Day 9 -- Anchor Bay, Wisconsin Rapids WI

Sunday July 7

One more gig before 2 much-needed days off. Or so we thought, but I jump ahead of my tale.

Left around hotel checkout time to trek back to Wisconsin Rapids for a gig and to remain there as a base of operations again for the coming week. Drive uneventful. Dropped off our luggage then drove off into the woods to find Anchor Bay.

Another pretty cool place next to a lake. And again, they fed us and provided a few adult beverages per band member. But we were playing outside in the afternoon. We were in the shade more or less, but also out of the breeze. So all the mosquitoes were using the corner where Eric's drums were as their own base of operations to swarm out and bite the shit out of all of us. We used up what little bug repellant we had, and finally got some more from the crowd once we started playing.

And it was getting kind of hot. Or as we Texans refer to it, "April." Set up and went in to grab food before our set, and made arrangements to start a little later so we had time to digest a bit before we started playing. God forbid we get sick in the heat and barf onstage in front of families and old people.

Food was good, had a grilled chicken sandwich and a salad. Trying to eat more greens and spread out my red meat intake. Helped myself to an Island Wheat courtesy of the wooden nickels they gave the band members. Mainly spent time by myself before the set and during set breaks, had a lot on my mind.

The show was fun tho, and the mosquitoes didn't completely drain us of blood. It was pretty damn hot, and for awhile the sun was blaring through a gap in the patio covers. I actually played most of the gig in sunglasses. During set break Matt had to put the improvised amp cover he and his wife had made out of reflective car windshield screens onto to his amp to keep it from overheating as it was in full sun.

A fun show, but sweaty as all hell. But we got the old and young couples alike up and dancing, more than 100 people there at peak crowd, including friends from the Mulligan's Pub crowd. Good times, good show.

Loaded out swatting at mosquitoes, the locals said the big ones will come out after sundown and they were not kidding. Holy shit. Had lots of stowaways in the van after having the doors open to get the gear in.

Got back to Amy and Ryan's and finally met them in person as they were back from vacation. They are VERY good people.