Well kids, I’ve made it. As we speak, I’m sitting outside a Krystal Burger on Hillsboro Road in a totally happening Manchester, Tennessee. I began the 300+ mile trek just after 6 pm and made it right after five hours. I started the journey off listening to Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits and I have to say that “Born to Run” really captured the mood. As the drive continued and I picked out albums from my CD collection, it was if the songs appeared to tell a story of my journey.
Upon my passing through Louisville, I figured it would only be appropriate to listen to Louisville’s band, My Morning Jacket. I won’t give you all the details of the ride down here, because I’m sure you know that passing through the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee, that’s it’s rather boring. However, it’s very beautiful.
As I approached the Tennessee border, guess what band was in my CD player? The Grateful Dead. That’s right. Unfortunately there will be no Dead presence at this year’s Bonnaroo, the first time in the festival’s seven years. I had everything synced up so that “Tennessee Jed” would be playing exactly as I crossed the border…“Tennessee, Tennessee, there ain’t no place I’d rather be, baby won’t you carry me, back to Tennessee…”
The first destination upon arriving in the small town of Manchester, was to locate the radio station I’ll be going to in the morning to pick up my media pass. I found the place even though it was rather dark, and the station appeared to be locked up for the night. Much to my surprise, the infamous Walmart was only about two miles down the road. I pulled in the lot but wasn’t really surprised to see only what appeared to be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people. I have no way of knowing exact numbers, but that’s my best guesstimate.
I asked around for places to find WiFi and I was told the Huddle House. I’m sure they have Waffle House’s down here, but this place appeared to be the poor man’s version. However, the food and service were great, unfortunately, the WiFi connection was absent. So I headed next door to Starbuck’s but they were closed. I ran into J.B. from France who was getting WiFi outside of the store. We talked for a bit, he tried to get a connection on my computer, but nothing was working. He told me of Krystal Burger, and here I am.
Well I guess it’s getting kind of late, although I’m sure the partying will go until the sun comes up in the Walmart parking lot, so maybe I better head back to get some sleep. I won’t be partying quite yet, I need my beauty rest.
