WEST VIRGINIA: After sitting at the rest area for about a half hour we took off again, this time with Johnny driving. We got about 35 miles and the transmission in the van started to act up again so we needed to pull over. He got off at the nearest city which was in West Virginia. We found a church and parked behind it. I was really tired but couldn't sleep in the van because of the discomfort and people snoring. Because of being so exhausted my mind started to slip and I was becoming delusional thinking that the KKK was gonna find us and kill us. Because my mind was wrecked I stared out the window for most of the night. After a short time I saw a shadow moving outside. At first glance I thought it was a wolf running around. But after a few mins I realized that is was a deer about 15 ft outside of the van. This went on for the rest of the night (maybe two hours). Whenever I would realize somebody in the van was waking up I would tell them about the deer outside. When I told Opy his response was who cares it's a deer. I tried to take two pictures of the deer but neither turned out. When the sun was coming up and everybody started to get ready, I got out of the van and was getting my camera ready to take an up-close picture of the deer but Corey scared it off.

I'm thinking the deer was a female and could smell the male scent on the van and somehow thought it was a deer. It's the only explanation that made sense to me.

When we left we stopped at the next city only about a mile away and got breakfast at McDonalds where I had a the big burrito value meal with a OJ for $4.65. This turned out to be the only meal I would eat all day on Friday.

PENNSYLVANIA: The state where we ran into all of our problems. When we left WV we started heading into the mountains. The transmission in the van was getting so bad that we would have to stop every few hundred miles to let it sit for about 15-20 mins. It started to act up really bad around 8 am and we used my GPS to look up transmission shops / garages in the local area. We found a few that either weren't opened or didn't work on them anymore so we kept going. Back in the mountains we drove through big tunnels that said you must take off your sun glasses while driving through them. Opy tried to drive with his on but they were too dark. We kept driving and driving for what felt like days. Opy wanted to switch drivers so we stopped at the busiest gas station I have ever seen in my life. They had a big counter with 4 people working 4 different lines. They kept calling people's names over the intercom saying their showers were ready. We got back on the road with Mike driving - his driving scared all of us. He likes to text while driving. Mike used to live in PA recognized a few areas from his youth. We finally came across a sign that read New York 135 Miles. Just a few miles past that the van took it's last breath. We were on the highway and had to pull over because it was barely moving. We got it to the next off ramp which was near a small town called Shartlesville.

SHARTLESVILLE, PA: We pulled of the road and sat there hoping that car would correct itself. Corey was hungry so he, Johnny and myself all walked into the town. It looked a lot like Van Dyne but was a little longer and much creepier. Some of the houses had built up garbage on their porches. While walking through the small town Aaron from the Bristles called to see how we were going. I told him Opy was back at the van and he would call him back. When the phone call was ending a man came out of nowhere and asked us if that was our van broken down. We said yes. He said that the city doesn't have a gas station anymore, but did have a mechanic who ran an auto shop named Steve. He gave us directions to Steve's shop. We headed over to that area. We had a hard time finding him and came across a building with a few people in it. We asked them were Steve was and they said it was a bldng over. We found our way over there. He was working on a car with another guy. We told him our van was broken down. As we talked they kept looking at each other. He said he had a book for that van but was too busy to help us out. All three of us knew he didn't wanna help us out because of the way we looked. That really pissed me off because here we are people in distress and he doesn't wanna give us the time of the day. I wanted to scream at this piece of shit, but didn't say anything. We left and started heading back to the van. I said this town was straight outta Children Of the Corn. We stopped at the restaurant in the middle of town to get something to eat, all four people in the restaurant stared at us strangely. I went outside to call Margaret. Mike called to say we were gonna be taking off in 30 mins. So all three of us headed back to the van instead of eating. We took off and started to head down the off ramp before the van broke down again. We deicide we were gonna call AAA and get a rental car. Mike and I both had AAA cards. We talked it over and since I've used mine more than his I was gonna have him call. He acted like he didn't know how many times he used his, Corey said he never did. Mike called AAA and the person he was talking to couldn’t figure out where we were. This went on and on for a good 15-20 mins. The whole time this is going on I kept thinking to myself how the hell I'm ever gonna make it home. I was completely relieved that I was stuck with four other dudes at this time. A very short while later a tow truck showed up. The drive was a big redneck dude. He said to pull us to NJ would be a lot of extra money. He said he would take us to a city in PA near the Jersey border called Allentown. I thought he was untrustworthy but figured out later he really wanted to help us. He said that nobody will touch the transmission on it until Monday. He also warned us about people ripping us off since we are from out of state. We told him to start driving towards NJ and we would figure everything out from there. On the way Mike called several car places, but we couldn't find anywhere that would let us take cars outta the state. We decided to check into U-Haul. The tow truck driver said he knew where there was one in Allentown PA, so we had him take us there.

