I cannot promise this will be an easy read. I have no idea, no rules in mind for the way this story will be told so beware and proceed with caution, it may be a long one!
Wednesday April 27, 2010
Nerves are high as I prepare for a trip thousands and thousand of miles from home. On one hand I want so badly to go travel the world with my husband but on the other hand I don't want to leave my daughter and our dogs! Needless to say I was feeling a little torn. I left work early to get things done around the house and pack. Kiah had her debut dance performance at the high school that night so I was glad I was able to see her perform! After the show, I picked Nicole up at 10:30 p.m - we came back to my house and I started to pack and of course during that process we both thought of some last minute things we should get so we took a trip to Wal-Mart (only place open at midnight).Nicole and I came up with the great idea of staying awake all night so we could get accustomed to the nine hour time difference (in the end I do believe that was a great idea but at that time man were we tired!) There are a few hours in there of which I don't even remember due to lack of sleep but no worries, I'm sure you didn't miss out on anything too exciting. Nicoles dad picked us up at my house at 0420 and took our happy, sleepy asses to the airport. Traffic was horrible and the airport was ridiculously busy for such an early hour. The line for baggage check in was insane, we get in line and poor Nicole is toting around a 30lb piece of luggage which contained CD's and vinyl records for Hogjaw to sell so I thought I'd check to see what we could do about getting that bad boy checked outside. Success! Off we go to our gate. At first they said our flight was delayed an hour because they were waiting for a part to arrive from LAX, well the part got there and installed so we were only about 20 minutes delayed. I think I slept on the flight to Atlanta but I can't remember. Atlanta to Stuttgart, Germany was uneventful, smooth flying! I know I slept on that flight, uncomfortably so but sleep it was! We arrived in Germany at 0900 on Friday morning, our luggage came out and we headed to the rental car booth. All went smooth with that as well, so far we were pretty happy with how things were going. The car was adorable and hooray for manual transmissions, fun..fun..fun! I had printed the directions from the airport to the club Hogjaw would be playing at that night so Nicole drove and I navigated. The people in Germany drive just like the people in California, maybe a little faster. Everyone has a Mercedes and if you see a Mercedes emblem in your rear view mirror...get out of the way...quickly! They are not afraid to hook themselves to your bumper and roll down the highway. The drive from Germany to Ensisheim, France was a little over two hours with a few stops here and there but it wnet by quickly as we both absorbed the scenery. Coming in from the desert with nothing but dirt, it was a humbling experience to see lush green hills with buildings older than our state.
As we arrived to Ensisheim, I let Jason know we were in town but they were still a good five hours away, they were driving from Belgium. Nicole and I happened upon the club, parked the car, went inside to meet the owner, a lady probably in her seventies, who spoke no English. The language barrier was difficult but we managed to introduce ourselves and find the restroom. We had a few hours to kill so being the amateur photographers we are, we walked the streets of Ensisheim and took pictures of amazing architecture and landscapes. We sat at a cafe and sipped espresso, I learned how to say "the key" in French, "La cles" - I needed the key for "les toilettes". We walked back to the car, that was parked at the club, and took a nap in it for about 30 minutes. Changed our clothes in the car and went inside to eat, have a drink and wait for the guys. About 20 minutes go by and I look out the front door from where I was sitting and see a big blue Mercedes Sprint van!! They were finally there!! Big greeting hugs and kisses all around, it was so good to see those stinky travelling fools! We let them get the equipment out of the van and set up and ready for sound check..one problem..no one could find Jasons drum sticks! I went to the bartender (the son of the owner) asked him if there was a music store around, we needed drum sticks. Sure there was a music store but it closed 15 minutes ago but it just so happend that he was also a drummer and said it would be no problem for Jason to use his sticks, yeah! The show will go on! The rest of the night consisted in a good group of people, great music and lots of drinks. There was one little thing that made me a little nervous. Damon, AKA Elvis DD, had a couple of friends from Germany come out to see the show and he decided since the band had the next three days off, he was going to head to Switzerland with them and meet back up with us on Monday.
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