Back To Where We Started - Nashville

"What are you gonna do with all your Southern style..."

I was looking forward to leaving for this weeklong trip to see 100 Monkeys & Co. for so long I can't even tell you. This was the culmination of... well... of everything.

I left the boys last in Tulsa... each goodbye getting harder and harder... the time between seeing them this time was the longest it's ever been -- 26 days, to which Jerad replied that was far "too long".

I concur.

Jennifer and I (plus our road dog, Isabella) drove from Kansas City down to Nashville where we met up with Willow, Jessie and Kasey. (Willow & Jessie hopped aboard the Rock Van with us to make the trip through Legacy...)

I instantly loved the venue when we arrived... it had a badass wall of artists... not sure if they were just random artists or artists who had played there. (I like to believe it was the latter.)

We got there fuckearly and walked around a little bit... finding a great parking space behind the venue. (The boys ended up parking right by us so after the show there were hordes of *clears throat* ...people... surrounding our van and theirs. Scary shit.)

As you may (or may not) know by now, I have a pretty extreme sleeping disorder... I rarely sleep, sometimes by choice, most times it's just because my mind will not shut down... I used to be able to fall asleep with Benadryl but now even prescription sleeping pills don't really do it for me...

I digress... *Willow*

Blah, blah, I fell asleep in the van... I was like a "school sleep", where you're not really sleeping and you're not really awake... but it was the first sleep I had gotten in two or three days, so I was happy to have anything.

I awoke to the boys Twittering... quite a bit that day, actually... which made me anticipate their arrival even more... I colored photos and sent them back via Twitter to them. (@hello_jodie) ...and then, all the sudden when I wasn't looking I saw the Monkey van in the rear view mirror, quickly followed by the Scion.

*insert beaming face of joy here*

I said hellos and I missed you's, did the hug thing & gave them a present... I didn't really get to say anything to Jerad and he always peaces out so quickly after load in (damn you, best friend) ...so I asked Jake if he would go get him since I had a special gift to give him...

Several minutes later Jerad came out and gave me a hug and my high five. (Which I missed sooo hard in those 26 days!) ...My dog was barking at the window (she hates strangers... and men. LOL) and he goes, "who is that?" I said that it was my dog and he asked if he could pet her.

...Now, what I should have said was, "do you not see this vicious dog attacking the window...?" But instead I said, "she's not nice; she'll bite you."

His response verbatim?

"YES."

So... Jerad willingly got mauled by my dog.

It was awesome.

I don't normally share stories, but that one was just too awesome and I knew that it would make y'all laugh. I want you all to picture Jerad getting attacked by a 3lb teacup Chihuahua.

This Chihuahua:

Epic.

Some photos from the show:

After the show I got to say to them what I had been waiting so long to say, "I'll see you tomorrow..." such a simple sentence, yet it meant so much to me... and thus our week began.

Next stop? Birmingham, Alabama.

Preview?

Fuckawesome, Jerad. (Check out the blur from his hands? Too much rock, my friend.)

Rock on. Please take the time to comment. :)

Jodie