Getting Festive

What a whirlwind past few days, so many people, so many events, and so many memories. I must have met close to 500 people in the past 6 days where I’ve shared actual conversations with and a couple other thousand more hello’s and salutations along the way. Yup – I was in festival mode, sweaty, dirty, dusty, sleep deprived, with a voice rapidly losing its power. I’m now out of it and enroute down south to New Orleans, with a hope that I can make it for June 21 – the Summer Solstice – but won’t be too upset if I miss it. No rush!

Tennessee continued to treat me well, after leaving Steve and Carole’s house close to the border of the Kentucky Border. It was a fairly easy ride even though we had hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit through the old town of Red Boiling Springs enroute to Alexandria. I managed to find a wallet on the side of the road with some Super Mario Brothers graphics on it with a considerable amount of money and cards inside of it. I suppose due to the popularity of mobile phones the phone books clearly have suffered, as I couldn’t find the person’s name inside of it to give them a call. I typically turn around and go directly to the owner’s house to drop it off, but due to the heat and timing constraints I had to keep moving forward. No such luck looking on Facebook or the internet either, so I dropped it off contents intact at the Alexandria Police Station with a bit of backstory for them in hopes it would make it to their owner – J. Martin I’m sending warm thoughts to you!

Stopping in Alexandria was great – I met Nakaya on the Couchsurfing network and was invited to stay at her farmhouse which dates back to Civil War days – It certainly did have a lot of history, and the floors were slanted in all sorts of directions which made me chuckle reminiscing about the game ‘Labyrinth’. Donkeys and Chickens roam around the fenced backyard, and snakes, spiders, bugs, toads are everywhere so you really need to watch out where you walk. It was a bonus staying with her as there were 3 other solid people in the house at the same time, Brad and Karen – Also Couchsurfing (their first time!) from New York City, and Shawn, Nakaya’s significant other who recently moved to the Tennessee area after living in the Seattle area for the past 9 years. It turns out we know some of the same people so we quickly skipped past the formalities and got into many great conversations well into the night, and it was great getting to know everyone else. Sleep came late, but I wanted to make sure I would get a good nights sleep as I knew what was coming shortly. I grabbed 7 solid hours before waking up and starting the pack up process but didn’t quite get moving till after 12pm – no biggie – 80km to my destination shouldn’t cause issues right?

I was right – Knocking off the 80km in a bit over 4 hours, which is something I haven’t seen in quite a long time due to my overall lack of energy, the searing heat, and the hills that have been in my way. Still I had the motivation to get to a grocery store and get to my destination well before Sunset. I ran into a couple on the side of the road who were heading to the same destination as I but unfortunately their Van had broken down, and they were in an area with no cellphone service – Ouch! I later found out they made it out OK without it impacting their weekend. I rode into Manchester, TN which was hustling and bustling with people (the population is less than 9,000 people but was swelling to over 100,000) trying to sell wristbands, liquor, cigarettes, and trinkets. I made it to the epicentre of the mess (Wal-Mart) loaded up my panniers with Papaya’s, Pineapples, Mango’s, Hummus, and Bread. Knowing how food intentions work at festivals I think I got this one right. Last thing I want to do is eat Oysters at this stage.

