. We kind of layed low today and got Sarah back on track. We had a big dinner and watched TV together. We also went to the hot tub with a couple beers and had it all to ourselves from 9 to 10 pm... that was nice sitting under the stars in the cool California evening while soaking in a very hot tub. After this we went home and went to bed.
Day 24: June 29
So today would be our second day in Auburn's KOA; we decided to stay again and just have to haul ass to Idaho for the show in 2 days. Alot of people were jumping off Dead tour and going to the Rainbow Gathering near Mount Shasta CA. The tour pretty much led you there if you skipped Idaho, Portland and The Gorge. We just were enjoying relaxing - it seems the RV sort of dictates the pace it wants you to go - not the other way around. It doesn't make as much sense as I had thought it did - hauling ass all around the country to be on tour and feed people and trying to relive the past I guess. It pretty much just came down to me realizing I couldn't be in charge at work anymore - I had to do something else and this seemed a logical mix of making money and travelling. It's just the pace that has got us down - it used to be driving 6 hours in the van was nothing - hell even 8 hours wasn't shit - but in an RV you are dealing with different stresses - for example, if it is windy while you drive it blows the RV around much more - alot of RVers don't even travel when it is too windy- also the obvious of how uneconomical it is to be flying 70 miles down the interstate, or how hard it is to climb mountains and negotiate around semis. Most of this is related to travelling out west - another of our stresses with how much more expensive everything is out here and we wish we could stop and look around more - but when on tour it is go go go go . Until now - we have officially dropped off tour and are deciding to do whatever we want on the way home and jump back on Dead tour in St. Louis after being in Minnesota a little and taking advantage of our National Parks pass more; (we hadn't actually decided to skip the Nampa show until the next day). So today was all day fun day at the RV park - we walked to the Pack N Save through a neat little trail - first we went to Ralphs but the only good deal they have is Tecate 18 pack for 9 bucks. Sarah went to the Pack N Save and I went back to the RV (I almost finished my college football season) - she made it back and we had lunch. Then walked down to the pond with some old bread and were going to feed the fish and ducks. Nice little pond with blackberries blooming all around - no ducks to speak of but lots of little fish that ate bread. Then Sarah and I picked a whole lot of berries to freeze and bring home for a dessert on Sarah's Grandmother's birthday.
We took advantage of all the amenities here today we played basketball and horseshoes. I had never played horseshoes at all and it is harder than I thought - I did get one ringer but Sarah ended up beating me. After all this activity we were pretty worn out - wish I was in better shape. We went back to the RV and started drinking some beer and I think I went into PS2 land (ended up winning the national championship with Tennessee). We had a great time at this KOA and were ready to head for Nampa tommorrow (9 hours in two days).
Day 25: June 30
Today we loaded it all up and got on the road around 1 with Sarah driving. We had to cruise I-80 East through Reno and up to Winnemucca where we jump on Hwy 95 up through Oregon and over towards Boise/Nampa. Sarah was making good time and the landscape was levelling out a bit - but still windy as hell; some gusts come out of no where and feel like they are blowing us onto 2 wheels at times. We made it 4 hours up to Winnemucca and stopped at the Flying J for gas - but I was already tired and it was my turn to drive. I had a little melt down - really didn't want to run and chase at all anymore and just wanted to have fun and go see wildlife and parks and such - Sarah and I discussed it and decided to skip Nampa too. The 4th of July was coming up and we wanted to get another KOA and stay through the weekend and celebrate! So we found one with mini-golf and paddle boats up in Twin Falls, Idaho - which was about 4 hours away. So we decided to just stay here at the Flying J tonite and it was like a boulder being lifted off of our chests. I slept very well tonite - even through all the High School kids cruising around the adjacent McDonald's - Sarah stayed up late. No more stress for a couple weeks (besides the growing Discover card) as we set off to be true RVers and do what we want.
