I knew this weekend was going to be tough. The three of us were going in different directions for some pretty big shows. Rob and I (with Zach's help) would be setting up (and taking down) our stage, canopy, audio and lights for two separate concerts in the McCall area with one day in between. Kurt took the other half of the sound system for a big concert in Twin Falls on Sunday and then had to be back in Homedale for the Demo Derby on Monday.
Friday was packing day and it took ALL DAY. We didn't get into Lake Fork until after 10 p.m. so the best we could do was kinda-sorta set the stage in place and take enough cases out of the truck so that we had room to set out our cots and get a little sleep. Yes, we slept in the truck. On cots. For 4 nights.
I don't sleep well in the truck so I was up early on Saturday, ready to get this thing over with. The location was lovely but we had a very long day ahead of us. . .
I admit I take a little pride in what I do when I see the finished product of our stage and roof set up but getting to that state is a long, dirty process. Like slogging through quick sand. We knew the first band would be arriving around 4 p.m. so we couldn't even stop to find a shower. I had a griddle so I managed to feed my family pancakes in the morning and burgers in the afternoon but they were only quick breaks from the grind. . .
Zach worked his little tail off and Gloria finished a chapter book. She's really not into physical labor. . .
Bands don't usually see what goes into setting all of this up. They just arrive and marvel about how great it all is and then they set up their gear, play and go home. They probably shower before they arrive and go home without giving it a second thought.
While the first band went through their sound check, I managed to find a camp ground with a shower and instantly felt about a 100 times better. . .
The kids had a chance to take a little hike and maybe feel a little bit like this was a vacation and they were sweet enough to bring me some wild flowers. I love my kids.
Four bands played from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. (when the cops came and shut it down) and everything went pretty smoothly. . .
We worked for a couple of hours when the music ended and then got a few hours of sleep, in the truck, on cots, before facing it all again. . .
Everything had to be taken down, packed away and moved into McCall for the next show. I made french toast and eggs on the griddle. . .
During our tear down, a stray dog found relief from the heat in the shade of the stage trailer. He didn't seem to be a bad dog but he didn't want anyone to get too close to him. He looked like he may have been sick and one eye was swollen and red. He didn't bother us and we didn't bother him. Until. . .
We finally had everything loaded up and ready to be pulled into McCall around 4:00 p.m. Our new friend, however, had no intention of giving up his shady spot. We coaxed and scolded but he just glared at us and wouldn't move. At one point he got up as though to leave but just went around the wheel well to the other side. The trailer had to be pulled into McCall with a friend's van so he just pulled away while Rob kept an eye on the dog's where-abouts. As soon as the trailer pulled away, the dog scooted off. He managed to find a new patch of shade- right under the Uhaul.
In the meantime, there were some poor planning issues happening in McCall that were completely out of our control. The area that was intended for our stage and canopy was enclosed in a little park where an event was already in full swing. The area we needed to set up in was squashed in between the Beer Garden and the Children's Jump House and Fun Time area. Seriously. The event didn't end until 10 p.m. AND there was a dunk tank filled to the top with green algae infested water that sat right where our trailer needed to go. No one seemed especially concerned and we were told we could dump the water and move the tank if we could figure out how. There was no way the Uhaul could back the stage into the tiny area which is why we had someone pull it into McCall with a van. After assessing the situation, we parked the Uhaul and the trailer in the middle of the parking lot that overlooked the concert site and went down to the lake. . .
This is the dunk tank. It doesn't look very big but it sure held a lot of water. . .
When the buckets arrived, we tried in vain to scoop out the green tinged water. We ended up with more on ourselves than in the buckets. We tried using a hose to allow gravity to suck it out. That might have worked eventually but we didn't have several days to find out. We finally just opened up the Velcro sides and let the water pour out onto the ground. This left a lovely mud swamp for us to pull in and set up on. . .
Our only route in was to back in through the beer garden. We cut the zips on the orange fence and our friend, Dave, backed in the trailer. . .
In the meantime, Zach used a push broom and did his best to spread the water out into the outlying areas in hopes that the swamp would soak into the ground. . .
It took him a couple of hours while we got the trailer situated but it actually made a big difference. . .
