With the veggie fuel tank in its proper place after sitting on the ground for so long, we filled up the tanks and set off around 1AM. With the exception of Andy, Zabel, and Mitch, it was the first time everyone was on the bus at once. The 24-plus hour trip ahead seemed a bit daunting, but we were excited, ready to chat, relax, and recharge our batteries for a bit.

As the Big Green Bus II began its maiden voyage, we were lucky enough to have Lissa’s father as a safeguard trailing us into Connecticut; this after already his helping us in countless ways. We picked up Zabel, the final member of our crew who would be coming to Bonnaroo. Everyone slept as long and well as they could, but a bumpy ride with lots of sun makes prolonged sleep a tall task, even when you’re exhausted. So we alternated reading, chatting, card games, and naps as we passed through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia.

We had a bit of a scare nearing Tennessee Wednesday evening when the bus stopped feeding fuel into the engine, and we had to pull off to find out what was wrong. Between the mechanical skills of Brian and a Good Samaritan engineer who had pulled over to help (and kept apologizing profusely because his full range of tools were in his other car), we pumped the air out of the fuel line, and headed on our way, crisis averted. We were rejuvenated and ready to take on the world—or at least Bonnaroo.
The rest of the trip was in the dark, and we ended our 28 hour trek in a Manchester, TN parking lot at 5am—even though our directions flew out the window…

- Mikey