ALLENTOWN, PA: When we got to Allentown the driver couldn't find where U-Haul was located. He kept driving around trying to find it. After a while we just had him drop the car near a shop. Mike and Opy went inside to talk to the people working. Corey and I walked to an auto-store about two blocks away to see if they had a diagnostic machine we could use. They didn't, but had a book we could buy. We walked back. The people at the shop told them that the transmission was gonna cost $2,000. We called U-Haul and it would cost over $800 to take back to Wisconsin. We were also told about a Penske truck rental. We started to look for the Penske place but at this point the van would only work in neutral, so we had to push it up on a big hill. We gave up on the hill and turned around and headed back to the downtown because there was a Enterprise car rental service a few blocks away. The van died again. We had to push it for the second time, this time heading down the hill. Basically coasting we came across a mini-mall parking lot where we parked the van. The Enterprise car lot was a few blocks away so we walked. While walking there we came across a car salvage lot. We got to Enterprise they told us once again they don't rent cars out of state. They told us to check National and sent us on our way. We started to walk a few blocks over to National. It seemed all of us were tired, pissed off and wondering what the hell could make any of this worse. I thought to myself for a second I should have gone to the Cities to the NY Yankees / Twins game. We get inside National. There is a man and women in front of us with a small Asian boy. They are finishing up their paperwork. Five smelly, tired, frustrated young men crowd around the tight office with nothing more than a glimmer of hope. The people in front of us finish up and leave. We instantly surrounded her and start throwing questions at her. She said this specific location does not allow people to drop of vehicles out of state but the airport does. She said she would call the airport to find out if they had any vans available. Right as she was doing that the same three people that just left came back in because they wanted a different car because the one they have smelled like smoke. They were getting taken care of, and I need to take a pee so I went to the bathroom. When I came out the lady at the front desk was telling Opy that the owner of the company would give us a ride to the airport - although the lady at the front desk didn't know for sure if they had a car or not. Opy and Mike were gonna go to the airport and the rest of us were gonna watch the van with the equipment. As we were getting ready to leave I changed my mind and wanted to go with them because I like airports. The owner of the company, an old man in his late 70's to early 80's came walking out of the office area, introduced himself (I'm super-pissed because I can't remember his name) and basically said let's get the hell outta here.

ANGEL OF ALLENTOWN, PA: We headed out to the parking lot to his beautiful white 1972 Cutlass Convertible. Mike jumped in the passenger seat and Opy and I in the back. He knew how to drive with rage and class. He rode people's asses and pulled out in front of cars. Everywhere we would drive all eyes were on us. It told him that this car was a chick magnet and he laughed. We talked to him the whole way there. He was great. Unlike that piece of shit Steve in Shartlesville, he didn't give a damn about how we looked, he knew we needed help and was gonna give it to us. He pulled up to the airport. He got out with us, walked with us up to the National airport booth, told the dude working that we are with him and he wants to get the price under a $100. The dude working at the desk started to look up to see what they had available and what rates. The dude came out and said that there was a van available with unlimited mileage, including taxes for the rate of $160. All three of us were ecstatic that we found a vehicle and still had a chance of getting to the show on time. Mike said that he would drop the van off at the Appleton airport after he was done with school on Monday, because of that the dude at the desk added Mike as the second driver for free. We finished up the paperwork grabbed the keys and headed out. As we were walking out I noticed that it said the total was $160 for all four days - we were under the impression that it was $160 per day. We quickly walked back inside to make sure he didn't screw up which he didn't. We walked back outside to the van. Everything that was going great just got better. The van ruled. It was a new Chrysler with automatic side doors. It had more room and was more comfortable - bigger and better. We jumped in it and headed back to the mini-mall where Johnny, Corey and the old van were sitting. They were eating Little Caesar pizza. I had a slice. Johnny said that Aaron called and said that he bought us beer but since it's taking us so long to get there he drank the beer himself and is now drunk. We loaded up the van and were getting ready to go. A few kids were walking by and Johnny told them to kick the van. They just sat there looking at us. Johnny kicked the van, and then told them again to kick it again. One dude came running up and kicked it. I told him he didn't kick it hard enough and kicked it really hard myself. He tried again putting a footprint on it. We jumped in the new van and with all of our might got the hell outta the nightmare state of Pennsylvania and we escaped to New Jersey.