—– My Bonnaroo Report

I rode to the Bonnaroo Festival Grounds, with the intent of picking up my Staff credentials at the gate only to be turned away and told I needed to travel 8 miles back where I came from to visit a High School where all Staff was to register. No problem, this was still 5pm, and the sun wasn’t to set until 8. The amount of disorganization and lack of knowledge at each wave of staff members I queried to get answers on where I was supposed to be, how things were supposed to work etc. didn’t surprise me – there are over 22,000 paid staff and volunteer positions, and things can get a little bit chaotic. My next roadblock was being denied access to even go to the information booth while on my bicycle – “Didn’t you read there are no Bicycles allowed whatsoever on the Property” was said to me with my back turned by some power tripping security guard. I turned around, walked in the general direction and asked him to repeat himself – which he did with great authority, and quieted down when I told him that it was my only form of transportation and to relax. Thus began the trek through rural roads to find the High School for Credentials. After circling the entire perimeter of the festival site (700 acres) I came to a fork in the road and saw a man who looked strangely familiar to me talking to a truck driver. I slowly rode past racking my brain checking out the contents of the truck and the passenger who was sitting in the bed. It wasn’t who I thought it was, but the Brad and Karen who I had met the night before in Alexandria! It was obvious that we were to meet up again, and they said they wanted to see if there were any possibilities of getting signed up to be a Volunteer for the festival, so we loaded my bike into the back of the truck and made our way towards the High School. Everything worked out for me, but for them not so much – This began a wild goose chase hunting down tickets from the Vendors all over town, finally with it resulting in them finding access for $150 a piece, a great deal considering they were being sold at $275 online before selling out entirely. Their driver (who they met on Craigslist) was a great sport and ended up getting us back to the Festival site in the darkness, where we arrived at the gates (different side from the one where I had been to before) where confused staff members and security guards spread more misinformation and fumbled with day 1 festival formalities. Rules are quite strict at the start of the festivals as everyone still has their sanity, hydration, and brain cells left and I managed to make it past the first wave of security without having to dump all of my gear out on the ground and not have my knives confiscated – thankfully one of the security guards recognized my SpyderCo Knife and told me he had a similar one and said for me to stuff it somewhere since he knew how much they were worth and since I was able to give him no grief trying to hide anything. I did my best to get my bicycle into the grounds, and the closest I could get was removing my front wheel and taking the rest of the bicycle in, something I didn’t feel quite comfortable with whatsoever. I had contacted the organizers of the Bonnaroo festival explaining my situation and they had stated that there would be a secure grounds where one could lock their bike – yet there was none to be found. It seems their idea of a secure area is a chain-link fence, which could be easily cut, and poles removed from the ground with little effort. At this stage I was tired of dealing with the run-arounds and trusted the universe locking up the bike and leaving my helmet attached to the saddle hoping that everything would be all right.

The festival isn’t setup whatsoever for those wishing to walk in, with the exception of a small tent city in the middle of the grounds 2 miles in – a long walk through a maze of streets, vendors, and gated areas to keep people out from where they shouldn’t be – luckily golf carts rode around offering rides for an enormous fee of $5 per person to take you to anywhere on the grounds, which is what we took advantage of as hauling all of my bags that attach to my bike was becoming quite cumbersome after the first 100 miles. I had to remove my bicycle pump, fuel canisters, water bottles, and lights for fear of theft by festival goers, so by the time we made it to the centre area “Thunderlips” I was exhausted trying to muster up the energy to setup my tent and sleeping gear. Tapped out after riding 120km I relaxed around the makeshift camp, introduced myself to other campers and went to sleep quite early, skipping any of the music that was playing, unfortunately missing Beats Antique, one of the acts I was looking forward to seeing/hearing.

