An Exercise in Spontaneity

"What are you doing this weekend?" My good friend asked me on Thursday night. I didn't have any plans, so I agreed to go with her to Mountain Jam. Now, let me put it this way. We live in NYC. Mountain Jam, as the name clearly states, is in the mountains. What mountain range is near NYC?

That's right...none. The closest are probably the Peekskills and the Catskills. But neither is exactly right around the corner here. And we both had to work on Friday. So around 7:30, I finished up at work, and we began our long trek toward Albany.

However, in order to go to upstate New York, you apparently have to go into New Jersey. Not just anywhere in New Jersey either, but right near Secaucus, which is the reason that 99.9% of people outside of NJ think it smells like ass.

Thus begins our voyage. After a few tunnels, twists and turns, we make our way to what we assumed would be a fairly short stretch of our trip, taking a road from exit 15 to 20. After about 15 minutes on the road, when we still haven't found exit 16, I take a closer look at the directions. For real? To go 5 exits, it was 70 miles!!! No lie! The only change in scenery the entire time was that at one point, there was a Target truck in front of us and the rest of the time, there was nothing. Or on rare occasions, another car.

But we eventually make it to the end of the road, find our exit and get off the highway. Whew. After a quick stop at McDonalds, we return to what is supposed to be the easy part of our journey. One more quick turn, and then we go straight until we hit it, right?

Wrong. The directions end, leaving us in the middle of nowhere. So we call a friend who was already at Mountain Jam and ask which way we are supposed to go. After several U-turns in people's driveways and a bit of confusion with a lodge sign stating "Mountain Jam" even though it clearly wasn't where we were supposed to be, we finally made it.

In hindsight, it sounds terribly unhappy. But once we parked in the farthest parking spot ever, wandered to the VIP tent for our passes (courtesy of a good friend) and made it into the festival, we realized that Mountain Jam was the greatest idea ever. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some hippies and all that, but I was more excited about being in the mecca of fried foods than the mountain/camping thing.

The first sight I saw after we walked in was a giant sign glistening in the air, screaming my name. Well, it actually said "deep fried oreos," but still...I had to go. After a quick detour to thank my lovely friend who got us passes, I made my way straight over to the most delicious food I've ever tasted and handed over half of what was in my wallet for a slice of fried heaven. Yum!

Shopping was next on the agenda. We showed up to see Eric Krasno and Chapter 2, so we had until approximately 1 in the morning until we had someplace to be. Or 2 in the morning. Whatev, it was late. An old man asked my friend and I to buy our dads little jars to store their drugs in for Father's Day. We both passed.

After shopping, my friend and I worked our way over to the venue where we were going to see Chapter 2. We had these nifty access passes, so we were allowed to enter the venue 2 hours early, and just kind of hang out, ie nap. There isn't really a comfortable way to sleep on a stone floor, but we managed...sort of.

Let me just say, Chapter 2's show was INCREDIBLE! I'd never heard them play before, but they were the highlight of my weekend (sorry, deep fried oreos, you lose). Of course, this could just be because I saw them play not once, but twice (they played Saturday night at Sullivan Hall - phenom!). They even had guest appearances from George Porter, Jr. (premier bass player of New Orleans) and Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers Band. It was sensational! And it was freaking awesome to see so many people at their show. There was even this girl with no pants that got up and danced onstage, until she was escorted off. Tres amazing!

Since we had to be home early the next (read: that) morning, we headed out shortly after the show ended. Everyone was really tired, so we took a nap in the parking lot of the same McDonalds, and then drove back to NJ to NYC. Aside from some pastries, Red Bull and a close call with the cops, it was a fairly uneventful trip home. We didn't get lost (well, maybe a little) and we made it back in plenty of time. And then we all went to bed.

And that, my friends, is what I'd like to call a "Choose Your Own Adventure."