Living and Relaxing

I'm sorry I haven't written in 4 days, Evan and I had two days off so we have been relaxing but I will catch you up to speed.

Dinner by candlelight 

June 18th: Unfortunately, Evan didn't play the Atlanta show on Saturday night due to weather. A strong wind came through during a thunderstorm and threw a tree down onto the power lines outside of the amphitheater causing a blackout. Evan and I waited around until 9:30 PM when the power came back on and we were told that Evan's act had to be cut to save time. Even Heart and Def Leppard had to shorten their acts for the night but the show went on.

We spent some time catching up with a friend and then decided to drive through the night to Alabama. I drove most of the way after drinking a 5 hour energy shot and sustained my attention through house music. Luckily for me, Evan was asleep most of the drive because I was wiggling in my seat trying my best to dance behind the wheel to keep my energy levels up. At 5 AM I decided I needed to get some sleep even though I wasn't tired yet. I found a truck stop and climbed in the back of the car for a few hours sleep before we woke up and drove to Orange Beach, AL.

The Amphitheater at the Wharf

June 19th: We arrived at the Amphitheater at the Wharf late morning so we had some time to spend relaxing on the beach. Since the amphitheater isn't built on a true wharf we had to travel 3 miles south to the gulf coast. Evan and I spent about an hour sunbathing and playing in the surf but were ready to leave after Evan pulled a jellyfish tentacle off of his face and chest. So we packed up and found a hotel in Pensacola, FL which was only 20 miles from Orange Beach to shower before heading back to the venue.

Evan's new guitar - on loan

That night Evan had decided to play his Gibson Explorer for the first time. Evan secured a Gibson sponsorship before we left for the tour and was able to visit their showroom to pick out a guitar on loan. He chose the Explorer which is an interesting looking guitar. The design resembles the wacky flying v and features a split headstock. It is definitely an appropriate instrument for a rock tour.

Evan changed up the set by playing "The Giving Tree" as his last song instead of "Indiana". This song requires a lot of audience participation towards the end of it as Evan puts down his guitar and sings acapella keeping the rhythm to the song through clapping. It went over verily well, I would estimate that at least half of the 7,000 seated patrons were clapping along and all applauded in approval when Evan finished his set.

June 20th: Evan didn't have another show until Wednesday, June 22nd so we decided to camp for the night in Alabama. We chose the Chewacla State Park near the border of Georgia. We set up our tent and cooked over our little propane grill. We would have liked to have a fire but the state of Alabama was under a burn notice. They were experiencing a draught and wild fires were breaking out in the area.

Primitive camping site

It was nice to relax in the shade of the woods and drink a cold beer listening to the sound of crickets, frogs and cicadas. We didn't realize how many mosquitos dined on our blood that night until we woke up. In fact, there might have been a fat mosquito in our tent that ate himself to death because Evan and I were covered when we woke up the next morning. That was the only disappointment of the evening.


June 21st: We spend most of the day driving to Charlotte, NC and arrived around 6 PM that night. We met Evan's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Gary along with their daughter Lindsay at the Landmark diner (on Guy Fieri's list of great Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) for dinner. That night we went back to Lindsay's to catch up on the happenings in the family; where the cousins were, how they were doing, who is having babies, who we might see at the shows in NC. It is nice to be with family :)