Today we have about 500 miles to Denver and need to be there by 5:00 (plus an hour time change in our favor) so we have to haul ass. We have decided to head to the movie theater and try to find tickets - what a great idea to simulcast a Phish show into the movie theater. We were falling behind schedule a little bit but made it into Denver around 4:30 - I led us astray a little by going down Colfax Ave for a long time. But we found the 16th street mall and then had to find a parking space for the big rig. Sarah is our close quaters driver and really had a challenge with downtown Denver at 5:00 p.m. But we did it - and found a parking lot where we could take up two spaces for 12 dollars - and it was right by the theater. We went up to the box office and they were 2 minutes away from releasing more tickets (Score one for Mike and Sarah) and we got in about half way through the 1st set. This was just crazy - Phish at the movies - the theater was going nuts kids were dancing all over and throwing glow sticks and it sure smelled funny in there... The camera work was incredible - I just stood back and admired - the second set was really rocking and very long - hard to believe that Phish is going to call it quits while watching this show - they were having so much fun! Alot of the show was introspective for me - I had found out that my friend Scott had passed away from cancer a couple days ago - my head was filled with memories and my heart was heavy. Caught me crying during Divided Sky but it felt good. I was so glad to have known Scott and he taught me a lot in my life - from being my boss to helping me be the boss - it is better his suffering is over. Sarah was dancing throughout the show and I was just watching. We had a great time here - ran into Erwin after the show and talked with him for awhile. Then to the Flying J northeast of town (with internet capabilities) and to sleep.
Day 13: June 18 Dead @ Red Rocks
Today we slept in and were getting ready to do our first Dead show. We were planning to do another round of pasta so we got to the lot around 3:00 p.m. We had to pull some tricks to get into Red Rocks without having tickets - but it was no problem. They parked us with the other RVs and School Busses in a lot that was not paved; they have been having a lot of rain in Denver too so the ground was very soft. It seems like everywhere we go it is raining or that the rain is following us - lucky thing we grabbed a great deal on rain gear back in Illinois. So we backed in to a spot and marvelled at the great scenery of Red Rocks; I had only been here once before for my first Phish show (June 9, 1995) and this was Sarah's first time out here. It is definately one of the most beautiful venues in America, but we learned they only have parking available for 4600 and the venue holds 10000 - so no wonder it is hard to get up there without tickets. Sarah and I cruised around the lot a little bit and bought some beers - found out from security that you can vend but they want you to be mobile - which puts a damper on the pasta but we are going for it anyway after the show. It started raining soon after we were walking around and then it started pouring - so we mostly hung out inside the RV and contemplated how the hell we were going to get out of this muddy parking lot. People were getting stuck as they came into our lot so the parking people took them somewhere else. There was a green school bus that really got stuck in the back of the lot. Spent some time pushing cars out and meeting people. We had plenty of time to kill since we were not working til after the show - we played a game of Stratego. I even took a nap after a bit. We set up around 11:30 and the show got out about 12:30 but we were tucked away pretty far in the corner and there are no lights in the Red Rocks parking lot. Most of the people were soaked and cold; they got right in there cars and drove away. We did make a few sales and then security came by and then security came by again and then security came by one more time. Honestly we must have been told to pack up by 30 people in about 15 minutes and the last group just sat there and shined their lights on us - one lady was a real bitch and we yelled back at her. So we got packed up and tried to figure out if we could make it out. There were a couple other rigs really close to ours and we watched an RV get stuck so we didn't even try to move. We spoke to diferent security and the tow truck guy and they said we had to stay the night - which was fine by us. So we stayed up late drinking beer inside the RV - it was cold tonight and we had the heat on. We were playing Rummy and stayed up til 4 am. Everyone kept to themselves in their vehicles until morning.
Day 14: June 19
Everybody was awake around 8 am and were getting there vehicles unstuck - there was a school bus from Wyoming that was pretty much blocking everybody else in and they had already moved. We woke up and watched the stuck RV get pushed out, it helped that it was so cold last night to stiffen up the mud a bit. Then we got the Dr. Seuss painted milk truck (next to us) moved by moving some big rock and driving him straight into the gravel lot. There were alot of people getting ready to leave and they offered to push us out too so Sarah drove while 8 people pushed us out! Thank God we were out of the mess - people were already starting to come to the lot at 11 am. We could have stayed but we were rather disgruntled from the night before - plus we really had nothing with to work anyway. We decided to call Dano and hope that he just wanted us to come over to his house. He and Vanessa didn't have any tickets either and said we should just go over there - we went to the Flying J first and I took a nap while Sarah cleaned house. We got to Dano's around 5 or so and went to grab some beer - we will be drinking tonite. What a good time we had; just the 4 of us hanging out and talking while drinking heavily. Dano was burning some of our DVDs and we fired up the PS2 for some intense NHL action. Vanessa cooked tofu stir fry for dinner and we headed out to the bar around 10:30. Dano and I wanted to sing some karoke and his favorite bar had a band and a cover charge so we went to a new one. Some good singers here and a long line before us to sing (about 3 hours) so we just kept ordering pitchers. We eventually got on and sang Simple Mind's "Don't you Forget about Me" from the Breakfast Club and we tore down the house. I kept telling people that we were Minnesota State Karoke Champions when they came up to talk to us. We had a good time and went back home after that. We slept inside at Dano's and went to bed pretty much right when we got home from the bar.
