Mr Mike's Hippie Love Blog

Day 67: Aug 12
Well today marks the beginning of the end of our summer shows... and the beginning of a very emotional and trying end of it all. We slept in longer than we should have in the WalMart parking lot - but when we did get up we had everything ready to go - a nice detailed list of what we will need and we were planning on vending quite a bit at Coventry - so we hit WalMart and got it all. Then we ran over to our favorite liquor store for these last few days and grabbed a shit ton of beer and some booze. We also needed to dump the tanks and fill up on propane so everything will be set for the 4-5 days we will spend up in the Vermont wilderness. So we headed over to the KOA and took care of those things. Then we headed up the road to the Sam's Club in Manchester New Hampshire for the final vending supplies. This was about 2 hours up the road and when we hit Manchester we had our cell phone service again and had voice mail waiting for us. This is when we heard the news of the terrible weather they were getting up in Coventry - we were still about 3 hours away and it was fine down here, but in Coventry they had been feeling the effects of some weather pushed their way from Hurricane Charlie - and it was torrential downpour - making for some more than muddy conditions. We had lots of friends coming from all sides and we were all supposed to meet up at Coventry - we spoke with Kate & Sarah and they had heard the news. They were headed to our other old college friend's : Brett. Brett has lived up in this area for awhile and his house is about an hour from Coventry - we used to really booze it up back in the days and he had offered his place to us - but we were trying to get up there and get in line or at least get as close as we could. Plus I knew if we did make it up there that we would be dealing with a hangover when we left and that is no way to start waiting in the long line. Brett understood - and we made plans to meet up with Kate, Sarah and Brett on the days after Coventry. So we headed further up the line from Manchester - and it started raining not soon after - and raining hard. Out here in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire - in the dark - in the rain - with signs about moose crossings all over and you couldn't see a damn thing. We made it to within 40 minutes of the show and pulled off. It rained all night - which was bad news. And all the while we wondered what they played down in Camden New Jersey.

Day 66: Aug 11 Phish @ Great Woods
We woke up today at the rest stop (more like a service area) and saw a lot of tour kids around - there were even a couple of kids in sleeping bags outside of their car. There was a Hardee's at this service area and we bought some french fries and made boca burgers in the RV for a burger and fries for lunch. We didn't leave for the lot until around 3 today and they sent us to a different area of the back lot - still very far away. There weren't as many cops around today so that was nice. Sarah and I were laying low and looking for tickets again. We were hoping but didn't hold our breath. Our RV was parked behind the stage and we were going to be able to hear great. We hiked the lot for most of the day and alot of people looked pretty tired for day 2. We got a call from Curt & Radha and found them in a different lot - we spent a good part of the afternoon catching up with our old tour friends. It has been nearly 3 years - since Oysterhead in Denver, Halloween 2001. This was a great time - we love those kids. We settled in to our area by the RV as the show was beginning to start and it was nice to hear them open with Divided Sky. This was a nice reflective evening and we were able to hear the show very well - there were a lot of people partying in the RV area that didn't have tickets. Most of them were on top of the rigs and dancing around - I didn't have the heart to tell them they were going to cause leaks in the RV down the road. Just kidding them there were rental RVs. We spent the night listening to the show and had a couple of beers... but it is starting to set in that there isn't going to be anymore Phish and we are 0-2 on getting in to the final shows... plus we are skipping Camden tomm. so that we can get up to Coventry so that makes us 0-3. I guess this is the way I will have to make my peace with this band - from the outside like so many other times. We left right after the encore and headed up Hwy 24 to park at the WalMart - tomm we are going to get up and do our shopping and hit the road for Coventry.

