Festivalness

Saturday, August 4
Serena arrived at 7:30 AM, per our plan. I'd jumped out of bed after two-ish hours of sleep and run to get ready. Shower, damp, clothes, hair primp, thrust packing list into house guest's hands (after I got her off the futon I needed to throw everything onto), packed like a mad woman. Serena cruised in, all primped and breakfast in hand. I tried not to panic. In the past, when Serena is ready to go, she is REA'T'GO and I didn't want to deal with That Girl so early in the morning. Or, okay, ever. She munched on her breakfast while I finished tossing things into Rubbermaid tubs (the only way to pack when headed camping) and we got things loaded into the car. We posed by the car for a pre-trip picture.

We headed for a local pharmacy so I could fill my thyroid medication.

Pharmacist: We're out of your pills.

Me: Gimme.

Pharmacist: We're out of your pills.

Me: Uh. Do something.

Pharmacist: Let me make some calls.

A few minutes later, we were on the road headed for Pharmacy #3 after finding out that Pharmacy #2 was also out of stock. The on-the-road silliness began at stoplights where we flashed each other and  giggled. Sleep deprivation definitely has its benefits.

I picked up the prescription after (1) turning the wrong way off the interstate and driving a good five miles out of my way before the smart (read: awake) part of my brain told me to turn the car around. Finally, we were on our way. And then we stopped for breakfast.

We finally got out of River City and met up with a friend we'd made at another music festival. House guest and I decorated my car with glass chalk. I wrote HOMO with an arrow pointed to the rainbow sticker on the back of my car.

We finally reached Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is just about the best place on Earth as far as I'm concerned.  We checked into the hotel  and I organized my backpack after the morning's frazzled toss-and-run. We freshened up and headed out to shop.

A few hours and many dollars later, we were laden with presents for ourselves. We stopped for Greek food and decided to have our many new Fest friends meet us for hummus and moussaka. Dinner was passable (the company, however, made it excellent) and afterwards, one of the dinner participants invited the tourists out for chocolate at a local chocolate shop. I sampled a truffle soaked in Grand Marnier. Hello, heaven. After chocolate, we headed to a gay bookstore/tea shop and I had some of the best tea in the world. We sat, talked, laughed, and got back to our hotel around 11:30 pm.

I showered and trudged to bed. We were all planning to go to sleep immediately as we had a few hours to drive the next day, not to mention a long day on Monday for load-in at the festival. At 12:30, I'd been tossing and turning for far too long. I was beyond exhausted but too tired to sleep. Serena asked me if I was okay and I said, "YOU'RE AWAKE??" We proceed to talk and laugh until 4:30 AM.

Sunday, August 5
We finally got to sleep and woke around 9:30 to go to brunch with Miss Chocolate Homo Bookstore Tea Shop. We had a lovely brunch and hit the road for Hart, Michigan, around 2 PM. We arrived at 5 pm, checked into our hotel and proceeded to spend the evening playing in the pool and connecting with other women staying at the hotel. Our plan was to leave the hotel at 5 AM for the land where the festival is held. Surely, we think, we'll get to sleep early and sleep soundly tonight. Instead, we talk and laugh until 2:45 AM and I'm out of bed and in the shower at 4:30 AM.

Monday, August 6
We left the hotel at 5 AM, per our plan, with a festie virgin in tow. We got in line to get in the gate that was due to open at 1 PM. It was still pitch black at 6 AM when we got in line and yet we were still car #200 or so. Too excited to sleep (noticing a theme?), we took pictures of ourselves leaning against our dusty cars, the camera flash briefly illuminating the morning. The sun rose quickly and with the light came the mosquitoes. We began our near-hourly applications of bug spray and I learned to live without the light scent of my body wash as Deet kills all. Except the mosquitoes who quickly found every un-Deeted part of my person. Apparently the backs of my thighs are juicy and delicious. I anticipated finding this out from one of the many women I've been flirting with online for months, not bugs. Excitement rans high and exhaustion finally hit. We napped briefly, hauled out camp chairs, tried to teach some of the festie virgins how to play euchre, and waited for the gates to open.