Day 15: June 20
Today we woke up hungover.... we were all in rough shape and nobody got up til about noon. Dano and I went to the grocery store for breakfast ingredients - Sarah slept until the breakfast was cooking. Vanessa and Dano made french toast, waffles, eggs, hashbrowns and sausage! We got Sarah up and she took a shower while they were cooking and then it was time to eat. We pretty much ate it all too and then we sat around and did nothing. Watched DVDs then Dano and I played more NHL Hockey on the PS2. It was Father's Day so we all called home and ended up hitting the road around six or so. We drove to the first rest stop in New Mexico and met some nice kids there.
Day 16: June 21
Today we have a lot of driving to do towards Phoenix and we also had a stop planned at Petrified Forest National Park. We were cruising and cut the driving about equally in half. Stopped at the Albuquerque Flying J and took care of cooler maintenance - seems our fridge doesn't work now - which really sucks. So now in less than a month we have broke the awning, damaged a compartment, lost a deer whistle, broke the fridge, backed into a concrete post (outside of Dano's) and had a curtain break. Oh and the disk drive on this here lap top has stopped recognizing any disc I put in it. Oh they keep trying us, love will find a way. We were at the Flying J for a bit - I used the internet to get a mail delivery from Jake, find a KOA, schedule an oil change and read about the Petrified Forest. Sarah was working with the cooler and we moved all of our fridge stuff also emptied old pots with food that had to be wasted. We hauled ass and made it to the National Park around 6 (which was actually 5 since AZ doesn't do daylight savings) we thought we had to hurry so we did a quick tour of the park, not realizing we had an extra hour. We still had a great time at this park - very beautiful - we suggest it to anyone going through Arizona on I-40. Incredible petrified logs filled with crystals and different colored setiment - huge pieces of wood! We took lots of pictures to put on the website and left the park after about an hour and a half. We stopped at a huge rock shop outside of the park and had a spaz of a man show us around. They had a deal where you pick out a geode for 2 bucks and they cut it in half with a diamond saw blade for another 2 bucks. Sarah and I each picked out a geode; mine was full of moss agate around some crystal and Sarah's was just filled with crystals! Very cool idea and fun to do - we got the last two geodes he was cutting for the day or we probably would have bought more. We left the rock shop and made it to the KOA around 8; got settled in - took care of the tanks and plugged in. We had soup for dinner and I played a game of Madden. Bought a 12 pack of Bud and got drunk - so I went to bed early. Sarah stayed up later.
Day 17: June 22 Dead @ Phoenix
We woke up and got to work - laundry, dishes, showers etc. We walked all around the park and found lots of petrified wood and stones. We left the KOA around 11 am and headed to our oil change. Went to Denny's while getting the oil change, had a shake with some mozzerella sticks. Great deal on an oil change for 25 bucks! Found the dollar store on the way out and hauled ass to Flagstaff - we are still about 4 hours from Phoenix and have Sam's club stops to make. Elvis and Andy are supposed to be at the show today - Sarah used to work with them in the kitchen and now they live in Phoenix. We are behind schedule, but should still be alright. Hoping to sell burritos and maybe gazpacho in the 100 degree heat. We got to the lot around 6 or so and it was still 100 degrees! Nice lot - nobody bugging you nice and flat plenty of room - we like the Cricket Pavillion. So we decided to load up some beers and Sarah put a few clothes on a pole over her shoulder and off we went exploring the lot. Had a couple people look at clothes and then we found Elvis & Andy - they were looking for tickets so we went up by the box office. Security told us we couldn't be selling up there and then let us be, Sarah had a spunyun ask her to fix her sewing machine and I got a miracle just standing there with my finger up - wasn't saying nothing or doing nothing - this guy just gave it to me! Still got it? Elvis and Andy had found $20 tickets and I knew I wasn't going in - so I got to give it away again. Found a brother who's mama was in and he was stuck outside - so he was the perfect one! I used to hate when one of us was in and the other was out. Then we talked to some east coast cooler kids for a while and soon realized it was time to get to work. We went back to the RV and started pumping out the burritos. We had found real nice, big tortillas at the Sam's Club in Phoenix and were making some fattys that we will charge $4 for. Sarah also made a couple good signs that listed all the ingredients for the burritos - that helps set us apart from all the other burrittos out there. Few people trust burrittos because kids will put anything in them and you never know when they were made - but we still did alright and finally made some money - selling around 60 burrittos. We ended up giving alot of them away too though (an increasing trend we are finding on Dead tour). We were some of the last people on the lot like usual and stayed close to the venue at the Flying J up the road.