Information booths are at each of the “Pods” (Pod 6, ha!) – areas to assist in finding your location marked by balloons 100 feet in the air, along with a tower displaying the time and launching into strange sounds and music on the hour, sometimes frustrating at 3am since the sounds lasted at minimum 2 minutes. Rows of portapotties and strategically placed throughout the camping areas, but it was just as easy to find a secluded area and take a leak on the grounds without anyone noticing. The portapotties themselves were similar to most other festivals, stinky, without toilet paper, and quite dirty from people either misfiring, or even standing up while relieving themselves, so care is required to check out that you had a clean one before getting a nasty surprise. from Friday night onwards I noticed a definite improvement in the frequency of cleaning and more supplies available site wide. There were also water stations, rows of sinks inside a container that allowed one to deal with basic hygiene – washing your face, brushing your teeth and refilling your water containers. It seemed to be filtered water at first until Saturday afternoon when the supplies ran out and they switched to sulphur filled well water. for a $7 fee one could grab a hot shower from one of the various tents around each of the Information Booths, for Staff they were free – yet I abstained on taking advantage of the opportunity – I wear the same clothes typically throughout the entire festival, and you’d simply get dusty and dirty within minutes of cleaning – wet wipes and small sponge baths do the trick allowing you to save your money for food (which offered a selection of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks of fairly good quality such as Gyros, Burgers, Alligator Chunks, Sweet Potatoes) in the $5-$10 range, drinks (non alcoholic drinks such as water, juice and lemonade ranged from $3-$5, beer was $7 for a watered down typical American ‘Lite’ Beer, more in some of the specialty tents) and souveneirs/supplies at various Vendor areas (T-Shirts, Hats, Water Bottles with the Bonnaroo festival line-up/specific artists ranged from $10-$30 – Other things like Camping Chairs and supplies for those who forgot something/broke something ranged from $8-$30). 3 Blocks aptly titled ‘Shakedown Street’ which is accessed by exiting the centre concert grounds offered smoking apparatuses, Aerial Photos, Soaps/Lotions, and other articles of clothing and accessories that you’d typically see at a festival). The nice part about this area is that it is exempt from any noise regulations normally found in the campground, so 2 Vendors took the time to cart out a Renegade Sound system and routinely featured DJ’s, and live bands throughout the weekend after the main stages had closed for the night for those who were interested well into sunrise. I was not – Been there done that, and I like my sanity and will take the opportunity to get some shut eye when its cooler rather than the blazing hot sun which was 95 degrees and up for the entire festival.

The heat was a bit of a shock for most people, 1 person unfortunately passed away from dehydration in their tent towards the start of the festival, and many were in the first aid tents from Heat Exposure, but more so because they weren’t taking care of their bodies properly. Drinking Beer (as light as it is) is still a diuretic and causes dehydration. Paired with the heat, and dusty conditions people left right and centre were going down in the concert areas that I was working, not a drop of water to be found on their red sunburnt bodies – more interested in looking cool than their overall wellbeing. One must expect to get little to no more than 2-3 hours a night of sleep, which seriously taxes your immune system, saps your desire to eat, and strips away your energy so its no surprise that people were in the state that they were. Add a few joints, hits of acid, psychedelic mushrooms or pills that were floating around the festival by roaming drug dealers and you’ve got a combination that is going to result in disaster.

I worked 32 hours throughout the weekend, wanting to experience the festival from a different vantage point, not wanting to immerse myself in habits that i would usually get myself into at these events (last man standing, wide eyed no sleep for days in a state of incoherent lunacy) and it worked out quite well. Sure I had the temptation to go and do myself in for a night, but stopped and evaluated the situation – what i was there for, what I’ve accomplished in the past few years, and where I needed to be and held off of poisoning my body. Surely everyone I know prior to heading off on this bike trip knows what I turned into, and has a memorable story of a situation where I was “that guy”. On Saturday night after checking out some musical acts I walked alone to my camp completely content after realizing that I’ve achieved what I wanted to do – which is just what – doing what I wanted to do, finding a way to get in and out of situations safely and realized i just don’t need to be involved in situations where I’m seeking refuge from the chaos and stress of the world for 6-10 hours actively seeking higher ground – I’m in it right now, and there’s no need to search for something better. Not looking for the accolades from everyone but I’m quite pleased at how I’ve been able to control any cravings, direct my dark energies and desires into areas of positivity.

