First 3 Nights Of Phish

Well, Kyle predicted that Phish would open with ACDC Bag in Clarkston, Michigan - which didn't happen... but they did open with it in Cincinnati two nights later, which was close enough for us!! We were able to get into all three shows (Fri, Sat & Sun) this weekend with no problem - we splurged for seats at the first show and bought grass/general admission the two other nights. After Clarkston on Friday, Phish played in Cuyahoga Falls, OH and ended the weekend in Cincinnati. We were blown away by the attention we got from the van while hanging out before & after the shows. Not only from other Westfalia owners (and there were quite a few we met over the course of the weekend), but from just about everyone. It was pretty cool. Clarkston's show was great for me because it was the first one this year... I was just excited to be there and they opened with one of my favorite songs, Wolfman's Brother. Cuyahoga was special because the venue was gorgeous set within Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the set list included several songs I had never heard live before, which is always a huge treat. But Cincinnati blew me away. Kyle had mentioned several songs he wanted to hear including ACDC Bag, Punch You In The Eye, Fee, Loving Cup & our friend, Jay wanted to hear Reba - and they played all of those songs, plus Boggie On Reggae Woman which is one of my favorites. In short it was a dance your ass off kind of show. So with sore legs and little sleep in the last 3 days we decided to sit out the next show, which is on Tuesday and will be at a venue outside of Boston. Instead we thought we would head towards the show after that which is located in Darien Lakes, NY and give ourselves an extra day to get there. Included with a ticket to the Darien Lake show is entrance to the amusment park which will be open only to Phish concert ticket holders! And it was a good thing we decided to skip the next show - for the first time this trip the van broke down today!! All of the belts blew and the heat sensor broke, but we got a tow quickly and the shop we took it to in Ohio had the parts and fixed it within a hour. Gary and his crew at Automotive International in Blaine, OH were all extremely nice and accomodated us right away and did a great job. We were so grateful. After that we made it to a state park in Pennsylvania where we are camping tonight.
I have some photos from the shows, but the blog site photo uploader is currenly down... so I will have to add them later.

Party Time

Yesterday we made our way from northern Indiana into Michigan to Pontiac State Park in a town called White Lakes. We arrived at the park about 2:00 but didn’t get fully settled until well after 3:00. We picked this destination because of the proximity to the DTE Energy Music Theater in Clarkston – which is where Phish will be performing tonight. So once we got our campsite reserved for 2 nights we went on a trial run to the venue to find out exactly where it was, and it ended up being about a 15-20 minute car ride away (which sounds sort of far, but it’s really only about 7 miles, you just have to go through the town of Clarkston so there are several stop lights and slow speed limits). When we got to the venue we were able to purchase tickets for the show tonight… and we got seats in the 19^th row!!! The venue looks similar to Shoreline with a large pavilion seating area and an even bigger grass/general seating area. I guess the venue is used as a ski hill in the winter, because there are a couple chair lifts that go up the back of the mountain. This will be Phish’s 6^th show this summer – they played 3 nights over Memorial weekend in NY and 2 nights in New Jersey on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week… but trust me when I say, we don’t plan on missing many more – WE’RE GOING ON PHISH TOUR! Or at least that is the plan… Next stop Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio tomorrow and then Cincinnati on Sunday… so stay tuned! We’ve written our wish list of songs we want to hear and made guesses on what they will open with tonight – Kyle thinks ACDC Bag and I think they will open with Rock & Roll. But maybe they will open with Party Time – in any case, reviews have been stellar and it sounds like the band is playing better than ever. I can’t wait to shake my tail feather to the luscious sounds of Trey’s guitar… The excitement is unbearable!!!!

A barn in Michigan

A farmer discing a field in Michigan

Salads for lunch

Our campsite at Pontiac State Park & Lake, Michigan

Living Out Of A Van

It’s been a just over a month now since we have been traveling. We left Salinas, California on April 29^th. We haven’t been camping the whole time: we “couch surfed” down California, slept in a guest room in Denver, stayed at a few hotels and crashed at Grandma’s in Missouri for 5 days. But we have been living out of the van for that long… and everyone wants to know: how’s it going??? I would be asking the same question! And the honest answer is, it’s better each day. We’ve got a system down that just gets more and more refined. Here’s a break down of what we do when we get to camp….

