Day 2- Traffic and Tornados

The next morning we woke up early and went on a quick run

to the grocery store to pick up some perishables for the show.

In the parking lot we found a baby.

He seemed good-natured enough, so we decided to keep him.

Next, we packed a unreasonable amount of food, clothes,

baby toys, camping gear, and alcohol into an incredibly small car

(our compromise after our original reservation was denied).

Orin slept all the way to Manchester,

or almost all the way to Manchester...

The traffic jam actually started in the neighboring town.

We joined the ranks at 1:30 in the afternoon.

(Keep that time in mind, okay... 1:30pm)

A line quickly formed behind us, and because it was a dead-stop

traffic jam, people started to abandon their cars and hit the streets.

Orin woke after about an hour and required some distractions.

The side view mirror worked for about 30 seconds,

then we joined the masses in the street.

Around 8:30pm the sun started to set,

but, thinking we were almost at the gates, we did not despair.

"Maybe we will still be able to pop up the tents in the light,

I bet you the entrance is right around the next corner."

I don't know what was going on in our heads at the time,

but I am assuming it was the same thing

that happens when a person lost in the desert

seeing a glistening pool of water in the horizon.

After another hour or two, it started to rain and

we gave up the idea of popping up the tent

in any reasonable conditions.

By this time, we were so close we could hear the festival.

A local man walked by and told us we still had 2-3 hours left.

"Ha, ha"... we thought... nice joke.

Or not, as the hours passed the only thing that changed was the

tornado watch for our county that had been broadcast over the

emergency warning system was heightened to a tornado warning.

The Bonnaroo radio station advised campers

to take shelter in their cars.

At the time, we found the warning humorous.

Finally, 10 hours after entering the line,

we drove onto the festival grounds, only to be redirected

to another entrance where we sat in traffic again.

After we had gotten in and popped up our tent, Orin was so wired

that we decided to walk around the grounds for an hour or so.

Finally, around 4:30am, Orin settled down and we all went to bed.

Despite everything, I think we managed to make the best of the day

and were all pumped for the next morning.

More to come.