Day 16 - South Fork – To Err is Human, To Forgive Ed…Divine.

Yeah van call wasn’t great this am.  We woke up one Drew short of a band.  He crashed out with Guttermouth and didn’t have a way to get back to our van.  He takes the morning ride with them to South Fork.  We’re all a little late, but no worries we planned for this.  What we didn’t plan on was Manny still being in such bad shape.  He can’t even keep liquids down.  We hit a grocery store and pick up some Pedialyte for him.  He passes out in the back of the van and we’re off.  The GPS is back up which makes us all happy.  Mike and I wake up every morning with a trashed voice.  We drink vitamin water, hot tea and Pedialyte all day and by show time it’s functional enough to continue.  We make it in to the town of South Fork and for the first time this trip, Johnny Law is on our tail.  Damn.  Our luck had to run out somewhere and it looks like it’s here.  Johnny Law is actually Jenny Law and she is the nicest lady in town.  I’m talking Boise nice.  She says she saw the Ed Sled doing 67 in a 40, but didn’t lock it in until we were at 60.  20 over is a big fine so she says she is going to drop it down to 19 over to save us some money.  We give her the required info.  Insurance is expired.  She says she’ll let it slide.  Also, she says carrying a kid in the back without a seat belt is another bad move (side note, she mistakes Manny for a small child).  She’ll let it slide.  Nicest lady ever.  Then she goes to run our info and comes back with some bad news.  Apparently there’s an old ticket that didn’t get paid and Ed’s license is not valid.  But guess what?  Today is our lucky fucking day.  She just asks that someone else drive.   Mike get’s behind the wheel and we’re forced to refer to the ride as the Mike Rack since the sled is now out of business.  Good news is Ed does deserve a break.  He’s been crucial to this whole trip and tonight he gets to relax and have fun. 

We roll into Biggins and they are still constructing things.  The PA is the opening band’s gear and they are still setting up.  No biggin.  We’re down with whatever.  Now before I go any further I want to point out that although almost every town has been hospitable to us, I don’t think it get’s any nicer than South Fork.  We knew the promoter had a place for us to stay, what we didn’t know was that it was a 4 bedroom, 7 bed townhouse with tv’s in every room, a full kitchen, laundry, etc.  It is one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed at.  In addition, the venue is feeding us, giving us a bar tab and overall treating us incredibly. They have T-shirts made with ours and Guttermouths name on it for all of the staff at the show.  Crazy.  The thing is, South Fork is a small town, if we get 200 people at the show it’s a huge success.  I’m not sure if we hit the number or not, but again people are too kind to us for every second that we are there except for when we actually played.  Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time.  Mike climbed a rail and when he jumped back on to the stage it partially broke.  There was about 20 of the kids there that really got into it, but the rest all kind of watched from about 50 feet away.  They still applauded after every song, and had nothing but good things to say but I get the feeling that punk rock doesn’t come through South Fork too often.  Guttermouth gets a similar reaction but a little better.  They come a little closer but one lady is utterly offended.  16 days in I am still confused when people get offended by Guttermouth.  They aren’t called Angelmouth or Tows-a-nice-line-mouth.  They’re Guttermouth for fucks-sake. But besides the few people who I don’t think knew what they signed up for, it was a really fun time in South Fork. 

After the show it’s back to our palace for an after party.  We have tomorrow off so we’re taking it up a notch tonight.  Mike starts in on the ride back.  He makes a sweet Whiskey Tango mask complete with eye-holes (yep that shit is still in the sled..er rack) and starts chucking donuts at us.  Manny is at the wheel.  We’ll call it the Mandwagon.  We make it to the place in one piece and pile in for some much needed enjoyment.  The Guttermouth guys come over and out comes the acoustic.  It’s funny collectively how many random songs we know.  It’s even funnier when you’re hammered and no one remembers them.  Also, add to Justin’s resume of skills, human jukebox.  He is legit.  He can run a one-man karaoke party in his tattoo shop someday and the people will line up.  Seriously.  He’s a talented dude. I tap out somewhere around 5am, but the party goes well into the sixes and I can’t wait for a long overdue day off tomorrow.  Thank you South Fork.  Your theme is hospitable and we are so incredibly grateful for that.