Monday, July 13, 2015

Drowned at The End of the World

SO THE WORLD ended Saturday night. The official cause? Drowning.

End Of World is a great thing. It's a party just east of Quincy in more than 40 acres of woods. It's like a miniature Woodstock with camping. Join the Facebook group to get updates for next year's festival.

Pepper Spray played at 2 p.m. to kick it off Saturday and we had a blast. Fielder took the stage at 7:30 p.m. and got well into their final set when it got very interesting.

It was raining about 1 p.m. when we were setting up, but it cleared and we thought we'd get through the rest of the day. Radar showed a massive system moving north of us. We kept our fingers crossed.

But at about 9 p.m., just as it was getting dark and the crowd really starting to grow and get into it, the system suddenly veered south. We got hit, and I mean smacked. Deluged.

I have never seen it rain so hard for so long. Never. It just kept coming down and it turned everything into a muddy mess. Fortunately there were several large tents set up for people to stay out of the rain. I had a small tent set up but it got blown over and soaked right away, along with all the contents. I'm just glad I had a hardshell guitar case - they are worth their weight in gold.

Fielder ROCKIN' the crowd.
About 10:30, when it kept pouring and skies kept flashing, the final band of the evening, Tri Point Paradox, was canceled.

There is a huge field next to the wooded area for parking. We've had one of the wettest summers on record, and the already-soft ground made parking somewhat difficult. Once it started, there was almost no way you were getting out of there through the mud unless you had four-wheel drive and a big vehicle. There were huge rivets in the earth between the parking lanes.

At about midnight, as the party raged on and some folks started really feeling their beer, Sheryl and I decided to leave. "We aren't getting out of here. You'll get stuck in the mud," she said.

"No we won't," I said. Sheryl had been having too much fun. Of course she wouldn't know that I was a stellar driver in mud, ice, snow and sunshine.

We got stuck. As in, half the front tires disappeared into the gooey earth. With the car in the middle of a parking lane and no way of getting out of there, and no let-up with the rain, we called Sheryl's sister, Stephanie, and got a ride home.

Yesterday morning was scorching hot and humid. We made it back out there about 9:30 and the parking lot was a total disaster - there had to have been at least 100 cars hopelessly bogged down in the mud. A guy from one of the local towing services was trying to help, but he kept getting called away for "911 emergencies" and there were a lot of people helplessly trying to get out.

Finally, a couple of Good Samaritans in Jeeps and tractors arrived and started pulling out cars. I am grateful to the gentleman who pulled me out - about half an hour later, I saw him and he was covered in mud and sweat. You know what? He looked like he was actually having a blast.

The whole scene Sunday morning reminded me of a zombie apocalypse - people wandering around in  a daze covered in mud and wondering what hit them the night before. They were happy though. It had been a good time.

From what I heard, it took most of the day to get everybody out of there. That's what happens when the world comes to a very wet and muddy ending. Frankie Murphy Giesing can certainly organize a magnificent music festival.

It was an adventure. I'm ready to do it again, in a year.

By then, my stuff might be dry.


Katie Jean and Scott Smith at End of World in Country Village :) Wow, how I adore this woman's voice! Oh and Scott wrote this song and it was simply wonderful.
Posted by Jacqueline Kaufman on Monday, July 13, 2015

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