After the Bay City show, Anna & Andrew give me a lift back to Ann Arbor to meet the Grotto, who are en route from Lewiston, NY to Ann Arbor, MI, having driven straight after playing their show. They arrive in Ann Arbor at 2.30 in the morning, at which time I’m laid out on a sleeping bag in Anna’s house.
The guys ring me, and a bit foggy after my nap, I grab my suitcase, guitar, shoulder bag and a few boxes of cds. Every limb is laden to capacity. I’m only going a few blocks on foot, but I’m unlucky enough to get cut off by a freight train barrelling through the Ann Arbor streets at night.
It’s a long train. A really long train. By the time it passes, I’m late and I run the rest of the way to the 24hr diner where the guys have parked up looking like the wreck of the Hesperus. After a rather strange meal, with heated discussion about World of Warcraft strategies going on beside us, we set out again and find refuge for the night somewhere along the road to Chicago. My only clue that anything was up was that while I was driving… I could see out the rear window. I remarked, “God lads! That’s a great pack!”, and thought no more about it until we started loading gear into the motel later that night/morning. I realised that I’d left my bag on its todd, standing upright on the street, when the train finally passed me in Ann Arbor.
What we didn’t know until the following night was that the guys had left their t-shirts in Lewiston, NY, so the guys had no merchandise and I had no clothes. Not our finest hour!
Thanks to Twitter and the kindness of my host in Ann Arbor, my suitcase was recovered. Such a relief! Such a saving too.