Put- In-Bay, Ohio 2011

Cameron rocking Boat House

BLOG time people! Long over-due!

Gosh, where to start…

    Let’s see… Wednesday morning I packed up all
 the essential bags needed to be taken on a PYG trip: suitcase,

Eddins Rocking on

camera bag, laptop, pillow, blanket, etc. I was anticipating another rockin’ road trip, which I’ve taken a thousand times before. Little did I know, this road trip would hit the record books. I started off with a nice trip to Circle K for a 69 cent 44oz. Diet Dew, than made my trip north on I-65. Geesh, 9 am is too early to start a trip for a PYGMIE show, but given the distance, it was an obstacle unable to be passed. I gassed up north of Birmingham, got another Diet Dew, and pressed onward. Around 6:00 I get a call from Angel asking where I was, little did I know that call would change my arrival time. I was 10 miles out of Nashville and had to turn around, the PYGvan was broke down. I was summoned to hit up a McDonald’s for 2 cheeseburgers, 2 fries, and two hambrugers - hold the onions. As I made my way back to downtown Nashville I thought, man, this is going to probably take longer than I thought to get to Ohio… I had no idea! I pull up and notice the guys sitting on the curb, all on phones researching and calling to fix the problem. I hand Angel the bag of food and watch as the PYGS, well, PYG out. It’s getting darker, and there is still no life in the PYGvan. Cam finds a local mechanic, Jeff, to come help us out. Bred took my car to get some food. While there he noticed my tire was low, so he filled it up with air and headed back to the van. After hours of working on the van, and the darkness falling, we have no choice but to rearrange our schedule. Straight drive to Ohio, no hotel stops, two vehicles, and NO sleep! We all piled into the Tahoe and Caliber and headed north once again. It was about 11 pm by this time. We had noticed that the tire was starting to get low again as we drove off so I made a point to let Brad know to stop at a close gas station to double check everything was okay. Not more than 10 miles out of Nashville Cam turns off an exit, as I turn off in the caliber the tire goes completely flat. We coasted into the nearby Hardee’s. Eddins and Brad took the tire off and put the spare on while Cam bambusered the tragedy up on Facebook. It’s times like these you are thankful for good friends who change your tire, and have comedic commentary of the entire event. We set out to find an all night tire shop to fix my flat. A few exits up we pulled over but had no luck, we decided to plug the hole in the tire. We took off again towards Ohio in hopes the tire can hold out another 430 miles… we were wrong! Around 2 am we stopped for gas, wouldn’t you know, the tire is flat again! Brad gets a can of fix-a-flat to help, Cam bambusers the video up on Facebook once again. I was so tired, partly because of the stress, and partly because I was expecting to have been there by now, Eddins willingly took over driving. Around 4:30 am I was awaken to the sound of the rubber rolling around in my wheel well. Time for the spare tire to go BACK on the car. I fell back asleep and woke up just in time to see the nice morning traffic in the Port Clinton, Ohio area. We had made it, only moments away! We jumped parked the Tahoe, loaded up the caliber with suitcases, and jumped on the ferry! As we got off we Brad and Angel got in my car and we headed towards The Boat House, load-in time. The rest of the guys soon followed in a taxi, now for some real work. How those guys were able to put up full stage gear, lights and PA with NO sleep is beyond me! We sat for some solid food, not gas station chips, and the band laid down for some much needed rest. I was excited to see the faces of the doubtful audience members as the band entered the bar that night. As Cam always says, they were thinking “ I would if these guys are gonna suck” well guess what? They’re thinking the same thing about YOU! The Thursday night crowds in Put-In-Bay are more local people than tourists to the island. It was certainly a hit though! People danced and partied the night away. The Sausage, Amber, and Zim showed up, which made the bartenders have to work that much harder to shell out the alcohol J The band HAD to have been exhausted, but they showed no physical signs. After the show, the instant fans took pictures with the band, and I headed to the Sausage/President’s hidden cabin with the Green Bay crew. It may have been the very best bed I’ve ever slept in, or I was JUST that tired. Finally time for some rest, another exciting day tomorrow!

    Friday I woke up, grabbed Angel, and headed down to eat some lunch. It was about 2 pm and we were starving! We headed to find Charlie, Angel’s friend and grab a drink by the pool. We walked around, did some site seeing, then headed to get ready for another night of rock and roll. I got ready then headed to The Boat House. It was getting pretty busy with people already, lots of eager, soon-to-be fans! The guys entered and heads turned wondering who the silly guy with furry boots was. I thought, these people arent gonna know what hit them! Another room filled with fans dancing and singing along followed by a night at the Sausage’s secret hideout, what great fun this trip has been, wonder what tomorrow brings?

