I planned on stopping in Green Bay to see the parents for a bit, however, neither of them had their cell phones on their persons so they had no way of knowing I was making a quick stop over. I pulled into their driveway, and walked into the back entrance of the garage. My dad's face peeks through the window of the door to the garage, and he says "What are you up to?" Turns out his cell phone was left at work while he was on the road all day, and he had just gotten home. I quickly changed, got made up, kissed Daddy goodbye, and left for the last leg of the drive. Sturgeon Bay is a little over three hours from Madison, 45 minutes from Green Bay. And if you know anything about me and my personality... I hate driving. I can't sit still enough to drive to Middleton as it is, and here I was, driving over three hours on my lonesome. Oddly enough, this last 45 minutes was the most difficult for me, especially as I ran out of gas and drove confusedly through "Little Sturgeon", but not Sturgeon Bay. Divine intervention kicked in and I found a gas station and was told I was a mere seven miles from my destination. I seriously could have hugged the man who gave me directions because I was so happy, but opted against it.
I was given directions to the motel at which many of the musicians were staying. There were two: Beach Harbor, and the Holiday Motel. I got to the Holiday Motel just in time for the chicken booyah dinner. This time also served as a listening party for all the songs that had been recorded that week, thus far. After dinner, we went out pretty hard, and spent the night at a friend's who lives above Cherry Lanes, which is a bar/bowling alley/music venue.
The next day I woke up feeling pretty hazy, and we bummed around much of the afternoon. While everyone was recording and writing, I had the good fortune of taking a pontoon ride. Please bear with me in the audio for the following videos. I was incredibly high for a couple days straight.
After the boat ride, I went back to the hotel room to find Dudley! Apryl! And Chris! What to do? Go on another boat ride.
Afterwards, I stopped by the bar behind the motel and got a chicken salad sandwich. The bartender made it himself. And believe me, he did not skimp on the mayo. Between the sandwich and the side of the potato salad he so generously gave me, I easily could have eaten a few cups of mayonaise out of a jar with a spoon and been the same off. Not complaining, though. I retired to the motel room and slept until 11pm or so. Teddy and I decided to go back to the motel bar and try out the Thursday Night Special: $3 Sloppy Joes. I spent a good deal of time on this trip eating. Once again, not complaining. After this, we were off to Cherry Lanes, where the Blueheels would play an extremely brief, yet fun set.
Chris delightfully surprised everyone when he took his clothes off halfway through the set to reveal a Spiderman costume. I'll find a picture of that soon. The band who played before the Blueheels, Ode, was very nice and kindly offered Grolsch upon return to the motel, which we enjoyed under the stars at some picnic tables. Chris came running and told us that he had found a fire pit. "It's covered by a picnic table, as if to discourage us from using it, but there's firewood in it, as if to encourage us... it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission." So the boys all built a fire with cardboard beer bottle boxes and said firewood. The gentlemen of Ode were fun company. Two of them were from Bosnia and as one played the accordion, the other sang. It was unreal. I didn't drink much because I wanted to be in good shape for the drive back, but I'll tell ya, I was still as high as a kite. Here's some of the hijinx...
The next day was a bittersweet one. Sturgeon Bay is absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I had been given a little escape from Madison, and I certainly did not want to return. The drive back felt quick, and I had enough time that I could nap a bit before work. I'm tellin' ya, I plan on going to Door County as much as I possibly can this summer.
