tour is over again

November 3rd – Tallahassee, FL
If we were going to make a DVD about this tour, the first thing the very first thing you would hear over a black screen before anything else happens would be a sound clip of tonight’s soundguy saying “I’m just going to forget about micing the amplifiers because they are loud as fuck.”

November 4th – Outside Prattsville, AL
10:00am: Wake up in the bus in Tallahassee, FL. Feel sick.
10:45: Stop at Burger King. House 1st BK Veggie Burger of the day.
11:00: Start drive to Birmingham.
1:30pm: Stop to investigate smoke coming out of rear passenger side wheel well. Chalk smoke up to overworking breaks with such a heavy load.
4:01: Bus loses all engine power. Pull over. Regardless of gear, bus wont move. Call Triple A.
4:15: Kyle and Chris decide to hitchhike to finish tour. Start walking with a sign reading only “BHM” attached to their bag.
4:18: Within eyesite, Chris and Kyle get picked up and are on their way.
5:00: Matt gets things worked out with Triple A, it will take two tow trucks to get IZ to Smyrna. 1 to get from mile marker 191 on I-65N to Bremen, GA, and another to get from Bremen, GA to Smyrna. We are told the first truck is on its way, I decline my parents offer to come pick up myself and Jeff Claxton.
6:15: Matt gets a call saying the first two truck drove past us and said he couldn’t tow IZ because of its size. We never saw this towtruck.
6:30: I call Albert and ask him if he would be willing to pick Jeff Claxton and I up from Bremen, GA, in order to make things a littler easier for everyone. He agrees to.
7:15: Towtruck arrives, IZ gets lifted and we all pile in and leave mile marker 191.
7:50: Stop at a truckstop so TowTruck driver and fill up of fuel. While getting out Matt notices more smoke from rear tire well. They investigate while I eat my 2nd BK veggie burger of the day.
8:30: We stop again to investigate smoke. Matt states that he would like for IZ to be on a flatbed as opposed to rear wheel towing. While they talk, I deicde to walk off the side of the road to take a piss. Admits the pitch black side of the highway I fall into a 3 foot deep creek on my back, soaking my jeans, wallet, cellphone, hoodie t-shirt. I change into workout shorts and a new t-shirt in the bus. Forcibly restrain meltdown.
9:15: We pull over, yet again and stop at a gas station to get lubricant for back axel. First store didn’t have any, second store did.
10:00: After aquiring and applying grease to back axel, we get back on I-65 N.
10:25: There is a very loud pop coming from the bus. We pull over, tons of smoke keeps piling out of the rear wheel well.
10:30: After a fire extinguisher makes an appearance, we determine that a tire blew, which was caused because of the problems we have been having with the back axle. Towtruck driver wants to take us to the next exit, Matt refuses. I change into my backup jeans in the bus, pack everything into my bags.
10:40: Borrow Matt’s cellphone (mine is dead) and ask albert if he will pick us up somewhere south of Birmingham. He agrees and gets on the road, I tell him I’ll call him within an hour and a half with a specific location to get us.
11:20: IZ is off the towtruck. A flatbed is called in. Towtruck driver offeres to take Claxton and myself up one exit (exit 238, meaning out whole travel was just shy of 50 miles).
11:40: Claxton and I are dropped off at a Waffle House. Order Coffe, Diet Soda and hashbrowns. Charge cellphone. Wait.
12:45: Albert picks us up from Waffle House.
3:00am: Arrive at Albert and Claxtons house in Decatur.
3:15am: Adri picks me up from Albert and Claxtons
3:30: Arrive at Adrianna’s house.

Matt didn’t make it to Smyrna until 3 in the afternoon.


Tour is emphatically over.