Lakes: DAY 3 (one of the most memerable 24 hours of my life)

This will forever go down as one of the wackiest days in my life. Where to begin? Lets just start with Seth and Jason finishing off their driving shift again around 5:30 am, and me taking over somewhere just south of Missouri. Everyone was sleeping, and i was talking to my dad on a cell phone...it's not illegal in missouri so relax. I hung up the phone, and Jason awoke. We're driving and all of the sudden, i noticed that there were turtles crossing the freeway and they were just getting smashed.

Pretty weird. Well, Me and Jason are just talkin, listening to tunes (i think this might've been the day that we started listening to Michael Jackson. A lot.) Things were going smoothly, and then naturally, right around 7:30 a.m., the van made a funny noise, and turned off. Me and Jason looked at each other as we coasted to the side of the road.

We woke everyone up, let them know the great news....it was decided we needed to move quickly. I decided that since I was driving, and wasn't really in the band, that i would go find gasoline. So i took off on foot, down a really long road. We seemed to be nowhere, and it was already a little warm and humid. After about a mile, i came upon a church that had someone there. Super sweet. I asked the nice man inside if there was gas within walking distance, to which he explained how about a mile and a half away, i could take a right and then it would only be a few hundred yards. I asked him if i could get a ride, and he explained how he was super busy. Cool. So I'm walking again...make it to "the truck stop" that would change my life forever. The place didn't have gas cans.....so i went into the restroom. I heard weird "noises" and heavy breathing coming from a stall.....I'm not going to explain in full detail what happened, but lets just leave it at, it involved two male truckers, and a really awkward exit from one stall. Needless to say it had me wearing my sad face.

Anyway....Seth and Jacob ended up getting a ride from two really sweet ladies, and coming and picking me up at a different gas station across the road. We got the fuel, they gave us a ride back, we filled up, and now for the moment of truth. The key turn by Seth and........nothing. I now know that when Diesels run out of fuel, it's kind of a big deal. Bummer. So we get towed after waiting for him for an hour (and while we waited, we searched in the tall weeds for turtles until Jacob found a tic on his leg..) His tow truck seats two, comfortably, three nice and snug...so when he said that we all had to hop in, 5 of us, 1 of him, it got really crazy.

Oh, and it was a stick shift. So, he ended up having to take it somewhere, and Seth and Jason went with him while Jake, Becky, and I stayed at "the Truck Stop".

...It was around this time, we realized that we had pretty much run out of time, and that we could only make it to Cornerstone for the only show in the next four days that was actually going to pay us money, and really the whole reason for this tour, was if Seth returned right now, and we drove between 90 and 100 miles an hour the for about 3 hours. I won't say how many laws were broken, but lets just skip to the part where we were about 5 miles away from cornerstone when we had to get fuel again, and then Becky realized that she had a tick sucking blood from her stomach. Jake removed it using a lighter and a paper clip borrowed from a gas station. We got to the front gate where we were supposed to check in, and kind of just drove right through the check point, around the grounds right to where we had to be, loaded on to the stage, and played about 5 minutes later...

..and the most amazing part was how many kids were there to catch the show.

Two nights in a row, two shows that nearly brought me to tears. The response was so great, the show went so well, there was about 100 kids onstage for the the last song, "indian lover"

stomping and clapping, and just having a great time. A lot of kids bought merch, which really helped us out so thanks....And then we got to relax. I got to meet a bunch of people i really wanted to. Later on in the evening, Seth rocked out on stage with Gasoline Heart

....at one point, Seth created a little pandemonium on stage inciting Louis, Gasonline Hearts singer, to smash his guitar..... Here's a little pic of the guitar that was with Louis during every song he had ever written. RIP. This is the last known photograph.

The crowd definitely got their money's worth from the gallery stage on this day. Sixpence None the Richer played later in the night.

As the day turned into night and we began to wonder aloud where we would be staying for the evening....Becky came through when her friend Chico, through another friend Charlie Peacock, had an extra hotel room in a small town, a few miles away. That means showers. When we got to this glorious room, we were exhausted....but there was still a little more fun to be had. I happen to have sleep apnia and use a mask to sleep at night. It blows air through my nose, and well, you can google it i'm sure. I let the guys try on my mask and see who could keep it on the longest.