Day 65: Aug 10 Phish @ Great Woods!!!!!!
Well this is it - the first of two nights of Phish at Great Woods! This is what we have been waiting for - to be back on a Phish lot and hope to catch up with some old friends and really really hope to find two tickets to get into the show. This was going to be a hard ticket to find - since these are the last shows that Phish will ever play. Last night they were down in Hampton to kick off the final leg of their last summer tour. We made it to the venue early - but they were not letting anyone in until 3:00 p.m. that was a difference between Dead lot and Phish lot - on Dead lot we could be in there as early as we want - at the same venue. I dunno. Anyway, we had some time to kill and made a sign for tickets and started looking - we had a little money or some pot to trade - but I imagined it would take a little of both to trade for a ticket. We went down to a pizzeria where everybody was hanging out until the gates opened and we sat near the road with our sign and finger in the air. This got to be long - but we talked to alot of kids and it was a good time - then the gates opened and we were shuffled in to the RV area again - but since we were so early we were sent to the very back corner of the RV lot. This really takes us out of any vending tonite - but it didn't matter, we just wanted to get into the show! We headed out right away and started walking the lot looking for a ticket - needless to say we were not the only ones doing this. I didn't even see any tickets out there the whole day - a couple people had them but would only trade for other nights or coventry. We saw people with 100 dollar bills in their hands and their fingers up and still not finding anything, we knew we weren't getting in if those willing to pay 100 bucks were still stuck outside. Anyway, we were definately drinking it up today on the lot - having a blast meeting people and looking for whatever is out there. We ran into an old friend Doughboy from MN out here - right before the show - we also were looking for Curt and Radha, but they were coming up from Hampton and were rolling in just before the show. It's hard to say how it all went down tonight - we were drunk - we could hear the show pretty good and that was nice. The cops were dicks ike they were at The Dead show and even worse like we figured. We ended up being stuck in the lot until nearly 2 a.m. and went up to the rest stop off Hwy 24. Couldn't get in and that seems to be the theme these days, but times have changed for us I guess. There is always tomm.

Day 58-64: Aug. 3-9
We left the fancy, spendy RV Park and went to Sears - which took a little while to find - but it was in a big mall; we made our Discover card payment and were then heading to the liquor store where we saw a sign for Massasoit State Park - we decided to check this park out and see how much a week of camping would be here. Sarah had stayed here on tour in 99 when Phish was at Great Woods - we were able to grab a water/electric site for 120 bucks for the week - that is going to be the best deal we can find. So we took it and got settled in - it was nice to be able to sit still for a week - but there isn't much to really write about. I can say that this is one of the dirtiest State Parks we have ever stayed at - Mass should put some people to work and clean up there parks - also it was a very poorly organized park - the maps were confusing - for example we went hiking one day and as we headed out on the trail we realized that there was no map or signs while on the trail - we got lost for hours and ended up hiking out of the park all together onto a golf course. We tried to gather our bearings and find our way back to the road in the park - we did find a bum's camp - glad that no one was home - we ended up on the golf course again in a diferent area and there were a couple guys playing - we had to ask them where we were and they said the golf course was in a different town than the park - and they didn't even know where the park was for sure. Freaking Mass-holes don't even know there is a park right next to them - eventually we made it back to the park. We had a good time camping here and hiked alot - this park had a nice lake and was pretty. It was busy all the time and the kids were loud and annoying - but what do you do. Also - there were kids starting to show up for Phish and we were walking about and saying hi to everyone as the arrived. Good times.

Days 56-57: Aug. 1 &2
We left the rest stop early and headed back to the RV Park in Bellingham and requested a site that is tucked away and private - the lady gave us a great spot with no neighbors and nice tree coverage. We spent these two days doing regular RV campground stuff - we were camped by a pond and took Kikko down there - she chased dragonflies. We also took this oppurtunity to clean out the RV and scrubbed it down - I bought a new Dirt Devil vaccum and let it loose in the rig. We drank beer and had a good time. Gathered some literature and started looking for a cheap campground for a week. We also found a Sears nearby to make the Discover card payment. This was a nice relaxing stay at the campground.