Inside the stage area ‘Centeroo’ is a large maze like set of streets with more vendors for gear and food, more portapotties and some exhibits. There was a Ferris wheel operating nearly 18 hours a day, and a large water slide that people could pay $7 to use. Staff got access to these for free, yet I only tried the slide. Various areas intent on educating patrons about ecological friendly living, recycling were along side one of the stages (Solar Stage) powered entirely by the sun, something we did not lack the entire time. Another solar powered area was the Fuse station – where patrons could drop off their cellular phone or electronic device, and come back later to claim it freshly recharged. There was a long line for this and most people found out that there were laptops inside of the Fuse area which tended to play cheezy dance music, yet offered air conditioning and couches to recline on. The laptops were constantly being used, and all USB ports were in use for those who didn’t want to drop their phone off at the stations. A cinema existed, playing various documentaries and films throughout the weekend, again with air-conditioning, and was more often than not used as a sanctuary from the heat and for those who wanted a dark area to catch some shut eye. I caught the end of ‘Network’, a classic film from the 1970’s. Notable was the Silent Disco – an area which had a DJ playing various sounds, yet with a twist. Each patron was given wireless headphones, and were able to rock out to the sounds without bothering anyone nearby with the constant thumping of bass. It’s a pretty surreal experience to watch – Karen mentioned that it would be neat if they had 4 types of music playing, and wanted to see the various people dancing, to see if they would all end up in the section – it could be further enhanced by placing a screen with dots showing each listener as they moved about the shaded area. While there were line-ups, they were more than reasonable, often getting you into the areas within 15 minutes or less.

Staging wise, I seem to recall 4 large staged areas, and the main stage. Each of these areas were unique and offered fantastic sound, OK lighting, and with the exception of the main stage a shelter to protect people from the hot sun. This means that most people were cramming themselves into these areas which certainly didn’t help those who were already exhausted from the heat, thus resulting in many people passing out. Each area had an elevated section for those with disabilities, and for those who spent exorbitant amounts to come to the festival with a ‘Total Access’ pass – for those who had the money to shell out $25000 it offered the opportunity to meet the artists backstage, eat complimentary food and alcoholic drinks, and a private RV for partying well into the night. I don’t know how many people actually paid the fee for this opportunity, but I can say at least 100 from my gathering as I spent an awful lot of time working these areas. With the high fee came a high and mighty attitude from these patrons, and I care to speak nothing further about their arrogance.

While I was working I managed to luck out and grab some wonderful shifts – As I mentioned I worked the Access area, which meant allowing those with special wristbands into the private areas to view the artists on an elevated platform. It gave me the ultimate vantage point to see many artists, most who I had never heard of before, yet still enjoyed the show. At one of the shows ‘Florence & the Machine’ I was run off my feet from people wanting to see the show better, and there must have been 100 people on the platform which started to bend in many ways. I was amazed at the deaf interpreters relaying the vocals in sign to the patrons with hearing disabilities, they were quick and on point. I had to shudder however when the artists asked people to jump, or started in on an upbeat number, as I was sure we were going to have an accident with the stage breaking through. It permanently bent some of the support beams, and I can only imagine how it looked later on in the weekend. I also had to catch people climbing up on the fences to sneak into the area. Walking over and speaking politely to them about how it was for privileged patrons only was interesting, as many had a story they had to tell about why they needed to be up there, and some gave attitude when busted. I could only cross my arms and tell them it was time to go, and let them know that all it took was one action on my part to have security come and escort them out of the festival. Glares aside, it was a positive experience. I also had to hoist people who had passed out from heat exhaustion on the platform, watch them as they settled down a bit, before telling them they’d have to do better than just pass out if they wanted access to these areas before escorting them off into the general concert area. At the end of one of the shows many people came up to me in the crowd and on the platform and thanked me for my courteousness, and everything that I was doing – It’s kind of nice when you are working a show and have to enforce the rules and have someone thank you for putting in the time and effort. Other than the Access Areas, I was involved in Artist Catering, which required little to no effort, other than being available to provide the performers with refreshments, all the while making small talk with them, shaking hands and hearing what they have to say. I met 8 different bands, some very well known, and could be regarded as headliners of the entire festival. The crazy shift which I was expecting on Sunday morning I was able to swap as I was starting to get saturated and needed some time to myself to explore the festival – thankfully I had it moved to 2:30pm the next day and spent the afternoon meeting and greeting festival go’ers in an air-conditioned access tent. Because of this work I had all of my meals taken care of, unlimited water, my ticket cost sorted out, and a small sum that is going to help me continue riding – I’d definitely do this again.

