Much of last week was spent preparing for the weekend journey >to Washington state for some awesome music. I drove my hostess, her brother, and his girlfriend for the weekend in the van, which was quite a lot of fun and worked out very nicely for our purposes. Quick set-up and easy packing up in the morning. I did have to strip the van of much of my belongings to make it all fit without crowding anyone. I had to pack in a tent, air mattress, sleeping bags/blankets, extra chairs, a large cooler, cases of beer/wine, so while it took a while to organize, it went well. I am not changing much this week either as we are heading out on the road again on Friday to go to Sooke River Bluegrass Festival.
The first destination was Ridgefield, just north of Portland. The amphitheater at Clark County was hosting Crosby, Stills, & Nash. We hopped the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles in Washington, and drove from there. We found an RV campground closer to the venue so we could walk to and from. The campground was at a Chevron, which my friends thought was hilarious…it was backed onto a beautiful meadow surrounded by woods, so I thought it was perfect…except that the bathroom was locked when the gas station shut down at 11pm and didn’t open again until 6am. I didn’t mind, I just stopped pounding back beers, so I wouldn’t need to go pee in the woods….I didn’t take the portable toilet seat as I knew we were camping at an RV park, but expected to have access to a bathroom…lesson learned!
CSN was amazing. We missed the first couple of songs, as they started right on time and we didn’t get to the campground until about an hour before the show started. We had lawn seats, but were able to slip past the security, into 4 seats that no one turned up for, just a dozen or so rows back from the stage. Towards the end, some fans rushed the stage, and as security went to remove them, David Crosby spoke up and told them to leave the fans be, they aren’t hurting anyone, so they did…that’s when my friend A. nearly broke her damn legs tearing off to the stage, with all of us in tow…we were then only about 10 feet from the stage – it was awesome! The crowd was a bit of a dud, at least those who sat in their chairs all friggin night. Those of use up in front of the stage were all standing and dancing, and I managed a couple of photos, but it was hard with the lighting to get a good shot and stay still while I was vibrating with excitement as they played hit after hit.
I bought a t-shirt and a sweatjacket, expensive, but when will I ever get to see those folks again? They could be dead tomorrow…lol. So I decided it was worth the expense. I didn’t spend much on liquor, as it was SO overpriced at $8 a beer…at least I still have the shirts, whereas I no longer possess the beer. We walked home from the concert in the dark, and took the wrong exit from the grounds, so it took much longer and as we crossed a soggy ditch, one of the gals lost both her shoes and couldn’t find them in the 18inch swamp…so she walked in her bare feet until we got to the gas station where I suggested her boyfriend carry her tiny frame on his back to the campground, which they did. She had another pair of shoes in the van, and was content to remember losing her shoes at the CSN concert.
We packed up early the next morning and headed for the Gorge, near George, Washington. It was a stunning drive as we took the highway that ran east through Portland, and then north along the Columbia River (which flows through the Grand Canyon), so the geography was rather stunning. We had a beautiful day to drive, and made it to the Gorge by mid-afternoon. Once we hit the interstate that ran very close to the venue, we saw tons and tons of car/truck/van loads of folks heading to the Gorge, and many of the honked and waved at our colorful van, putting on down the highway. We had just one glitch with the van at the first gas station we stopped at in the US. The van wouldn’t start, so I had to get a boost. The guy who provided it was certain it was not going to help and that the problem was something else…I knew better and asked him just to humor me, which he did. The van, of course, started easily and we were on our way.
Once we arrived at the Gorge, we drove the long and dusty road to the campground, in the stifling heat, along with hundreds and hundreds of other vehicles both in front and behind us. We eventually were able to park and set up camp, and get our DRINK ON! Last night’s concert crowd was pretty tame, but we knew immediately we were in for a hell of a party with this crowd. The Gorge amphitheater seats 25,000 (or so as there are few seats, mostly lawn) and pretty well everyone camped for the show. There were campers as far as the eye could see, there were gals in bikinis and shirtless guys in shorts and the party had definitely begun. As a marker to help locate our site in the dark after the concert, A. climbed atop the roof to attach a large Canadian flag, and shortly thereafter we were visited by a series of Canadians…along with some other interested folks who saw the van as we drove in. After some supper and beers, we packed up the camper and headed out to the gorge for the show.