Day 55: July 31 The Dead @ Great Woods
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! Today would mark my 30th birthday and we were going to go see The Dead at Great Woods. We woke up at the campground and were going to stay here until 1 or so... I was on the phone alot this morning receiving Happy Birthday phone calls. We also ran into some kids at this campground - Zeke and his buddy Freeman were in the blue bus that is on tour. Sarah made an awesome birthday breakfast and we invited these two to eat with us - this was really nice - some good kids and a family feel. Freeman was telling us a lot about Free Masons (we have a Mason symbol on our RV) also about Skull & Bones and all this stuff - he seemed to know what he was talking about and gave me websites to look at - but I haven't yet. We loaded up after breakfast and headed to the show fat and happy... we were able to come right in and they had a seperate spot for RV parking - which was way out in the boonies - we were hoping to work the rest of the chilli that we have had on ice from the Ohio show tonight - but not until after the show. We were going to have some fun and do some lot shopping and try to get into the show by finding some extras in the lot. It was a hot, windy day here in southern Mass and the parking lot was filling up - we had our EZUP setup and were chilling on the camp charis. We had some interesting neighbors over here in RV land - there was a younger fellow on our left who was towing a trailer that turned into a full disco party - turntables and lights and bubble machine the whole works. A couple older guys on our right from Manhattan, along with a daughter who was young and a female friend who drank wine out of a fancy glass. We were drinking beer and jumping back and forth from the disco party to our shade tent and relaxing - talking with the New Yorkers. We decided to take a walk down Shakedown and found out that the cops were out in full force here - Sarah had brought some hemp with and was walking with over her shoulder and we were told to put it away very fast - worse than that we saw a couple guys get arrested for selling beers - there was a group of cops tearing apart some kids car for unknown reasons - we saw a girl being kicked off the lot with a tresspassing ticket for walking with hemp (lucky we put ours away) . These cops were bad - tearing down EZUP's and ripping through cars and yelling and Shakedown was no fun. We did find a very nice Herkimer diamond that we bought for a great price from an older couple that had actually mined it. We were looking for tickets and trying to stay out of trouble - we ran into the girls who were running the bar in Ohio and they were already packing up - Shakedown was being shutdown - and we were supposed to come back here for 2 nights of Phish in a week or so - and I know the cops will be out much worse for a Phish show if this is how they do it when The Dead is in town. We found the Twelve Tribes bus on the lot - I expected them to be here because they are primarily from Mass. - I am not going to go too in depth about these people - but the Twelve Tribes is a group that has been on tour for years - that "help" people that have lost their way - roughly translated they find people that have gone too far with halucinogens and brainwash them - all of the men look exactly the same - as do the women. All in all they are a sketchy group - but I cannot verify any of this, except for an old friend who was stuck with them for awhile and she couldn't get away. Sarah and I just don't like talking to these people and that's it. Either way - we continued to have a good time and avoided the tribe and in the end we left early and went up Hwy 24 to a rest stop. I had an alright birthday - kind of wish we could have seen the show - and that we weren't in Mass - or at least that the lot would have been more fun. We had decided tonite also to jump off Dead tour and wait for Phish to come up to Great Woods in 10 days - we were going back to the same campground for a couple days early tommorrow and lay low. That is birthday enough for me - 10 days camping and then Phish.

Day 54: July 30
Well today we woke up and realized we still had nearly 5 hours to go and that we better get on the road - today we were travelling through the rest of Penn. and then through Connecticut and up on to the Mass Turnpike. It was going OK but this leg was wearing on me and I wasn't happy - I didn't enjoy running so fast to follow tour, especially since we couldn't do anything when we got to most of the shows anyway. Sort of a big let down - running and running and finding there is no destination. To be honest I had a bit of a breakdown today - ironically we made it to the area of Mass with plenty of time for the show - but I just didn't want to do it - I wanted to find a campground and relax - plug in, turn on the air, watch a movie or something. So Sarah took over and found us a campground that was very close to the show for tomm. and got us some beer and we took it easy. The campground was nice and very busy - nice people though and we took it easy. Hey tommorrow is my birthday and we can do what we want. So we skipped the show and had a little fun on our time frame.

Day 53: July 29
Today was going to be a driving day and we knew it - we were a little frustrated that we were able to setup all day yesterday and barely made 100.00 - and also were not looking forward to the long drive to Mass (we don't really like Mass as it is). We needed to stop and get an oil change also so that ate up and hour and a half today too... it was just one of those days where you keep driving and driving and never seem to get anywhere. I did most of this whole drive and we even drove through the night quite a bit. Our drive took us through Pennsylvania mostly all the day and I have to say that the semi drivers in this area are far more aggressive than anywhere else I have ever driven. I don't know why that is and it doesn't make sense to me - but once it hit nightfall these truck drivers turned into some scary bastards. Usually RVers and truckers kind of watch out for each other - but not by Scranton PA. We got off the road after that and stayed somewhere around here and left ourselves 275 miles tommorrow - which was the first day of the 2 night weekend for The Dead at Great Woods.