MONTCLAIR, NJ: After what felt like two days we finally arrive in Montclair - the city where the show is tonight and also where Aaron from the Bristles lives. We head directly over to Aaron's apartment. His apartment is really nice and clean. He has original Salvador Dali drawings on his wall. He offers us beer. I slam four down within a few mins. I get a nice buzz going from that. We leave for the show at the Meatlocker. It is only a few blocks away from Aaron's house. We arrive there. It's a black door with an address and no sign, and it's got two businesses on both sides of it. We walked inside the black door and there is a dude who goes through our boxes and gear looking for spray-paint. We then walk around a corner and go down stairs into the basement. There is a girl working the door. I told her I was with JATP she gives me a bracelet. I walk into a big room, near the door are five chairs, on the left is a long bench which takes up just about the whole side of the wall, on the right are two big merch tables with a door for the bathroom, and straight ahead is another room with a stage. The whole place seems really rundown and dingy - what a great place to have punk shows. The bands tonight are: JATP, World War IX, The Bristles, Broken Heroes and The Star Fucking Hipsters. Majority of the bands playing have members from better known bands in them such as: Blanks 77, The Undead, and SFH has the singer of Choking Victim / Leftover Crack.

I start setting up the merch next to World War IX people selling merch. They are giving away free 7" EP's, CD's and two different comicbooks and selling shirts for $5. I start talking to WWIX members who are all really cool. I trade them a JATP CD and a few pins for the free stuff they are giving out. JATP are setting up to play. Since the stage is in a different room we can't see the bands, but the Meatlocker does something really unique and cool. They record all of the bands that play there and sell the DVD's of their sets. They also play the show on the wall near the five chairs by the entrance door. So I still got to see the whole set. JATP ripped it, they were awesome and the crowd was going crazy. When WWIX started SFH showed up. The female singer in the band sat next to me for a min watching the show. The group of kids with them just sat around until after she got up and they followed her to where she was going next. Talking about the blind leading the blind.

Johnny and Corey were gonna hit up an Irish bar a cop told them about, and Opy said he would watch the merch so I could go with them. We walked for several blocks and couldn't find the place so we went to the closest bar. It was full, definitely not my kind of place but they did have the Yankees / Twins game on. It felt so weird thinking that I should have been there but 2,000 miles away instead - it's crazy how life works out. We all got drinks. I got two Miller Lite's - one for me and one for Corey. Corey ordered 3 shots of Scott for us which cost him $21. After that we left and headed back to the show. When we got back I sat in the back by Opy at the merch table. SFH was playing when we got back. They were suppose to be the last band because the singer is very popular and people would leave after they play. We walked in right after the singer of Broken Heroes jumped on stage and started screaming at the SFH about them playing too early. A dude who got his head busted open with a microphone during the onstage spat was back by us pouring out blood.  The singer of WWIX gf came back to the merch table and said that a riot's gonna break out. The male singer Stza kept going off that they didn't know they were suppose to play later and they will play here again. He repeated this several times. I specifically heard the SFH crew talking about playing at 11. Aaron who was drunk kept yelling at SFH calling them posers and flipping them off. As SFH played and apologized I couldn't understand what the appeal to this band was, besides the singer who all these sheep love. I sat back at the table. The singer of Broken Heroes came running back in flipping over a table and started to spray-paint Broken Heroes and his name all over the walls. The dude doing sound and one of the doorman / bouncers watched him tag everything. Nobody tried to stop him because they were all afraid of him.

When SFH was done they left with their sheep. The smart people stayed for the Bristles. The Bristles rocked so hard that I was surprised New Jersey was still standing when they were done. Aaron is by far one of the best front-men I have ever seen in my life. He's in the crowd pushing, slamming and hitting anything that is near to him. This includes his own band mates as he kept jumping on his bassists several times during their set. It was beyond awesome in every way. Opy and I watched from the side of the stage for a while. When the Bristles were done majority of the people left. It took along time between them and Broken Heroes. When BH started I was so dead tired I just wanted to sit on the bench and rest. About half way into their first song I needed to check them out. With the place being so empty the music was really loud. I watched a few songs, and did like what I heard but left to help load up the van. Outside the manager for SFH said we could crash at the C Squat Saturday night if we didn't have a place to stay. Mike asked him if squats were made outta mud. I asked him if the C Squat was no legit. He said that the city is still working out a deal to sell it to them for $1. We left and went back to Aaron's. We hungout until 4 am. It was very cool but I was exhausted. It felt like several days in one. This might be the longest day of my life.

Here is a list of what I bought on Friday:
McDonalds $4.65 > big burrito, OJ and hashbrown
Gas Station In PA > Cheezit's $0.99 (no sales tax)
Pilot Gas Station In PA $3.27 > Lipton Diet Tea, Banana, Peanut Mix
A Bar down the street from the Meatlocker > Two Miller Lite Bottles
Total - $15.91

Your Next Favorite Song # 151: Blanks 77 - Do Or Die (from Killer Blanks)