The music was incredibly diverse – appealing to almost every age range and genre of “mainstream” music. Highlights for me were Atmosphere – a hip-hop band from Wisconsin, Florence and the Machine, Loretta Lynn, Buffalo Springfield and a solo performance from Matthew McHugh. A huge fail goes to Bootsy Collins, who after 1 hour of delays came on stage only to barrage the crowd with 30 minutes of someone sound checking the mic over and over again. They lost a tonne of fans for this, with the crowd chanting ‘Bullshit, Bullshit!’ over and over again. I left after the 2nd song even though while it sounded great, I felt let down by their actions. Eminem, the headliner of the show and certainly something I wouldn’t catch myself listening to had what seemed like the entire festival watching him at the main stage, where the sound was off, the visuals were reminiscent of watching Winamp visualizations in my living room in the year 2000 and the set was fat too choppy. He must have demanded in his performance rider that he be the only person playing the festival during the time slot which forced a lot of patrons out into the camping area quite early. On Sunday night, Dopapod played the Shakedown Renegade Area and tore the place up with 15 minute funk jams of familiar songs, ending their set with a Rage Against the Machine medley which started a large mosh pit and fired everyone up even though it was certainly time for people to get some rest.

The people is what gets me going at the festivals and this was what I was most looking forward to. Other than the snarky security guards on the first day, a few overly drunk patrons, and the thefts that occurred by people slashing tents and grabbing whatever they could find everyone was in fine form. Each person had a smile, responded back to you when you said hello and were definitely there for a good time. It seemed that most people I talked to this was their first Bonnaroo, and first festival experience ever, so it lacked the magic that I’ve become accustomed to at other festivals, yet been entirely tainted by one – the Burningman Festival 3 hours north of Reno. Next to no theme camps existed, and if they did only consisted of a sign and the odd flag. Costumes were lacking entirely, short of maybe .5% of the patrons. When I did find someone in costume I made a point to talk to them and see where they were coming from, and most were veterans of the festival scene, and most were Burners at that. On the first night as I mentioned I made friends with many of my neighbours, and managed to grab contact details from most before the weekend was over, but opted to move on Day 2 after I received an email using the spotty internet service scattered around the festival to meet someone who I had requested to Couchsurf during the weekend. She had let me know that I could stay in her place but she would be at a festival, which is how I came to be knowledgeable about its whereabouts and whens. I found her camped in an area with many cars, and quickly felt comfortable based on the initial meeting and from our frequent online conversations and knew this was where I was to be for the weekend. Brandi and Yvonne were both from Nashville, both very creative and loving people, and had a solid crew of friends with them from the south. Brandi had been to 6 festivals over the past 6 weeks and had no intention on stopping any time soon providing she could line up complimentary or discounted tickets and we shared many a time conversing, and exploring the festival. I felt quite sad when I had to leave those two, as I pedaled away still hearing them yelling ‘Love Love Love Love Love’ quite far away. It won’t be long till we meet again, as it’s only a little over 2 more months until we’ll all reconvene in the desert for the week long Burningman Festival – which I did end up getting a Low Income ticket for!

It’s apparent Bonnaroo was a money driven festival, and while those aren’t typically my things to be at I still had a great time. They could have improved the staggering of artists a bit better, as it seemed like the ones I wanted to see were all playing at once. During the artist switchover, they could have used some video screens displaying the performances going on at the other stages, as people lined up almost 2 hours in advance for some of the bigger shows and were forced to listen to pre-recorded music.Water trucks could also have been enlisted to spray the roads to cut down on the massive amount of dust that was in the air. I don’t think I would go back, considering I won’t be on the continent next year, but it was a great experience for me, a good chance to test some ideas that I’ve been thinking about in my head for a while, and meet some good friends. Good job Bonnaroo. I also have to say this was the easiest festival for planning for me, as I had everything already with me – short of a few costumes – I’m looking for others that may be coming up in the near future as it seems like a good way to spend the summer weekends.