We spent another night in the truck. On cots. On an incline. I was awoken around 2 a.m. by loud, blaring music. An SUV had pulled into the parking lot above the truck and the owners had all of the doors open and the radio cranked as loud as it would go. I spent the next couple of hours watching the stage as people spilled out of area bars that had closed for the night. There was no security. Anywhere.
Generally everything is usually better in the light of day but that's not always the case. I really shouldn't complain because there weren't any true glitches in either event and we were able to pull it all off in a big way but there were plenty of obstacles . . .
Once we got started on the set up it was much easier than the day in Lake Fork had been. We had been able to leave some of the truss bolted together and all of the lights were numbered and ready to be hung with their corresponding cables. Half of the battle had already been won. We were still sandwiched in between the Beer Garden and the Kid's Area and, for $5, Gloria could have all the fun she could ask for. NOT at the Beer Garden. She played in the jump houses, went down a water slide, made cool crafts, entered a water-melon-eating contest. . .
. . . made a new friend in a water balloon toss relay. . .
Zach just mostly tried to recover from lack of sleep and hard physical labor. . .
I do a lot of people watching when we are on events like this and I've seen some pretty interesting things. This next set of pictures is a Tale of Two Mothers.
On one side of the stage, I saw a tired mother with 4 children. One of them was an infant. She pulled chairs up to the side of the Beer Garden for the older three and then she went inside with the baby. The poor woman looked exhausted.
At the same time, on the other side of the stage, there was a mother with 2 pretty little girls in the children's area. The daughters were dressed in bright pink dresses and the mother was smiling and very well put together right down to the hat on her head and the basket on her bike. I watched them for awhile and wondered which one I could relate to more. It was pretty obvious to me but I'll let you decide. . .
This is Jeff. We've worked with his band on many many occasions over the last 4 years and he's one of the nicest people I've ever met. I love this picture of him with his mom. . .
For the most part the set up and sound check were uneventful and the concert started right on time. . .
I spent my time walking between the concert area and the lake where Gloria had made another new friend. . .
There was a really good crowd and the band had a great time. . .
The music continued right through the firework show over the lake and was really pretty amazing. . .
To make a long story even longer, Rob woke up around 10 a.m. and drove himself to the hospital in McCall. In hindsight, I should have dropped what I was doing and taken him myself but I knew that we had to pack everything away and that we had hours and hours and hours ahead of us. He texted several times over the next hour to say that his temperature was 104.2 and that his leg was seriously infected. They stuck him with needles and gave him antibiotics and pain meds intravenously over the next 4 hours.
Zach got to work helping me when Rob left at 10 a.m. and we continued to put one foot in front of the other in order to take it all down. When Kurt checked in to see how it was going, I told him our sad tale and he offered to drive up and help. He had to have been tired from his own long weekend of shows and he still had to return his rental truck and the backline from his Twin Falls concert but we really didn't have any other options.
In the meantime, the members of the band that had played the night before kept dropping by to see if they could help. I was so tired and it would have been more work to show them what to do so I said I would call when Kurt arrived and they could help him take down the truss. Zach and I did everything we could and then the kids and I walked to the hospital. It was a long walk.
Rob was being released just as we arrived so it was pretty good timing. He was able to walk to the truck and tell me a little bit about his infection but the pain meds and heavy antibiotics knocked him out for the rest of the day. He laid in the hammock and then in the truck in a Vicodin-induced state while Kurt instructed our helpers on what to do next. I took a little breather and was very happy to let Kurt be in charge . . .
It felt like the day would never end and I don't think I've ever been quite so exhausted in my entire life. By the time we had the truck loaded and the trailer hitched up to it, it must have been 7 or 8 p.m. What should have taken about 5 hours, took 12. . .
I'm writing this 5 days after the fact so I can finally process the whole thing. Rob has been to the doctor three times since we've been home and is doing much better. The gash in his leg had scabbed over, leaving dirt and bacteria inside resulting in a severe case of cellulitis. He's been on 3 antibiotics, got a shot in the butt and spent the better part of the last few days on the couch with his leg elevated but I think he's on the mend. I, on the other hand, may never recover. . .
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