The Machine Shop.

I'll begin today's post with last night. As there was no real sleep to separate today from yesterday I will use the commencement of our drive to Flint as the chronological barrier.  Sleeping on the floor of a van isn't easy, and while I am definitely not going to complain about it as I am very thankful for my part in this tight knit group, it does make for very long strings of days.

Surprisingly enough the drive kind of flew by.  After catching about 40 minutes of sleep from 3-4am, it was my turn to ride wing-man with Vic.  Dozing off was tempting but wingman is an important role, so I stuck it out. Vic and I drove for a long time and had a couple of good laughs. We stopped at about 8:15 for shift change. More awake now than at the start of my shift I considered keeping my wingman title for the remainder of the eight hour trip. (Eight hours seems short, but in some circumstances it can be forever.) At the best of my judgement I decided to try and get a little more sleep as to not be worthless once we got to The Machine Shop. I fell to sleep around 8:35ish and slept all the way to 10:22.  It was a good sleep too with a comical ending that left me thinking that a wrestling match in my dream was ended when my opponent tapped out. What was actually tapping was Paul, telling me we were getting close. Comedy.

The Machine Shop is probably the most rock and roll place in America. If not it's definitely in the top ten. An incredible vibe takes over the entire place with old-school tattoo art covering the walls and a real bare-knuckle boxer attitude. Flint is a rough part of town and this gem fits right in with what I can only imagine is the lifestyle of Flint's inhabitants. Nonetheless the owner and the staff at The Machine Shop are true class acts. Really really nice people who love good music.

Food: Bob Evans. Like I said, we all love breakfast, and that's what we had at about 3pm.  After that hearty meal it was time to go back for sound check. A few errands later and doors snuck right up on me. So here I am, writing this during one of the opening bands (Future Leaders of The World). I will leave it off here, with the most interesting parts to come. I will definitely have time to catch up tomorrow as we have another eight hour drive to Madison, Wisconsin.  Until then, farewell.

Lesson of the day:  Don't underestimate yourself!