Langerado & Florida

Once again the value of the internet is proven on my travels. I check Craigslist randomly for rideshare listings depending on where my next destination happens to be. This time I lucked out with a group of 20-somethings heading to Langerado in a school bus from NYC. Nine Jewish people and myself, an atheist, on a 1000+ mile roadtrip. We averaged 55mph the whole way and the bus broke down three times. We left Delaware 2am Wed and by 5pm Fri we had reached Daytona Beach, just in time for Bike Week. Because six of the people practiced shabbat, which is a day of rest from sundown Fri to sundown Sat, the bus wasn't going to make it to the festival until Sunday. I talked the other three non-praticing people into renting a car and driving the rest of the way. All in all, I paid $65 for the whole transportation down to FL. We arrived at the Seminole reserve around 3am and were told we had to wait. The three guys wanted to get discounted tickets so they had to wait for 5am and I had to wait for on the work exchange people to wake up to get my wristband.

We set up camp near some of the guys friends and I wandered off to explore. I spent some time at EW's vendor tent and saw a ton of great performances. Because we didn't arrive until Sat I missed a ton of bands I really wanted to see on Thurs and Fri - but it's alright. I did get to see REM, Phil Lesh, 311, Govt Mule, Ani DiFranco, Keller Williams, Ben Folds, Disco Biscuits, Citizen Cope, Minus the Bear, Ghostland Observatory (which put on a sick light show), Railroad Earth, State Radio, Yard Dogs Road Show, and other bands I wandered for a few songs.

After the festival I started working for Clean Vibes, doing the clean up work of the stage areas and the campgrounds. In the process of this my tent, pack and everything was lost/stolen. The work exchange people told me the wrong place to camp so everything was gone when I went back to check on it. But got my passport and license back from the Seminole police. Meh, I moved on. Two days of picking up trash, groundscoring left and right, and getting nice warm home cooked meals - all for free. CV offered to pay us that wanted to stay longer but I had arranged for two kids from Orlando to take me to the Greyhound station. So we left and ended up skinny dipping in Ft Lauderdale - which was awesome. Since I really had no place to be I tagged along to Orlando and spent the night with Natasha. Had an amazing lunch of vegan beans and spices with rice and then caught a cheap flight back to Philly thanks to my mom. I spent a good chunk of my tax return on replacing my gear and I'm heading back out on the road on 4/21.