Day 18: June 23 Dead @ Chula Vista
Today we had some driving to do from Phoenix to San Diego area - so we tried to get going early. We have been wanting to get to the lot early and get the clothes set up, but it hasn't been happening. We were driving W on I-8 and there was a border patrol stop with a lot of Dead tour traffic going through - we thought we would get stopped for sure in a big RV but somehow they just waved us through. Fine with us - there were parts of the drive where you could see Mexico over to our left and the border patrol stop was well into California in the mountains. This drive was very twisty and turny and had a lot of long bridges - Sarah had to pull off the road and let me drive for a bit. But we made it into San Diego and the temp dropped - also you could almost smell the ocean. We got stuck in some traffic on I-805 going south but made it to the show around 5:30 after a stressful drive. We put out a blanket and sat around - Sarah had finished the gazpacho and had a sign out for it, but there wasn't much traffic where we were. We packed up some beers and went for a stroll - tonight's work was easy - so we were going to take it easy for a while. Ran into our friend Allen from the New Mexico rest stop - he was spun and needed to go poop, so we took him back to the RV. There was a whole grass lot where shakedown landed and we decided we would have to move our soup to the forefront tonght. This would be tricky because there are cops all over the place down here (Southern California) but we would have to figure out a way. We mostly made soup during the show and hung out around home - we ran into Valencia here which was a big surprise; she is an old friend from Phish tour 98. I guess she just moved out to LA and has been working around at different resorts all over the country since the Phish hiatus. Gave us a great idea to do the same in the RV - we wouldn't have to move around so fast and we would get paid and still could maintain the website with clothes and we would have time to explore lots of places. It is a great idea because tour is already wearing on us. We all sat around and shot the shit for awhile and Sarah was cooking the lentil soup. Soon it was time to start working and we moved all the soup over to center stage and started going for it. It was very slow to start - tons of people practically running out of the show to their cars and out of here? I dunno what that is all about - but over all we did alright had a couple busy spurts but nothing like Phish tour was. We would have sold out that pot of Lentil soup in about 40 minutes on Phish tour - alot of people were scared of lentils out here? What the fuck. Sarah got a lot of compliments and return customers also a lot of people seemed surprised to see soup on Dead lot - like we went overboard or something. Maybe they aren't used to much more than burrittos and quesadillas - they better get ready then cause the Midwest Soup Kitchen is out here now! We ended up giving a lot of this soup away and staying on the lot longer than we were supposed to. We headed up the road aways and stayed at a Wal-Mart. We also decided to skip Irvine's show tommorrow based on reports from the kids on how hard it is to sell anything there. The venue is in Los Angeles and they are strict - we don't like LA anyway so it worked perfect.
Day 19: June 24
Well we slept in today and had to put the house back together a bit. We had hoped to get past LA and find a RV park for two days to relax. But we mostly drove all day today. It took us nearly 8 hours to get through LA (which should have been 4) and as soon as we found a Flying J we stopped for internet. Come to find out there was really no RV parks around here and we hadn't ate all day - so we decided to eat at the Flying J restaurant and discuss the business. We had decided to purchase an Ez-up during our business dinner with the hopes of more sales with clothes hanging from the shelter. Sarah had the buffet and I had an omelet. We were very full and tired after we ate and stayed at the Flying J all day long. We had Jake send mail general delivery to Vista CA so we had lots of junk to look through. Tommorrow we are headed to an RV park for sure.
