I write this with tired eyes from a Holiday Inn Express in Kimball, TN – a podunk Tennessee mountain town about 40 miles away from the actual Bonnaroo venue located in Manchester, TN.

The ride was tough and I did it all by myself. More on that in a second.

I do believe though I am a bit of a psychic though.  You see, I wrote a little pre-Bonnaroo scenario about our drive as included with a mix I submitted for Addicted To Vinyl’s Monday Morning Mix just this past week.  I comically mentioned things about the drive I found funny including sleeping and physical harm.  Some it what I wrote about actually came true…

Matt, Rad-am (Adam) and I hit the road around 3am Wednesday morning with hopes of getting to Nashville around the lunchtime hour to meet up with some folk.  In a nutshell I drove the entire way while Matt slept most of the time and Adam rose and fell into subconsciousness.  For fun when Adam would start bobbing his head I would relentlessly smack the back of my hand into his chest.  I am sure he did not find it as funny as I did but it kept me going.

As we rolled through Kentucky there was a terrible thunderstorm that made the drive tough.  This was a reminder of what could come this weekend.  Bonnaroo + Thunderstorms = Not Fun.

Having been up since 5am on Tuesday I was having a tough time staying awake but I kept at it, took rest stop breaks when needed, slammed sugarfree energy drinks, and finally got the three of us to Nashville where we met up with the wonderful John and Katie at Thirty Tigers.

John and Katie were supercool folk who I look forward to kicking it with hopefully within the next couple of days.  Very good people who are all about music.

Speaking of music, their office is actually located above one of the sweetest record stores I have ever set foot in, Grimey’s.  This music store specializes in new and pre-loved (awesome) CDs and vinyl.  I was like a kid in a candy store looking around and talked myself out of a lot of purchases.  By the time we had to head out I had purchased two LPs and a 45.

From there we checked out Music Rd. where we had lunch with one of Matt’s friends who runs his own networking music promoting company.  Awesome conversations and a shrimp poboy sandwich made for a great lunchtime hour.

Drained and in need of serious sleep we made way to the hotel.  I can not tell you how great it felt to put my head on that pillow and take a 4 hour nap.  Not wanting to waste the entire night Adam and I went to see what was good in Kimball, TN.

Well, there was the neon heavy Tennessee Alabama Fireworks Souvenir store…

I’ll get a better picture later since my camera fogged up during all of the other ones I took.  This place sold fireworks, beer, and tacky ass typical souvenirs.  It was glorious.

That was about it for the city as far as standout attractions.

Bonnaroo starts around noon tomorrow.  The weather is calling for strong scattered storms tomorrow.  I may play it safe and leave the cameras in the car.  I hope the showers stay away though…

Wish us luck.

I’ll post an update tomorrow when we get back from day 1 at Bonnaroo.