    I got up a little early Saturday, well, about noon. The last full day on the island.  I got ready and headed out to see what adventures I could get into. I met up with the guys at The Boat House and enjoyed some chicken fingers. We walked around and I decided to do some touristy shopping and maybe hit up the Beer Barrel Saloon for some midday live music. The band was good, but not too many people watching. The guys followed in watching the band, definitely no comparison to a Pygmie show. We headed to the Boat House once more, we had an opening act performing, Pat Dailey… Similar to a Willy Nelson/ Jimmy Buffett situation, no comment there. I headed back to the President’s bunker and planned on typing up this blog, another snag. I had somehow LOST the SD memory card that housed all the photos from the trip so far! I was truly disappointed, there were some GREAT pictures on there. I spent over an hour retracing my steps, but still have not found the card. In the event you find the card, it’d be best not to inform me you’ve viewed it given the incriminating evidence on that card. It’d be punishable by death! Haha. Angel and I hung out for a while, then got ready for the show. I met up with the Sausage, Zim and Amber and we walked the “strip” for a cocktail, then headed to the Boat House. Another packed night! Cam was a little below his normal tally of pictures taken with fans before the show, haha. I used a different SD memory card for the night, still a little upset about the loss of the other one. The show was a HIT! Complete with going through a case of beer and 2 bottles of jager right off the stage! The night went by too fast, and load out was in our future. I jumped on stage and helped Cam tear down the lights and rolled the cables. Then headed back to the secret cabin to sleep fast, the weekend was coming to an end. It’s weird because I was so ready to be home cuddling my fuzzies, but at the same time didn’t want to part ways with the guys.

    I woke up Sunday morning, packed my bags, said goodbye to the Sausage, Zim, and Amber and headed to the band bungalow with Angel. It was around noon and the guys weren’t ready to leave yet so Angel and I toured the island and waited for the rest of the guys to pack. Then me and buddy stopped and got some Dairy Queen ice cream and headed back to the band house. The ferry had a wait of an hour, so the suitcases were piled up in my car and we headed to lunch for our last meal on the island. Tony’s Garage was our destination, and it was very good! Angel and I drove to the ferry while the other guys took a taxi, there was no room for them AND their luggage in my car. We hopped the ferry heading for the Port Clinton Walmart. The spare wouldn’t last another 1,000 miles home. The local walmart did have my tire in stock, so we waited. As you can imagine I felt a little nervous with those guys in a walmart, there’s a lot of things those little guys could get into, haha. They were good for the most part, they bought some food, so they sat quietly. We gassed up and headed south. I believe Angel and I were so tired EVERYTHING was funny to us and we got the giggles on the drive. I guess I should apologize to Eddins for having to sit in the back seat and listen to the nonsense! Angel and I watched the movie Enchanted and sang along as Edds sat and read his nook, he’s such a dork. I was following Cam in the Tahoe when I started noticing that none of the surroundings looked familiar. Apparently, Cam got talking on the phone and missed our exit, we detoured through Lexington. Although it took us out of our way, we did get to see the Lexington castle all lit up at night which was cool. We stopped for gas in the pouring rain and switched drivers, Edds up front with Angel and me in the back. I had hours longer to drive than them so I tried to sleep the best I could. When I woke up we were back to the resting place of the PYGvan, Nashville. We switched up vehicles again. Cam and Brad in the Tahoe bound for Georgia, Chris and Jason in the PYGvan bound for Birmingham, and Angel and I going south towards his place. Angel and I sang our hearts out to goofy songs and made the short trip to his car go by WAY too fast. By 2 am we were in Huntsville, Angel and I parted ways and the last leg of my trip had started. I fueled up, got some snacks to keep me awake, and blared PYGMIE videos all the way home. Finally around 7:30 I made it! A coast to coast drive!
    Its always a hard thing to leave a weekend that was so full of adventure, so full of bonding, so full of fun! You get the best gift in the end, memories. I have said it once, and I’ll say it again, the Pygmies are best guys in the world. They always go beyond any expectation you will have, not just as a rockstar, but as a person as well. I am the luckiest girl I know to have the privilege to see this first hand. Such an extraordinary weekend with such extraordinary people!

Till next time!
KTPH