Police Cruiser
12/12/2008
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10:25 EST
The other acts that joined us were Tele V. Cheeseburger (Matt & Phil) and the Ocean Floor (Lane). Since I don't see my dear friend, Peach, often, I broke from the tour for a couple days to hang out with him in Charleston, SC.
The two days that ensued are nothing fancy to note other than I was able to hang out with Peach only in the evenings when he was done with his Navy job. I did get booted out of the place that I was staying because that particular person is out-of-their-mind, doesn't dig people, was ill with the flu (or something), and has some... Well, I guess I should have just said issues in the first place. It was just... Dumb... In any case, I stayed at someone else's instead.
I met the band the night we had a show at the Communications Museum in Charleston. The show was a success and I felt like the two days I was there, I missed out on hanging with the cool indie kids since the others I was with were nothing going for them drunks. I became intensely depressed from the drunks I was with on account of their social drama and lack of being interesting and I became fortunified that I'm not of that or part of it.
After the show we headed over to a hose of some of the people at the show. I made some peanut sauce with leftover rice that warmed and won over everyones hungry hearts. The rest was what you'd do at anyone's house when your visiting; drink beer, talk, climb a cast-iron door, and distribute/recieve hugs.
On our way to Athens, Georgia, the police cruiser that was carrying Matt, Phil, and Lane smelt funny. I verified the odor with Ryland and he agreed that he thought it might be coming with the cruiser. The cruiser pulls over and we follow in the Peugeot. I immediately hopped out of our autocoach to see what was going on and noticed, while everyone was still in the car, that the rear right tire was smoking. After some quick thinking and such, Lane replaced my spot in the Peugeot and I took his in the cruiser.
The car was toed to a car shop in North Augusta, SC, where we found out that the tire was smoking because the caliber (which connects the break to the tire) was stuck in one position, broke the axel, and I think the brakes fused to the tire? Well, the police cruisers are built so that the brakes attach the tire to the axel? Essentially, if the brakes weren't stuck to the tire then the tire most likely would have popped off and the cruiser would have developed into an incredible disaster. Luckily it was a police cruiser and any other vehicle would have lead to potential deaths.
Luckily that wasn't the case but we are stuck in N. Augustin until the car gets fixed. It is estimated to be done between sixteen or eighteen hundred this evening and the quote for repairs that Phil got was $1200. Kind of ridiculous.
When the car repairs are complete we have an eight hour car drive ahead of us and hopefully we'll be able to make the show in Orlando, FL. Sounds like we probably will since Matt works at the place they're playing at and they're fine with running late.
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12:44 EST
... Back to Charleston, South Carolina; It has four things going for it:
- Navy Base
- University
- Me
- American Civil War History
As soon as I left, Charleston lost one fantastic attraction but the rest are a year round kind of thing. There were a few French folk I'd notice walking around, which was odd, but made sense if they were tourists. The area I was around about ninety-five percent of the time was Downtown Charleston. This area has a mix of students and locals out and about (mostly students) and there is a two block strip on King St. that consists of the same yuppie stores you would find in any mall*.
The entire experience along with my other college town experiences, is that I don't like college towns. There is nothing to do aside from party, study, and hang with friends. That's fine, I have no problem with that, but it just feels like that's all there is to do. Of course, in the woodwork of these college towns, there are probably people making cool things happen that I haven't encountered. I dare say, though, Bellingham is taking the cake (for me at least) of rad college towns. I don't like it but it's so far taking the cake. Most of the people I've encountered in small college towns on this trip seem somewhat depressed if not born adjusted to that life style.
I have to say it seems that if I'm going to do any categorizing on people, I would say that the indie kids tend to make things happen, if not the kids that are into social work (humanities). It's a no brainer but nonetheless, the indie kids are the group of individuals that I fit with.
I'm just declaring that in a more overt fashion now... I guess...
*Even an Ambercrombie and Fitch complete with that ghastly cologne smell that flows out of the establishment. I was walking in the street and I gaged. It was awesome.
