My habit of waking up ridiculously early continued. Grandma made breakfast again, and my sister popped by with her Wii so I could school her. After spending a good half hour saying goodbye to everyone, we blasted out of there and began the upward portion of our journey.

The entire time growing up in Florida, I never realized how expensive the Turnpike is. No lie, it's enough to put the Mass Pike to shame.

Gainesville was one of my favorite stops on the first leg of the tour last year, and this time was no different. I would have to say that, excepting their slightly odd load-in procedure, 1982 is one of my favorite places to play. The people there are exceptionally nice and they've got all sorts of Nintendo systems at the bar. Me and some dude named Eli did a round of Mario Kart 64. I lost the race, but only because I was forced to choose Toad. Fucking Toad. Who the hell picks toad? Anyway, this particular show was fun. Very, very, very energetic and the crowd was dancing. Jen and Ryan even jumped in during Nero.

Also got to see all the friends we made the last time around, including my cousin Elena. After 1982 closed for the evening, we all went around the corner to some bar... the name escapes me... but they had a really great selection of beers. I remember getting a porter ale and talking to one of Elena's friends (Leilani?) about dogs. We were all pretty wrecked at that point, so who knows. Well, everyone except for Ryan. He's been under the weather lately, throat's been hurting like a bastard, so we parted ways and made plans with Elena to meet up for breakfast.

On the way back, we made a stop at a CVS to buy a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, a bottle of wine, and a bag of mini Snickers. Seemed like a good idea at the time. The dude at the counter said something to the effect of wanting to be in our shoes. We piled back into the hotel, watched a few episodes of the Simpsons, and wolfed down some of the Cuban sandwiches my grandma gave us before we left. Jon pretty much housed a good third of the bottle by himself.

I fell asleep at some point and was cognizant enough to change into bedclothes. This part's a little hazy.

This was a good night. G'ville's an alright town.

Next: paying for all this fun.

Henry

Labels: tourdiary