Day 53: July 28 The Dead @ Blossum Music Center - Cuyahoga Falls OH
Today was a nice day - we woke up at a good Flying J and only had about 120 miles to our next show - we already had all the supplies we needed to make some food and were just hoping for the best after the last couple shows... mainly no rain and no hassle from the security/cops. We had a pretty straight shot across Ohio to Cuyahoga Falls (South of Cleveland) on I80 it was a toll road which sucked but we will have to get used to those as we had East. We got to the venue very early and there were already some people settling in - there was no charge for parking and it was a sunny day so far. We were able to park nose first with a paved road in front of us - this parking lot was huge and had roads going through it but was mostly a grass lot. We were getting ready to set up the EZUP and everything when a security lady with a blow horn started coming down the road and saying something - so we immediately thought oh great here we go already being told to shutdown again... but we were all wrong! She was letting us know that they would let people setup here on the road, but that we were about a mile from the venue - she gave us the choice to set up here or move forward and not be able to setup - so we stayed here of course and were happy to be able to have a stress free day. We had some great vending neighbors here also - a couple nice girls from Jersey were to our left and set up a full bar and their were some good guys with a huge three tent setup on our right. We got all of the clothes up on the EZUP and put out hemp and were going to do some chilli tonite. The only problem we had here is that we didn't come in with much beer, so we would have to depend on lot prices. Most of the afternoon was spend relaxing with the storefront up and sitting in the shade ... we met a couple of kids from Minnesota who hung out most of the day and Zeke came back around today and sold lighter leashes and Grateful Dead song books between us and the bar. This kid has a helluva voice and was shouting for all of us - he also was good at finding free beer - so that worked well. Shakedown Street was very busy all day - but nobody really bought anything - Sarah sold a little bit of hemp and had a lot of people looking, but nothing else. We were setting up the kitchen after awhile also and started making chilli for after the show. This night was alot of fun even though we didn't make any money - it was nice to be set up and be able to relax - we did feed a lot of the tour kids and sold a little bit of chilli, but there just wasn't enough traffic. We hung out with people after the show for quite a while and even talked with some cops who were just great - somebody yelled "Six Up" while they were coming down Shakedown and the cops even stopped to ask us what it meant - they said that they knew it was about them but didn't get it - and we tried our best to explain it. The cops replied that it was better than what they were usually called. I told the cops that we really appreciate them being cool and letting Shakedown happen - they told me that they feel it is better to let us try to make a little money and keep moving then being too overbearing which makes tension rise. Very true. We ended up leaving this show pretty late and had a long drive ahead of us: we needed to be in Massachusetts for the next Dead show on Friday. So that means we had a day off to drive about 10 hours - yuck! Alot of the tour was heading right to Nelson's Ledges just to the East in Ohio for an aftershow party and a small show tomm. but we had to put on some miles and get to Mass for the Great Woods shows - we were hoping for good luck here because we did very well at a Trey show in 2001 - but we had also heard that this venue had changed and now it was hard to work. We drove about 45 minutes afterwards and slept at a rest stop.