Day 20: June 25
We have plenty of time to get to Shoreline for tommorrow's show and have decided to take it easy in an RV park today. We used the internet at the Flying J and found San Luis RV Resort which was about 3 hours north and only about an hour from Shoreline. We also had found a big grocery store to get ready for burrittos tommorrow and a Wal-Mart to find our EZUP! This was a nice drive today off of the interstate a while and made our way to Los Banos. We went shopping at the Food 4 Less and found great prices on everything. Only took 50 some dollars to get our burrittos ready for tommorrow. Then we found the RV park; we were really excited right off about this one - but soon realized it was mostly full of construction workers from Oklahoma. They were working on better power lines for the park and thus our power was down until 6. It was hot as hell here and the hook ups were on the wrong side anyway. We had a lot of dishes to do here and other work - and we were drinking beer today. We did go swimming during the heat - but the pumps that circulated the hot water weren't working without power and this pool was cold. They did have a nice idea for a misting patio that had nearly 100 different bird houses hanging from it. We sat under here for awhile and watched the birds come and go. This RV park got annoying really fast - lots of little lap dogs barking all the time and no power. We finally got power but it kept shutting down because of everybody's air conditioners overloading it. Why wait til Friday when the park is nearly full to mess around with power lines? When it turned to night I tried to help by dumping the little bit of lentil soup that didn't sell down the sewer at our site. It didn't work. The soup was too thick and caused a blockage - Sarah said the plan was to fill the pot with water and then dump it down because of how thick lentils get. Oops - oh well we didn't care because this place sucked. We were hauling ass in the morning.
Day 21: June 26 Dead @ Shoreline
Today was the day we were wating for - we have always had a great time at Shoreline and were excited to get there early. We left the mess behind at the RV park and were stopping at a Wal-Mart on the way to the show. The EZUP wasn't at the wal-mart in Los Banos so we were going to try Gilroy. Today's driving was all off of the interstate and was very relaxing - we passed some strong garlic smells and found out that Gilroy is the garlic capitol of the world. We wished we had more time here - but got to the Wal-Mart and found our new EZUP - we even used one of our new business checks to pay for it! Made it to Shoreline at 2 pm and got parked front and center (which turned into shakedown). We figured out, after some time, how to setup the EZUP and Sarah got all her clothes hung from the structure. It was very windy here so it was a constant battle to keep the clothes on the EZUP. We had a great place here, even though shakedown developed around us, we were right off of a sidewalk leading back from the show. We had decided to switch to chili since it was going to be cool tonite and we were able to setup. The only thing Shoreline doesn't allow is open flames since it is on top of an old garbage landfill. So you have to get lucky with the cooking of it - which we did! During the show and before we met a lot of cool people - an old timer named Bird who spoke about Jerry and the old days (1968). Very neat. There was also some drama here - an altercation between kids and cops - not going to spend too much time on this BUT these kids were having a candlelight vigil for a friend of theirs that had died - and since the cops say you cannot have an open flame out here there was a problem. The kids didn't want to blow out there candles and it turned into a stand off - but these kids were screaming pig and what not at the police and that's when a few got took away - this was a little nerve-racking since it was about 20 feet from our RV and it looked like a riot was about to break out. But the cops handled it very well and diffused the situation - we were selling chilli in the meantime and ended up selling out two full pots without a problem. Now this is how soup went on Phish tour! One other thing that was peculiar - another vendor from across the street came over claiming of smelling propane by us - but we couldn't find where it was coming from. We sold out and got out of there - Sarah also had a great day with clothes - all said and done we brought in about 550 dollars; now if only every day could go this well we would be making money out here! Sarah's became sick as we were getting out of Shoreline - I had a Wal-Mart mapped about 36 miles from here (which left us about an hour to tomm's show) - by the time we got to the Wal-Mart Sarah was puking - she was very sick from the propane smell that was developing in our RV or maybe food poisoning. She was up most of the night and we didn't know what was wrong with her. I was asleep and felt bad that she was so sick when I awoke.
Day 22: June 27
This morning our RV stunk like propane bad - Sarah wasn't puking anymore but was very sick. We got up to the Flying J to get gas and we were low on propane and thought that was why it stunk a bit. But the propane guy wouldn't even fill it - he directed us to a RV service center and said we had to get the odor figured out. Well it was Sunday and the service department wasn't working today but tommorrow they could look at it. We went to the Holliday Inn and got Sarah some rest - out of the propane fumes. It was a nice king bed and she slept all day - it was nice being in a hotel. I brought in the playstation and played college football while Sarah slept. Also took the oppurtunity to get some laundry done and stuff like that. We really laid low today and ordered pizza that night. We tried to watch Lord of the Rings again but both fell asleep again.
