Expanding Universe: From Beautiful Green Mountains to Horrible Red Stoplights

Monday, June 27 2011 
The goal for today was to complete the unforgivingly long journey from St. Louis to Wilmington, and we still had a good 8 hours, a punctured trailer tire, and some Appalachian mountains to deal with. With the tire quickly patched and switched out, it was time to put the Macho Van's little V6 heart to the test and see how it dealt with mountain ranges. 

...Prepare for Van Death

The result? 
Surprising! Though having to resort often to what we have dubbed the "van killing gear" or "van slicing stroke," Macho made it through in style and gave us some amazing views of the beautiful North Carolina mountains.

Yeah, just like that!

Outside of the mountain-y goodness, however, North Carolina got a lot less beautiful and a lot more strangled with rage-inducing traffic. Traffic is always frustrating, but traffic in a foreign land when you've got load-in to make is especially nightmarish. 

The gas prices were hilariously immature, however.

But before long, we had made it to Wilmington, NC for a no cover, 10pm show at 16 Taps with Children of the Reptile.

See?

16 Taps was a pretty cool little bar with a nice high-ceilinged stage. Wilmington had a really nice downtown area too, though it was predictably deserted on a Monday night. We grabbed some slices of pizza and toured the various sleeping hobo piles. 

Children of the Reptile rocked it (we'll get to play with them again in Charleston on Wednesday) and we had a good time rocking for the small, but very enthusiastic, Wilmington crowd. Everyone in that bar was extremely complimentary and supportive, and I don't think anyone there left without making a purchase at the merch table first, and for that we are extremely grateful! 

After the show, we began the always thrilling process of breaking down gear and loading our junk back into the trailer, at which point I decided to make my transition for regular ol' guy to super sick bro-dude.

Hey bros, you know where they're showin' the fights?

Our lodging for the night would be provided by the incredibly awesome, incredibly generous Damask family, but first we had to make the 2-ish hour journey from Wilmington to Raleigh. The odd thing about NC interstates, as far as I can tell, is that there is absolutely fucking nothing on the roadside: no gas stations, no billboards, no streetlights, nothing. Couple that with the tiny sliver of moon in the sky and you have the recipe for a terrifying pitch-black drive into the heart of fear itself. 

A few hours and minor mishap in which we jackknifed the trailer later, we arrived safely at Casa de Damask at roughly 5am and littered our stinky bodies all over their nice carpet. We woke up this morning and they fed us waffles, followed by a delicious pasta, and all the while we were using up all of their hot water and occupying the bathrooms. These people are too kind, and we love them (except for Sam, who we all hate).

Fuck you, Sam.

Night Light in Chapel Hill tonight with Earths Collide, D&D Sluggers, and more! Let's dooo 'dis.