SoulFest 2005, Part 1

Ok, at long last, here is my SoulFest experience, or at least part of it.

Wednesday, August 3rd

At long last! The day of SoulFest has arrived! Bonnie picked me up at my house (Grandma's) at 10:30am, and I was more than ready to leave. I'd finished packing (for the most part) back on sunday! We loaded up my stuff then headed back to her house to get some wood and other various items her parents couldn't fit, then hit the road around 11am on our way to Everett MA to pick up Mindy (who I hadn't met, only heard Bonnie describe as "alot like a punk version of you", which was a little frightening to think of). We were going to have an adventure! We got a little more than we were planning!

All was fine, until we got off the highway in Boston, at about 12:30pm. Mindy's directions took us thru Boston (scary!), and there were only a couple confusing spots. Bonnie and I thought we got lost, realized we weren't, then we did get lost, turned around, stopped and asked for directions, got lost again, turned around again, stopped and asked for directions again, and when we got back to the car found some strange reddish brown fluid aparently leaking (practically gushing, we found out later) from Bonnie's car. We convinced ourselves it wasn't us, then hit the road again in search of a D'Angelo's, as that's what the guy in the truck rental place gave us for a landmark. On our quest for a D'Angelo's, we saw the street we were looking for in the first place (S Ferry street!! YAY!!), and proceeded to pull off onto the sidewalk, turn around, drive on the sidewalk, almost hit three guys, and get stared at like we were crazy by a bus driver as we made the turn going the wrong way on that street we were lost on. Yeah. We finally got onto some street, and called Mindy for more specific directions, as there was alot of construction around her house which made things completely confusing. So Mindy told us to look for some bakery down the street and she'd meet us there to direct us back to her house. We found it and climbed out of the car to stretch a little and make sure the leak wasn't from us. Bonnie got down to look under the car, and a voice from above calls out "Are you alright?" I didn't see anyone, so for a split second I'm freaking out, especially when that voice calls out again "Up here!" Then I look up and see a guy on the roof. He climbed down and we popped the hood for him to take a look, just as Mindy showed up. The roof guy told us that we were completely out of transmission fluid (Bonnie's dad had checked before we left, and it had been full), and we'd have to get it looked at. So we piled in and headed to Mindy's to pick up her stuff, and then proceeded back to Ferry street to find a mechanic. While we were at Mindy's, Bonnie had found a plastic cup in the middle of the street and had caught some of the fluid gushing out of the engine, to show whoever we stopped at. We got back on to Ferry street, and drove until we found EVERETT TRANSMISSION to which we said "Ooo, it's got transmission in the title! Let's stop there!!" and Bonnie at that point was pretty upset about her car (and the delay) and she walked into the office in tears with the cup in both hands and said "Broke...Help...Fix..." while sobbing... The mechanic was dumbstruck! It was absolutely hilarious! (we all had a long laugh about it once we finally got to SoulFest) It was a little after two at this point. Anywho, the mechanic was really nice, talked to Bonnie's mom (who hadn't left yet), he even tried his best to explain to me what was wrong. Like I knew what he was talking about! HA!! After a bit, one of the other mechanics brought us back to Mindy's house, where we just hung out for 4 hours while Bonnie's mom was coming with another car to get us. I got my first picture there, of Mindy's brother falling. Yeah, it was pretty funny! We got hungry 3 hours into the wait, and ordered a pizza, and took bets on who would get there first, Bonnie's mom or the pizza. The pizza (complete with sketchy pizza guy) won. There must have been something about us three girls sitting on that stoop, because that pizza guy (who aparently owns the place, Papa Jacks) within thirty seconds of handing us our pizza, chose to divulge the status of his sex life (or lack thereof). Sketchy indeed! Bonnie's mom finally showed up 45 minutes after the pizza, and we were off to collect our stuff from Bonnie's car, and then, FINALLY, we were off to SoulFest, round about 6pm.

Two and a half hours later, we finally, finally got to Gunstock (where SoulFest was held)!! Toby Mac was playing as we were pulling in, and my heart felt like it was going to burst with joy. We'd made it! I was at SoulFest!! We found our campsite easily, it was sooo close! We quickly pitched the other tent while it was still light out, and we could easily hear the bands playing, as TobyMac ended (with 'Jesus Freak'!) and some filler band played before Third Day. Bonnie, Mindy and I went looking for where to pick up our encore wristbands, and then headed back to camp to finish unloading. Bonnie and Mindy then went exploring while I blew up my bed and sent a few txt messages to let people know we'd finally made it. I also called my dad before he freaked out over the cavalier mentioning of "car trouble" making us late, all the while Third Day played. Quick as a wink, 10:30pm rolled around, and they hadn't come back from exploring, so I set off in search of where the encore preformance (which started at 11:15pm) and a bathroom were. Found both, in that order, and went back to stand in line, searching for Bonnie and Mindy thru the crowd of tall people. Being short at a festival is inconvenient, as I found out numerous times. Anyway, once they let us in, I found Bonnie and Mindy. They wanted to stay on the floor, while I headed upstairs to a balcony where you could sit. Here's pics from the encore of Roper and Mute Math, who totally ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF!!!!!!! The key-tar was totally awesome, especially when he jumped up on top of his keyboard!! And then later, after going back to the keyboard, he flipped of the top and was banging on the strings inside...soooooooo cool!!

And that was that. Mute Math ended at 1:15am, then Bonnie, Mindy, and I headed back to camp where we changed into pjs, went back to "the Nice Bathrooms" I'd found earlier to brush teeth ect, and then back to camp for beddy-bye. What a long day!

I was going to lump wednesday and thursday together, but wednesday took too long, so I'll lump thursday in with friday or something. I'm heading out now...I'm exhausted!! lol!!!