Day 52: July 27 The Dead @ DTE Energy Center - Clarkston MI
We had a few chores to do yet this morning - I was taking out garbage and Sarah was putting the house back together to get it ready to hit the road - also before we left Sarah was determined to let the manager of the KOA know about their sub-par hot tub area... so she went into the office and asked for a manager and let them know about our complaints - the manager took a complete attitude with her and points to their maintenance man and says he is the one you need to talk to about that. Needless to say this is very poor management - the maintenance man becomes very defensive stating that there is no smoking up there and it was impossible blah blah blah - well this got our day started great. Anyway we hit the road and made our way across Michigan to the venue. It was a short drive and we were there plenty early - there was no charge for parking and we had a nice spot with a main vein of traffic to and from the show. We were feeling pretty good about this venue even though it was starting to rain... we were there early enough to watch Shakedown Street start popping up around us - so we thought we better get our EZUP up and claim our area. So we set up our shelter, grabbed our camping chairs and cracked a beer - it was really starting to rain now so we also grabbed the rain coats and were comfortable. There was a fellow trying to set up his EZUP by himself across the lane from us so we decided to help him out - it is nearly impossible to set up one of those with only one person - plus his was pretty banged up. He was very appreciative and gave me a new hat that had a blue rose on it and said So Many Roads on the back - he was selling these hats and shirts too. So everything was going fine - UNTIL we were starting to hear word that the cops were being dicks here and shutting everybody down already - we didn't worry about it too much since we were way on the edge of Shakedown and people do have a way of exaggerating when it comes to this stuff. Well, we were basically hanging out under our shelter having a beer in a cup (not can or bottle) and just sitting there staying dry - not even looking like we were going to setup or anything - and the cops did come by and tell us we had to tear down our shelter and that we couldn't have any beer. We let them know we were only staying out of the rain and weren't going to be vending (worth a try) but it didn't matter - and this was nearly 3 hours before the doors even opened for the show! Plus these were real cops too - not venue security or anything like that - so we had to tear down - and we looked around us and noticed that Shakedown was coming down! WOW - usually Shakedown finds a way to stay up - but this is two shows in a row now where the vendors have been silenced - no ifs ands or buts... Oh and we had found out at this show that the Deer Creek show was great for vending and people sold out all their stuff and made alot of money - D'OH that's just our luck. We met a kid named Zeke while we were being told to tear down and he gave us a hand - nice kid that we would see more of down the road. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the cops - they had some situations with being such dicks and brought out the cops on horses - there were a few standoffs over stupid shit and these cops were just rude and horrible - their horses were shitting all over the lot and it was raining and just no good. We did alot of walking around and had a few beers - we met some guy who came to the show with a peach pie and other produce - he gave us peaches. Met another kid Carter who was destined to climb a fence somewhere to get in - ran into our friend Alan who we hadn't seen since the west coast shows, which was really nice - he was spunout like usual and walking around with a mama. Oh and we had the worse neighbors next to our RV - there had to be 10 of them crammed into a little RV and they were going to get fucked up! They kept bugging us for drugs - but I know they already had their share (mushrooms and extacy). They were drinking bottles of beer right out in the open and I knew this would be trouble - we witnessed security talking to them twice and later we saw them come back with cops who took away some of their tickets - these guys were a mess and since some of their friends already went in they had to sit in their RV all night. We had had enough of all this crap though and decided to hit the road and leave very early. We drove about an hour and stayed at a Flying J in Ohio and set ourselves up for a quick 2 hour drive tommorrow to the Blossum Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls OH.

Day 51: July 26
Today we woke up from the armpit and wanted to get the hell out of here! We were about an hour and a half away from the KOA campground in Columba MI and that's where we were headed. We got everything put away and ready to drive, but when I tried to start the RV our battery was dead. I guess I used the laptop way too long because we had no juice - the control panel still showed 3/4 strength on the battery but I guess there wasn't enough left. We were starting to get nervous about being stuck at this horrible truck stop when I remembered the Emergency Start mechanism of the RV. This is a feature in case your dumb ass used too much of the battery power - it uses the power of the vehicle battery and the 2 smaller house batteries to get you up and running. We had never tried it but it worked no problem and we were on our way.
The Indiana Dunes Lake Shore was only about a half hour up the road and we were there in no time... This is a park that I have been wanting to check out for a while but it had never worked out. There is always a sign for it from the Interstate that entices but it's hard to break the momentum. This time was diferent though and we were checking out the park. We pulled in to the ranger station and got our maps and went down to the beach. This was the shoreline of Lake Michigan and it was just awesome - I had never experienced a fresh water lake like this that was so much like being at the ocean - incredible... we spent most the afternoon just on the beach - Sarah was looking through rocks and stuff and I was wading in the water - very good day. When we left the beach we headed up to Mount Baldy - which is where the dunes really are - but we didn't really explore this part. They say it is a living mountain that moves so much every year which is intriguing but you had to hike up this huge thing before you could see any of it and there were a lot of crying kids and the like - so we headed for our campground with the hot tub instead. The KOA was another hour or so up the road around the big lake and we were there before we knew it. We had stopped for beer and groceries and got settled in and commenced to have a great time. We did end up going to the hot tub - but it was no bueno - very bad hot tub. It was lukewarm at best, only about half full and there was a cigarette butt floating in it when we got there. There were some shady campers here too - your regular mustache man with the shades and hat pulled low - at the pool area checking out the chicks - pretty sketchy. So Sarah and I went and sat in the sauna since the hot tub sucked and it felt slimey. We did this for a bit after we realized that the sauna wasn't hot either and then went back to home base. We enjoyed our campsite as we relaxed with beers around sunset - overall this was a nice park minus the hot tub experience and Sarah wanted to talk to the manager about it all before we left tommorrow - we only had 3 hours to go to the DTE Energy Center for The Dead show tomm. (formerly known as the Pine Knob Music Theater) just another amphitheater bought out by the corporate man. I don't quite recall exactly what we did all night - I know it rained some and we had a busy family as neighbors on one side - but we had the kitty out on her elastic leash and enjoyed the night to ourselves. Tommorrow was a quick drive across Michigan to the northwest suburb area of Detroit - to Clarkston.