Sorry, no photos of the festival – I’d rather everyone go and see it with their own eyes.

— End Review

I pedaled out of the festival grounds at 10:30am on Monday morning, passing the cars waiting to get onto the clogged Interstate, stopping to talk to many of the drivers and passengers about where I was from, some had already heard that there was a long distance cyclist there and we exchanged contact information and I was on my way. Hoping for an easy day due to the overall lack of sleep I planned on riding only about 20 miles and taking it easy for the day. Wanting a shower however I wondered the feasibility of making it to my Couchsurfing hosts house 90 miles away. I decided to go for it and pedaled 8 hours at a great speed through the town of Lynchburg, famous for Jack Daniels Whiskey, and through back roads with some pretty hilarious street signs. Leaving Tennessee with positive thoughts it didn’t take long to be welcomed into the state of Alabama. I stopped at McDonalds to grab some of their free internet access, and while standing beside my bike someone came out and gave me a free ice cream cone. Sweet Home Alabama it is! It only took 5 minutes for the experience to become bittersweet when I was passed by a flurry of big trucks blasting out puffs of black smoke intentionally as they passed with one driver yelling out the window ‘Fag!’ It is the south, and I’ve heard they don’t take kindly to cyclists, yet this has been my only negative experience thus far – with each driver nodding as they pass me, giving ample space to over take me, and some pulling over to ask if I was alright while resting, with some even offering money. It was a short ride into the twilight over to my hosts, Jason and Crystal – who had moved to the area from Chicago and Crescent City, California for work purposes. Athens Alabama is a bedroom community for the larger well known Huntsville city close by, known for its engineering, and Aerospace industries. In fact, it’s where the Davidson Space Exploration centre exists – home of Space Camp for youths who have an interest in what’s above us. We checked out the area, where an SR-71 Blackbird is grounded, many rockets and tributes to various space missions, including a shrine to the first animal who went into space and came back alive. In the backdrop was ‘Pathfinder’ – a space shuttle which has never been used in any space missions. Jason and Crystal were interesting people, well established in their field (IT related), and liked to live life to the fullest – taking part in many hobbies. I couldn’t help but find the similarities between us, grasping onto everything and anything that interested me/us to pass the time when not at work. They were solid hosts, who even were nice enough to accept packages from around the country prior to my arrival – Yup I’ve got my purple speakers, replacement blade for my hair shaver, and an unexpected gift from one of my readers – A brand new Apple IPod Touch. To say I’m humbled would be an understatement. There was an issue with my addressing however, and one thing didn’t arrive – My Coffee Cup! I’m still without that wonderful black liquid, and it’s going onto almost 1 week since I’ve tasted it – I suppose I’ll have to reorder and start the process with finding a new mail drop, hopefully soon! I took a day off and spent the day cleaning out my bags, maintaining parts and catching up on well needed rest. In fact I slept almost 11 hours on the first night, something I haven’t done in months.

You call this a bike lane?

One of many comical road names in Tennessee

Miss Baker Memorial

I’m headed further into the south, and it is only going to get hotter. I’ve decided that very shortly I am going to send back to Vancouver my rain gear, and my winter sleeping bag – moving to something a bit thinner as I am starting to roast in this thing at night. It will work out fine, the equipment prices here are much cheaper than in Canada, and I will be able to use it for the next Phase when heading over to Africa. I’ll likely wait to have the rain gear shipped to Spain after that continent is done. Of course, it’s likely to rain the day after I send off the equipment, so I’m taking my time at getting this done. I could use the 8lbs less weight however…

GPX

• Re-entrance