Grown-up Reckless Abandon

Camp Go-Go has been buzzing with rumors of a Summer tour and this got me thinking back a few years, to when The G0-Go's released their last CD. The band was sent out on an insane promotional tour, taking them all over the United States and throwing in a stop in Turkey for good measure. One day they would be in Los Angeles, the next NYC, then Florida, then St. Louis. Not so fun for them, but lots of fun for fans. This one included.

Picture it - May 2001. I'm doing my payroll thing at work, having been on the job 8 months. I was pretty well settled into my routine, I had some PTO time built up and I could schedule a day off here and there if I wanted. I don't recall if it was a phone call or an email, but Vahona, my partner in mayhem contacted me. It went something like this:

V -"Hey - The Go-Go's are doing that show in St. Louis on the 30th. It's a Wednesday but I figure if we leave work at noon, it's a 6 hour drive but we can probably make it in under 6. They'll probably go on at 8, be done by 9:30. We see the show, drive back, sleep a few hours then go into work the next day. What do you say? do you want to do it?"

J - "That's insane!"

V - "I know."

J - "Let's do it!!"

V - "YAY!"

Minor problem. It's payroll processing. I process payroll every other Wednesday and Thursday. Tasks need to be done on Wednesday before Noon, then Thursday morning. After some thought, I decide I can do it. After all, we're leaving Wednesday afternoon and we'll be back Thursday. I just have to make sure I get to work by 9. Easy!

On the 30th, payroll processing tasks were completed without any problems. I packed up my desk at 11:45 and was out the door by noon. I packed a bag of snacks and a cooler of cold beverages and loaded the CD player with lots of discs. I picked up Vahona and our friend Faith downtown and we hit the road in my pretty little Jetta. Off we went, on our crazy little adventure.

The drive was completely uneventful. We talked and laughed and shared stories and zipped down I-55 and made it in record time. We found the venue with no effort what so ever. I can't even tell you the name of the venue or the type of neighborhood it was in, all I can say is that we found street parking and then found a bunch of our friends in a restaurant which I believe was attached to the venue. There had to be 15 of us around the table. Why St. Louis was the meeting place, I don't know. Rusty and Rick from West Virginia, Heather from Las Vegas (or maybe at the time she was in CA), and others who had traveled a long distance for this show. We had time to laugh and chat and hang out before the show.

Doors opened and we rushed to the front of the stage. The equipment on stage didn't look familiar. That meant only one thing...opening act! CRAP! We didn't have time for an opening act!! There was nothing we could do about it. They started to play at 8, they finished at 8:45. The Go-Go's didn't go on until 9:30. UGH!

The show was excellent, despite Jane not feeling well. She saw us there and smiled and waved. Belinda even came over by us and appreciated seeing some familiar faces in the crowd and she waved. Kathy, always cool and polite hopped over and greeted us as well. They had fun and we had fun. The show ended and we spend a few more minutes talking with our friends before deciding it was time to hit the road and begin our journey back to Chicago. The time was now 11:15. And we had to stop for gas.

Faith took the back seat. She decided to sleep so that if I needed someone to drive, she would take over. Vahona's job was to navigate and keep me awake and entertained. Not a problem, she and I could have fun at a funeral. We played games on the ride home. One was "Hot Air Balloon of Love" where, starting with the letter A, we had to recide the names of celebrities who were all riding together in the hot air balloon of love. Each person takes a turn, and adds a name to the list. We played a couple rounds of that game, then started on a similar game naming movies. Vahona and I were going back and forth with names when out of nowhere (well actually the back seat), Faith just blurts out "Blackula!" We laughed for about 5 minutes. Then it started to rain and instead of driving 70 mph, we were driving 50 mph.

Somewhere, about 50 miles from the city, at about 4 am, the road we were on was closed. There was bridge work being done and supplies and equipment were being brought to the site. We sat there for about 30 minutes, waiting. I was tired, I had to pee and I was panicked about payroll. When the road finally opened, we proceeded and got Faith home safely. Vahona asked me if I wanted her to drive, I decided to just go the rest of the way.

Without incident, we returned back to the city. As I dropped her off, the sun was rising. It was 5:40 am. I got home at 5:45, walked in the door and got into bed. I slept until about 7:45, got up, showered and made it to work by 9. Surprisingly I was awake and alert the entire work day. Payroll was processed without incident and I had a fun story to tell my coworkers. All were shocked that I had spent more than 12 of the previous 24 hours driving.

After work, I even managed to go do laundry. The last thing I wanted to do was go to sleep after work, for fear of messing up my sleep pattern. Laundry was not without incident. Sadly, I left all of my socks in the dryer. I guess exhaustion was setting in.

When I think back to that adventure, it makes me smile. In a heartbeat, I would do it again.

As an adult, what adventures have you experienced that you would file under reckless abandon?