Day 23: June 28
We had decided to skip tommorrow's show in Utah and we missed last night's in Marysville so we are a little off schedule; but if you're sick you're sick and it's time to stop. I haven't seen Sarah this sick in a long time and thank goodness it pretty much blew over in 2 days. Now we just have to get her rehydrated and we should be ok. Well we left the hotel around 1 and went over to the RV service department - they could get us in in about an hour and that was fine with us. Once they were done checking out the rig they brought us a fitting that was cracked and said we were lucky we had stopped. We could have blown up! This shook us up a little bit - but we were glad to have it fixed and be safe. Then we went back to the Flying J to use the internet because I still need to mail 3 cd auctions. I got her address and would mail tommorrow. We decided to stay in an RV park NE from Sacramento and take it easy still. We have three days to get to Idaho so there is time. We are at the KOA in Auburn, CA one of the original gold rush towns. This RV Park was the best one we have been in so far and we decided to stay here two days. We kind of layed low today and got Sarah back on track. We had a big dinner and watched TV together. We also went to the hot tub with a couple beers and had it all to ourselves from 9 to 10 pm... that was nice sitting under the stars in the cool California evening while soaking in a very hot tub. After this we went home and went to bed.
Day 24: June 29
So today would be our second day in Auburn's KOA; we decided to stay again and just have to haul ass to Idaho for the show in 2 days. Alot of people were jumping off Dead tour and going to the Rainbow Gathering near Mount Shasta CA. The tour pretty much led you there if you skipped Idaho, Portland and The Gorge. We just were enjoying relaxing - it seems the RV sort of dictates the pace it wants you to go - not the other way around. It doesn't make as much sense as I had thought it did - hauling ass all around the country to be on tour and feed people and trying to relive the past I guess. It pretty much just came down to me realizing I couldn't be in charge at work anymore - I had to do something else and this seemed a logical mix of making money and travelling. It's just the pace that has got us down - it used to be driving 6 hours in the van was nothing - hell even 8 hours wasn't shit - but in an RV you are dealing with different stresses - for example, if it is windy while you drive it blows the RV around much more - alot of RVers don't even travel when it is too windy- also the obvious of how uneconomical it is to be flying 70 miles down the interstate, or how hard it is to climb mountains and negotiate around semis. Most of this is related to travelling out west - another of our stresses with how much more expensive everything is out here and we wish we could stop and look around more - but when on tour it is go go go go . Until now - we have officially dropped off tour and are deciding to do whatever we want on the way home and jump back on Dead tour in St. Louis after being in Minnesota a little and taking advantage of our National Parks pass more; (we hadn't actually decided to skip the Nampa show until the next day). So today was all day fun day at the RV park - we walked to the Pack N Save through a neat little trail - first we went to Ralphs but the only good deal they have is Tecate 18 pack for 9 bucks. Sarah went to the Pack N Save and I went back to the RV (I almost finished my college football season) - she made it back and we had lunch. Then walked down to the pond with some old bread and were going to feed the fish and ducks. Nice little pond with blackberries blooming all around - no ducks to speak of but lots of little fish that ate bread. Then Sarah and I picked a whole lot of berries to freeze and bring home for a dessert on Sarah's Grandmother's birthday.
We took advantage of all the amenities here today we played basketball and horseshoes. I had never played horseshoes at all and it is harder than I thought - I did get one ringer but Sarah ended up beating me. After all this activity we were pretty worn out - wish I was in better shape. We went back to the RV and started drinking some beer and I think I went into PS2 land (ended up winning the national championship with Tennessee). We had a great time at this KOA and were ready to head for Nampa tommorrow (9 hours in two days).
Day 25: June 30
Today we loaded it all up and got on the road around 1 with Sarah driving. We had to cruise I-80 East through Reno and up to Winnemucca where we jump on Hwy 95 up through Oregon and over towards Boise/Nampa. Sarah was making good time and the landscape was levelling out a bit - but still windy as hell; some gusts come out of no where and feel like they are blowing us onto 2 wheels at times. We made it 4 hours up to Winnemucca and stopped at the Flying J for gas - but I was already tired and it was my turn to drive. I had a little melt down - really didn't want to run and chase at all anymore and just wanted to have fun and go see wildlife and parks and such - Sarah and I discussed it and decided to skip Nampa too. The 4th of July was coming up and we wanted to get another KOA and stay through the weekend and celebrate! So we found one with mini-golf and paddle boats up in Twin Falls, Idaho - which was about 4 hours away. So we decided to just stay here at the Flying J tonite and it was like a boulder being lifted off of our chests. I slept very well tonite - even through all the High School kids cruising around the adjacent McDonald's - Sarah stayed up late. No more stress for a couple weeks (besides the growing Discover card) as we set off to be true RVers and do what we want.
