slow down pilgrim!

Six hundred miles and sixteen hours later, Aurora and I headed down to Norfolk to see a show and back. What else is new :-)
We made it out of Newark around 1 pm after our customary Wawa stop for caffeine. Cds in the car and directions in hand, we were ready to go. I thought Aurora had read the directions that I had written down and I said that we are good until Salisbury then we have to take some new roads and will need her help. So to me, the Bay Bridge is the huge ass bridge and tunnel across the Chesapeake, and to her, the Bay Bridge is another bridge that goes over the bay. SO she is taking me through these backroads and I figure its ok since she nows quick routes near her house. So we're talking, singing, having a good and we go over this bridge and into... ANAPOLIS! And me and my geography skills know that this isn't right, and conveniently we see a sign for a visitor center. We park across from the Ram's Head and go in and get a map - I am redoing my website and I will scan what we wrote on the map and post it up. We met the nicest visitor center guides, chatted, then left. We were only 125 miles off route of a 230 mile trip. Aurora felt bad, but I told her it was all apart of the adventure and we got the scenic route. So we head off onto Route 50 to meet up with 13 and it was the worst god forsaken highway ever. Too many stupid drivers, no cool places to stop, and just a damn tease in our destination to Norfolk. An hour after we left Anapolis, I realized that Mr. Patty McGee, Fecchino, and our ever favorite Ghegan were all playing at the Ram's Head that night. Damn us for not stopping in and saying hi! In Salisbury get onto 13 and desperately needed more caffeine and bathroom and sustenance. Royal Farms is now the worst place to stop on a trip ever. Usually the RF is the place to go after Fletcher's and any time I am hanging out with Jonasay in Maryland, but heeeelllll no, not anymore! Number one, no bathroom, number two...worst coffee in the world, and Aurora and I have had pretty bad road coffee. So I am grumbling about the lack of Wawa's as I cut across three lans of traffic and make a u-turn while Aurora is trying to balance our goods. Dammit, we pass a Wawa 2 minutes later. As well as a sign saying "Norfolk - 125 miles" Argh!! So in our usual fashion, I decide that speeding is the best way to get from point A to point B. As I am pushing the accelerator, we pass an "Oasis Car Wash." Perfect!! The LDE guys make fun of Aurora and I and our fondness for the GCB groove and they call them NOasis (and pretty much every other person who has played with them - whch pretty much includes all of our friends - agree), so we thought it was fitting and fate that we pass an Oasis. Then we pass a sign saying "Slow Down Pilgrim!" Best sign ever. And of course, they were right, my heart fluttered about 20 times everytime I passed a cop and was forced to go slightly above the speed limit. That was really going to put a hamper on our getting there faster. So we need food and gas and so we stopped for rejuvenation as quickly as possible. We stop at a the slowest Wendy's around, where I had an opportunity to check out my fatigue in a mirror. I then show Aurora the vein in my eye that becomes visible when I am stressed or tired or stessed AND tired. And the vein was big. I told her that should not happen, and it did. Dinner consisted of a Frosty and fries because that is the easiest thing to eat and drive. We get to the bridge and I nearly die of anxiety. I despise bridges, especially those that are halfway submerged and like 17 miles long. But soon after the bridge was Norfolk. About damn time! It looked like a cute city, but I wouldn't know because I was zipping around the streets. Usually when we take trips, I am the one who has to stop eighty times due to my insufficient bladder, but not this time. As we were tuning onto Chruch Street, Aurora informs me that she soon may not be able to have Graham's children. It was so clamly said, so I inquire why the change. She tells me because her bladder is slowly crushing her uterus. That was so damn funny I nearly swerved off the road! It was also in hour eight of our destination, so I think we were just delerius. We thought it was pretty damn sad that we had been in the car for more hours then we have slept lately. We drive past the venue and nearly died when we saw the live wrapped around the venue. Sigh. We park - only 4 bucks - we rule - and walk over to will call.
The Norva is an awesome venue. A slightly smaller Electric Factory with the feel of a House of Blues. We make our way to the side of the stage in the midst of a sold out show. Tristan Prettyman was the opener was good, though we weren't paying much attention to her. She had good stage presence and her songs were good, but the people around us were so chatty that it detracted from the show because we were too busy being annoyed by the irritating girls next to us. Graham Colton took the stage next with an electrifying performance. Such great energy and Turtle has a new guitar. Every time we see them, they keep evolving and becoming stronger in their use of talent and stage show. So great and the crowd was really receptive. And of course Aurora and I were screaming out the lyrics and just acting like the happy, tired, girls we were who were "waking up". I texted the setlist to myself so we would have it - All the World Tonight, Jessica, How Low, Cut, Cigarette, Champagne Supernova -> Killing Me, and Don't Give Up On Me. Afterwards we went back to the merch table to say hi where Turtle proceeded to tell Aurora he remembered her and then he stole my scarf. So we chatted about the new album and the recording and the upcoming tour and whatnot then left to see Jason Mraz. The show wasn't what I expected, but still stellar. He started off very mellow, then kicked it up a notch to an explosive encore. We spet half the evening trying to find a decent place to stand. Again, a complaint about the audience was its chattiness and constant movement. Seriously now, every two seconds people were coming or going, watch the damn show people! It was great to see Jason live but the best performance was still by GCB. We also missed a few Mraz songs because we were outside while Aurora smoked. So we decided to use that time wisely by calling Phil since we all have a long running GCB joke between us all. Aurora claimed that whenever she left a message on his vmail, it cuts her off. I didn't beleive her, so we call him, and everytime she takes the phone to say hi, his phone hates her and hangs up. Three times.
Show ends at 12:30 and we hit the road back to DE. All we want is a damn Wawa for again, gas, coffee, food, and bathroom. We knew one was 125 miles away in Salisbury, but we were hoping to find one closer. No luck. My eyes started burning around the 60th mile. Finally we stopped at the Wawa where we met the nicest Wawa people who inquired about our travels and we shared our love for Wawa with them and how it is a safehaven for us. They don;t understand how happy we were to be there. So after we left Salisbury, I was wide again and ready to go. Soon after we were at Aurora's place, then I headed back to Newark and rolled in around 5 am.
CDs listened to in the car: Ryan Montbleau - Begin, Tyler Hilton - EP, Jason Mraz - Mix CD, Pat McGee - Tin Angel solo show, STN Mix, Howie Day - Stop All the World Now, Green to Think - Sundays EP, Matt Nathanson - Beneath these Fireworks