Day 50: July 25
We woke up at the rest stop early and would have had 5 hours to go down to Deer Creek; but we decided to skip it and save the gas money. So instead we had 2 days to get up to Clarkston MI - which wasn't so far. We took a look at the map and saw that the Indiana Dunes National Park was on our way and had decided to head there. I found a Flying J that was in Gary - right outsifde of Chicago - so that's where we were heading today. It's nice to have short drives and only be doing 2-3 hours a day - makes everything a little more relaxed. We also found a KOA about an hour and a half from the Dunes that had a hot tub and we were going to get there nice and early tommorrow. But back to today; we were going through Chicago towards Gary; I need to explain for those of you haven't stopped in Gary IN for an extended amount of time. Gary Indiana is not or should not ever be a destination - it is well known as the armpit of the country - just a very industrial city that has a very bad smell to it in general. Which is exactly why we had to stay at the Flying J there (plus I was needed the internet pretty bad by now). Anyway traffic was horrible in Chicago - it was a pain and all that just to get to Gary. When we arrived and found the Flying J - we realized that we were in the hood and were a little out of our element. The cashiers had told us to be safe when we got stuff in the store, that has happened a couple times - where they are almost warning you as you leave and implying that you shouldn't be here after dark. No problems though - there were a couple other RVs already there so we would be fine. Lots of gentlemen walking around down the block with bottles in bags - so we knew where we were. This Flying J just stunk also - it ended up giving us a headache. But the internet was up and running and I had the laptop going through the battery for nearly 8 straight hours. We were listening to a comedy radio station from Chicago - but I remember that it wasn't that funny at all. Not much else to say about Gary Indiana. It came complete with beggers and the stench to live up to it's armpit title. I had never actually ever stopped in Gary - we always just cruise through one way or the other on the ole interstate - where I94 meets and shares with I80. but this time I had to stop and be in Gary.

Well well well - we finally have the laptop back and are able to get the website going - currently in Mankato MN and doing a little work while trying to figure it all out... I am still going to be finishing off the summer log - mostly for our own enjoyment and of course for posterity. I will be doing my best to recollect the days events from the summer - as for the current > Sarah is back to work in the kitchen at the Holiday Inn and I am registered with a temp agency. I did some real shit work last Monday - hauling heavy crap for 8 hours from the basement of a hardware store that went out of business 5 years ago. This place even had an old elevator that you needed to pull up by hand with a big rope - great for the upper body and we would've really been fucked without the elevator and moving shit up the stairs - but I couldn't move for 2 days after that... worse 50 bucks I ever made. I start a phone job with incoming calls for catalog orders on Tuesday for 7.75 an hour!!! Woo Hoo! We are officially selling the RV and hope to get a fair price for it - after that goes we might put it down on a house... but it is all up in the air 30 something trying to figure out what to do next - need to work on the website!
Also we are for sure going to have a great time with The Big Wu at the Kato Ballroom on 10/28. And we are doing a 4 day Ween mini tour in early Nov. hitting 3 shows in Omaha, Des Moines and Madison - this will rock... please bare with me while I finish off the summer adventures:
The Captain