05/27/2026
Artist Life On The Road, A Cautionary Tale
This past weekend was a classic culmination of questionable decisions over the past few months.
1. Over extending ourselves by agreeing to impossible deadlines (and missing some of them)
2. Not considering us “calling” a festival because of weather
3. New phones and automated call centres
We set out for Blue Ridge GA on Thursday this past weekend with hope in our hearts and not enough pots in our truck. Blue Ridge is the last show of our spring season and usually serves as a reset for us because we stay for a day or two after the show to relax. To be fair, that aspect played out well as we got to hang out and visit with two sets of friends while we were there. Although one set of those sets of friends (thanks James & Kim) helped us set up AND breakdown (in the rain)
Turns out we had plenty of pots after all because people stayed away because of the weather and sales were WAY down from last year.
Tuesday morning we washed sheets and cleaned our lodging (thanks Kevin & Sara) and got on the road a little later than we wanted, but nothing awful… yet
The rain began somewhere in Georgia and by the time we made it to Tuskegee AL it was pouring and visibility wasn’t good. The car in front of us swerved and missed the gnarled metal in the road, but we had no choice but to hit it (swerving with a trailer on slick roads is not recommended)! Alex managed the blowout like a master, and we made it to the shoulder without further incident. Miraculously only the front right passenger tire was blown. This is precisely where everything begins to get very tense. Did I mention that it was pouring rain? Turns out that when you pull on the side of the road and put your hazard light on only a small number of drivers deem it necessary to change lanes to give space. There was also a surprising number of vehicles on the road (probably due to the holiday weekend). Between the rain and the road noise we couldn’t hear. AAA and and State Farm (their roadside assistance sucks) have automated call centers. This is where things really got bad. Alex and I both got new phones recently and hadn’t gone on the AAA app, our passwords wouldn’t load. Not surprisingly, the phone has a hard time with face recognition in driving rain with a raincoat (that’s a generous description of our rain apparel) hoodie on. Needless to say we kept getting kicked off the app and automated site (while looking at the card that says I have coverage until Dec 2026) Fast forward 1 1/2-2 hours on the side of the road trying to get the spare off the bottom of the truck while being buffeted by wind noise and rain (you get the picture) and me trying every which way I can think of to get us road side assistance , Alex notices that we are less than a mile away from a rest-area. We decide to take our chances and MIRACLES begin to happen.
This is where things begin to get better by leaps and bounds. Without the threat of eminent death we could troubleshoot. Alex was finally able to get a live person on the phone and they began trying to get us help. We got the anti fatigue mats out of the truck (if you don’t use them at shows, you should, they save your knees and back and surprise, you can slither under a truck MUCH more comfortably) and he could finally see why the spare wouldn’t come off (the plastic tube that is supposed to guide the stick to the connecting spot wasn’t attached). Rest areas are amazing, not only was there space to navigate safely around the truck, we could change into dry clothes before getting back on the road all in one stop!! Thankful for YouTube for helping us to remember which side of the tool you’re supposed to use to get the spare off the bottom of the truck. We got the tire changed and were back on the road a mere 3ish hours later.
The moral of the story:
Recheck your safety protocols and procedures, make sure you have your policy numbers and the apps working so you can navigate automated sites and better yet, have numbers for REAL people to talk to in emergency situations, it makes ALL the difference. Going forward…would we cancel a show because of a weather forecast? Probably not, but we are buying REAL raincoats, not just lightweight windbreakers.