First we pick out a camp site This takes usually 30-40 minutes – it’s the most crucial part because it determines: who, if anyone, we’ll be camping next to, topography, sun exposure & surface area of the campsite, dryness (we’ve seen some extremely muddy campsites), and distance to the bathrooms (you want to be close, but not too close). Then we position the van on the campsite & level it (with the help of our iphone “handy level” ap). Next is turning on the tunes. While Kyle is plugging the van into the campsite electricity & switching the fridge from battery to electric, I am turning the passenger chair around. Then Kyle puts the awning out and I move a few items in bags from the back to the front area in front of the driver and passenger seats. The camera goes up front and the laptop bag gets put on the driver’s chair. While Kyle pops the top up, I put the front shade on and I fold up the table that goes between the two front seats. Then he gets out the ladder and gets the tent & fan out of the top storage box.We both put the tent up and then we do what I call the “fire drill”, which is I get in the van and pull out items from the back and he takes them and arranges them in the tent (when we pack up, he is in the van and I bring him the items from the tent and he packs the back of the van). Once the back is unpacked minus our sleeping bags that are left laid out, we fold the sleeping bags back to the back part of the bed and fold the bench seat up. Kyle puts out the rug that goes right out of the sliding door and puts the lantern together and hangs it on the end of the awning (ready to go for night fall) and I put the sink area together which means moving the window basket items over, opening the top, hanging the towels, fan & cleaner. Kyle takes the bikes off the bike rack & hangs a trash bag. Lastly Kyle opens the water valve, so our sink will drain & we move the campsite table centered under the lantern. This process (minus picking out the site) takes us less than 30 minutes.

This is once the position on the campsite has been determined and the front passenger seat has been turned around.

The front passenger seat turned around

The top poped, ladder out to reach the top storage box & extension cord plugging us in

Tent after "fire drill"

Kyle putting adjusting the awning, the table centered under the lantern

The sink area: fruit in the basket pushed to the side,

towel ready for dishes to dry & cleaner hung above

The upper window is opened, paper towels hung with a bungie cord, cloth towels hung & the fan set up and plugged in.

After the bikes are taken off, the rack goes up & a trash bag is hung on the back window wiper

Everything has a home and many things are dual purpose. Our headlamps hang on the on door handle

And our coffee mugs hang on another...

Pokagon State Park

Last night we camped at Pokagon State Park which sits on the southern boarder of Michigan in Indiana. It consists of a mid sized lake with many houses sitting on it’s shores, an equestrian center, a nature center, an ampetheater, a toboggan slide (for winter use only), a few miles of bike/hiking trails and an Inn. Apparently during World War II soldiers from Michigan would come to the Potawatomi Inn to get married because they would be issued a same day marriage certificate unlike the laws in Michigan and often they would stay and honeymoon at the Inn. We biked through the trails, BBQ’d for dinner, played catch after dinner & roasted marshmallows on the campfire once the sun went down. It was a very comfortable 75 degrees and it actually got a bit cold at night (which is a change of pace for what we’ve had recently). I think the reality of this trip is sinking in – the fact that we have 3 months to travel the country, that there is no work expecting us back – it’s a feeling of freedom I can’t explain, and it feels amazing. We both had moments yesterday when we had to stop and take a moment to appreciate being here on this adventure.

On The Road

The green line shows our route so far

Illinois to Indiana

Yesterday we may our way out of St. Charles, Missouri through Illinois and into Indiana. We stopped in Champaign, Illinois and had lunch with my Great Aunt Elinor and Uncle John, who were my "adopted" Grandparents growing up because they lived in the Bay Area when I was a kid and all my other relatives lived in Missouri. We had lunch and great time reminscing of when I was barely old enough to walk.

Uncle John, Jen & Aunt Elinor

After lunch we made our way into Indiana and made camp at Miami State Recreation Area on Lake Mississinewa. As Kyle was playing his guitar and I was blogging, some local high school kids from Wabash came by our campsite intreged by the van & Kyle's sweet tunes. They started asking us all kinds of questiosn and we ended up hanging out with them until close to midnight. A special shout out to Jade, Billy, Tyler and Ali from Wasbash High - Go Apaches! Jade's dad used to follow the Grateful Dead and Tyler gave us the short cut route out of the lake and on our way East. We passed through the town of Wabash, whose claim to fame is "The First Electrically Lighted City" - and we thoguht it was really cute.

Our campsite at Lake Mississinewa

Sunset in Indiana

We rode out to the lake at sunset so I could take some photos. The lake was really swollen, and one of the roads was flooded. Kyle decided to see how far he could go...

He ended up making it all the way across...

so of course I had to follow.

Today on our way out of town we went across the lake dam and go this view

Feilds of mustard in Indiana

Memorial Day

My cousin Lisa and her husband Jerry had a Memorial Day BBQ at their house with their 3 kids, Abby, Molly & Drew. We met Abby's boyfriend, Jimmy for the first time and my cousin Resa and her husband Rick and their 3 kids were also there: Nathan, Megan & Sam, as well as my Aunt Theresa & Uncle Richard. Lisa & Jerry have a pool, so the kids were loving keeping cool in it and provided much entertainment on the diving board, slide & basket ball hoop. In Memorial Day fashion they had BBQ chicken & ribs and plenty of beer. We had a great time & it is always fun to see relatives that we don’t catch up with often.

Rick, Resa, Jen & Kyle

(and the Van!!)

Our last night in St. Charles there was an amazing sunset