hey,

i need to apologize for the lack of blogging. where i am living, there is only dialup and its SLOOOOOOOOOOW. (yes, i live that far into the country) thank you michelle for the use of your laptop and internet!

ok so, i promised i would blog about spring break and meeting jonny and sloan...so here goes!

april 16th, we left ny and got into philly to watch roy "doc" halliday pitch an almost shut out game (until madson got in that is) on opening weekend and his home opener. we had the dhhq sign and made phanvision (the internal closed circuit tv). jonny and sloan were watching mlb.tv to see if they saw us but they didnt.

after the game, we headed down to sc to spend time with my family. we had a great cookout and spent a nice afternoon together. after the cookout, noah and i went to greystone park for a photo shoot with my friends pam and randy. it was a lot of fun. noah got to play in the river with josiah and hudson. it was a blast!

monday the 19th, we went and met up with jonny and sloan!!!!! they met me at the door of piggy park and was greeted with hugs. (yes john, i gave jonny a bear hug for you!) we shared a meal together and talked about some ideas for dhhq and to get to know eachother better. it was a nice time...i wish we could have had more time but i had to get on the road to avoid traffic.

we got into temple a few hours early (i HAD to avoid atlanta rush hour) and suprised the burns family. we got there, knocked and walked into their home. tj came down the stairs and was shocked we were there...i grabbed the little stinker and hugged him and started tearing up. skylar was next, then kaitlyn...then connor. it was nuts. they grew up so much in 3 years. bob and i pulled a prank on christen and spent the night with them. it was so awesome catching up with them. noah had a SINCERE BLAST catching up with his old friends. it was nice watching them play...it was like no time passed at all.

on 4/20, rick reese made the trip into temple to spend the evening with me! it was so amazing seeing him. we went in and got his name tattooed on the tattoo in memory of chris hobler. it was awesome. i hadnt seen him since july 1999. psycho tattoo did a great job.

on 4/21 we drove back into columbia to meet up with jonny and sloan one more time (a whole 15 min) then met up with mom and my old friend michael for lunch. we fought traffic in columbia and made it to nc.

shakori hills.

i dont know even where to begin. we got in LATE wednesday night and set up tent and walked around our other "home". thursday was all hurry. it was nice. festival goers started showing up, you could hear sound systems from the various stages starting there "check 1 2" and rusted root arrived. i got the message to meet preach backstage at grove stage and we walked around. it was nice spending time with him. walked with patrick on accident for a few minutes. their concert was awesome. this was the first time preach saw my dreadlocks. he said they were pretty amazing. dirk loved them too! larry (road manager) asked if i could loan him a few...he is rather crazy...but i like him. they, unfortunatly, left right after the show and preach promised to see me soon. patrick and dirk gave lots of hugs and said next time we should be able to get more time together. the cool part about their show was michael's brother came on stage for "send me on my way". was cool to meet him. they seem rather close. the rest of the weekend was a huge blur! it went so fast. the weather was incredible, i got to hang out with curtis (a shakori friend) and met so many new people. i got to reconnect with the burgess family and it was great catching up and spending time together.

leaving shakori was sad. i saw so many concerts...bela fleck was incredible...bassekou rocked, holy ghost tent revival tore the roof down...it was just amazing.

now that i am home, i got the ok from jonny and sloan to plan a camping weekend with dhhq so we can all meet those that have helped our dreadlock journey. i am going to be getting ahold of shakori hills to see about a group rate. it's central nc, would be cheaper than going elsewhere and there are lots of amazing bands. might be a cheaper option for folks. so im going to be looking into it this month.

thanks to everyone for your hospitality and love! it was an amazing time!

peace, love and locks,
betsy