Joe Cocker was to open and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were the main act…I was ready to scream as I was terribly excited about finally getting to see one of my all-time favorite rock bands from my youth. Several of his songs had become anthem-like for youth struggling with life experiences and I was one of them. The trek to the show was long and hot, and dammit, too fucking slow. I had but one simple criticism for the night and it was that we lined up 2 hours before the show and still didn’t get into the venue in time. We missed the entire performance by Joe Cocker. I managed to catch the last few verses of one as the others stood in the liquor bracelet lineup – can’t buy alcohol without one…I just got mine from a gal standing around surrounded by people holding out their id cards to prove their drinking age. She didn’t ask to see mine…heh heh. I then motored to the concert gear tent to buy a t-shirt and had to go to two to find what I wanted in my size. I wish now I had bought two t-shirts, or the other one I had in mind…I shall just have to get one at the next show I’m seeing in Hollywood in October. Yes, I did it, I went out and bought more tickets to see him. You see, we had amazing vantage points to the show Saturday night and it was epic for me. He sang his heart out and rocked down the house. I knew every single song, and belted out what I knew along with the rest of the crowd. This crowd was not last night’s crowd by a FAR stretch…everyone was on their feet, and we were screaming, hooting, whistling, clapping, cheering, you name it! I nearly lost my mind, I swear. I bought a guitar shaped plastic mug of margarita, which was sickeningly sweet, but oh so frosty to slurp on as I cooled off in the shade, finally through the ridiculously slow lineup. They searched everyone, which of course, took forever with 25, 000 people…sigh…my friend A. came through again and we scooped some seats in the 9th row back from the stage. As the seats filled up around us, no one showed up for the ones we had taken, so we were extremely lucky – good karma I reckon. We had an older hippy dude in tie-dye who sent down the row a number of thumb-sized joints to whomever wished to partake…there was no shortage in the gorge – you could see a very visible cloud that hung over the crowd. Nice.
Tom Petty did not disappoint and I was able to get several really good shots of him. I was so impressed with the show they gave us, as soon as I got back to Canada, I bought a ticket to another show. I’m coming Tom!!! Thrill me again!
The following morning we packed up once again and headed north to Canada. The first bit of the drive was a hoot as so many people recognized the van and were headed out on the same highway, and had seen the show we did, and were as excited about it as we were. Lots of honks, photos, waves, hoots, and so on. We loved it! We had tickets for the 7pm ferry, but hoped to make it to an earlier one as we were making good time. Then we hit the Canadian border…for some reason the border patrol guard had difficulty understanding how and why I was able to take time off and why my van wasn’t registered in BC. I explained it to him several times, and finally he wrote a code 7 on our yellow slip, and we were sent to park the van in the search area and wait inside, taking absolutely nothing with us. Three of them gloved up to search, took a look around the van, and didn’t touch anything. They came back in, he said our “story” fit the van, and handed me our passports. Um, okay. Thanks. I’ll see you later and we left the building. I think maybe they saw how much stuff we had crammed in and they didn’t want to get into it. I also think they saw my concert t-shirts, my university stickers, and so on and pieced it together. If only that was where the drama ended.
Then I tried to start the van. Not a gig. Not even a click-click-click…dammit. I had to go back in and see about getting a boost. They willingly agreed to help me, and before long had me plugged into a border patrol van, and the engine roared into life. Yahoo. Let’s get the hell out of here and head for home. They were very nice at the border, just a pain in the ass and a delay in time. We still managed to catch an earlier ferry and were very glad to be back in Victoria, with enough glow from the excitement of the weekend to gloss us over.
Victoria has been absolutely wonderful. The weather has been awesome, not too hot, and cool enough at night to sleep easily. The sun is out every single day, and the sidewalks are well shaded to keep you cool as you stroll about the city. I was lucky enough to meet up with an old friend I met while traveling in Ireland several years ago. She is from Australia and had been traveling for several months already. We went out to a few pubs while she was in town, and walked the waterfront. It was so good to see her, and reconnect with someone who shared Ireland with me. Someday I hope to visit her in Australia, and she happened to mention the work potential for me there…hmmm….no snow ever…sunny nearly every day, beaches, definitely worth considering. Victoria is also home to several VW campers of various years and designs. I never go a day without seeing at least a half a dozen, and sometimes as many as 20 different ones. I LOVE IT! My van fits west coast life as well as I do…I think I may have found a new home on this coast. I shall definitely consider it once I’m looking to settle down again for awhile. I also connected in the ferry line-up from Victoria with a woman who works at a service agency on the Baja peninsula of Mexico, where they have an orphanage, shelter, and other services for people. She asked me to come and volunteer there, and I may just well do that! It was fate that we met, and we exchanged cards, so I will at the very least, look her organization up on the internet and do a little research. I would love to spend some time at an orphanage, and I know they could use me.
So there you have it. It’s been terribly busy, but wonderfully awesome. I am feeling the west coast love...
No comments:
Post a Comment
hey, share your thoughts with me.