Day 1,242 of not wanting to wake up. Jen woke up, nervously asking what we did with the gig money, searching frantically before remembering we had deposited it the night before. Had to get up anyway, check out time was at 11am anyway.

Ryan hasn't been feeling too hot, so we made a trip to an urgent care center in Gainesville (ha... second time out of three tours we've had to go see a doctor). We dropped Ryan off to get checked out while the rest of us went to get breakfast with Elena. (Lest it seem like we were abandoning Ryan, rest assured he said we should get brekkie without him). Had a bite at the 43rd Street Diner with Elena and her friend (I can't remember his name right now... this makes me a douche). Jon's search for eggs benedict was foiled, since they only serve this on the weekends. Jen and I opted for lunch, because French fries are hard to resist. Also, it was 2pm.

We parted company with Elena and went to go grab Ryan, whom we were certain was dead (he was not). While Ryan was getting his Rx filled, I spent some time catching up on emails and exactly 8,245,687 Facebook application requests that have been piling up.

On the way to Tallahassee, we listened to NPR. Tally's NPR was entertaining, but not so great. There was one story about two 8th grade girls from Maine who fell asleep on some train tracks while skipping school. They were hit by a freight train, lost a leg and a foot (respectively). Not to make light of their situation, but who the fuck thinks sleeping on train tracks is a good idea? This question was completely avoided, which both amused me and frustrated me.

Checked into a Days Inn. Guy at the counter was incredibly nice and we joked around with him for a bit. He thought we were European for some reason. We had a chance to relax in the hotel for a bit before casting off to Big Daddy's.

Big Daddy's was a strange place. The entrance was actually in the rear (we didn't know this). The signage also goes over the door of the other bar next door, further adding to the confusion. We found Yo Soybean there, who we were opening for. Talked to Nick, form the band, for a bit and he explained to me their drummer broke his hand; so they were performing acoustic as a two-piece for the time being. It was an ironic contrast to the non-existent opening band who had a similar situation and pulled out last minute. I guess I shouldn't cast judgments about it, but it's hard to be over 2,000 miles into the trip and not be a little annoyed by things like that.

ANYWAY...

We pushed the start time to 8:30, from 8pm. Compared to other nights on the tour, this was probably the second-worst night in terms of crowd attendance (the other being South Carolina). Couldn't be helped, I guess. The whole thing was a little rushed, too, since Booty Night began at 10pm. I'm not kidding, either. By the time we finished loading out, there was a line of scantily clad girls complaining about how cold it was at 10pm. In a weird way, it's sort of like the 8th graders who were hit by that freight train: didn't you see it coming?

Yo Soybean was great, though. Awesome harmonies and a mandolin was even brought out. In the parking lot we talked to Nick again for a little while, and hopefully our paths will cross again. They were pretty great.

Ended our party streak tonight. Picked up some food on the way back to the hotel and watched TV (I was busy catching up on some work). Jon finally finished up that bottle of wine he was working on the other day. I mistakenly believed Tuesday night was Conan's last show, but clearly I was wrong, since we were watching his penultimate show. Last one's on Friday. Not really looking forward to Jimmy Fallon taking over Late Night.

Clocked out at 1am.

Driving day tomorrow.

Henry

Labels: tourdiary