Back Jack and Do It Again

It’s been a week since I posted. I took Memorial Day off, because I’m a veteran and because I thought I could get away with it. Wednesday found John Batdorf (www.johnbatdorfmusic.com) and I driving like maniacs to Rockville, Maryland to play the Focus Series that Scott Moore puts on. Everyone there did a fantastic job (thanks David); good sound; good people/volunteers, good crowd.

But we made a mistake in that we thought that Rockville was near Baltimore. Turns out it is a suburb of Washington, DC. And that’s what today’s post is about.

This entire tour of grueling driving long hours to get to gigs requires us to know exactly where we are going and that we are there when we need to be, and not stressed out, but ready to go.

Fortunately, both John and I are pros. We’ve been doing this our entire lives and we always leave extra time for the unpredictable stuff. A MUST!

Luckily, we factored in enough time to accommodate the extra seventy minutes that we had to drive to get to the gig and still arrive in plenty of time for the load in, sound check, warm up and show.

We had another bout with the Assume Bogey yesterday driving from Indian Lake, NY (an hour and a half north of Saratoga Springs). We checked Googlemaps and zoomed in on the map. I thought I understood the map I was looking at, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

When we arrived at what I thought was the exit, we had spent forty five minutes in a line just to pay the Mass Pike Toll and then three minutes after that, another toll.

We had to pay these tolls and go through this hassle because we didn’t print out the directions. Okay, okay, I know they have GPS units and yes, I’m buying one this coming week, when I have a day off. But in the mean time, print out the directions.

Assuming anything is just stupid. Ascertain and then ascertain again. And don’t forget the idiot check. Everything on the road is check and check again. I left my hat sitting on the grill that I had to pass to load the car in Rockville, Maryland.

Because I was looking down and because I didn’t go back and do the idiot check.

Check and check again. Ascertain and then do it again. It will save you a lot of problems and anxiety on the road.

Comments

[Eva]

At least it wasn;t MapQuest! You'd STILL be on the road <G>

See you Sunday!

Eva