On the off day I drove through Connecticut and New York into Pennsylvania and made the leisurely drive through the Delaware Water Gap area. It was sad driving through Newtown, CT. The objective on this day was to visit our good family friends Tom and Joan Neilsen in Spring City, PA. Joan is my godmother and they were neighbors of ours in Glen Ellyn. Their son Soren was born 10 days after me. It was very good catching up with them. I appreciated them taking me out to eat for some delicious Bee Sting wings at a local establishment. When we would visit them in New Glarus, WI we would always listen to The Traveling Wilburys so that was the obvious listening choice as I approached their new place in Pennsylvania. I spent the night in Lancaster, PA at an Econo Lodge that left something to be desired. With little other options for entertainment I watched another game of the World Series.
On Tuesday morning I headed down to Gettysburg. Seeing all the familiar road names from history got me excited. I've read so many books and seen movies/documentaries about this battle but had never visited the site before. It felt good to be from Illinois driving past the site of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address at the sprawling cemetery. In my vehicle I drove around the area where the battle began on the first day. Then I drove down Seminary Ridge where Pickett's Charge started on the third day. Finally, I exited the park near Little Round Top. You could feel the spirit of so many souls that were extinguished on that hallowed ground.
I drove northeast to Reading stopping for lunch at Wendy's. The plan was to kill some time in the afternoon watching The Counselor at the cinema near the arena. After finding a parking spot in the garage by the arena formerly known as the Sovereign Center I walked about 5 blocks to the theatre making it just in time to see the opening credits rolling. This violent film with an excellent cast was a fun watch but critically speaking it was a little weak. For dinner I had Subway. I found a spot very close on the floor right in the center and met some good people.
Phish played another cohesive first set. CTB was appropriate with the traveling. Wolfman's continues to be a first set monster these days. Walk Away kept the energy high. Divided Sky is one of my favorite compositions. An unfinished Melt > Julius highlight the set. I didn't mind that they didn't finish Melt as it had already yielded a strong jam.
DWD started with its usual rock beginning but this jam found Trey using an amazing bluesy lick that brought this jam up and over the mountain. It was pretty much everything you want in a second set opener. This bled into a very well played Taste. Great call. I thought Twenty Years Later was going to be a breather. Not on this occasion. For the first time they explored and tacked on a jam at the end of it. Piper wasn't a tremendously long version but it was definitely a legitimate third jam in this set. #Line actually worked in this setlist spot as it did in Worcester. I called the YEM. You could just tell after such a successful set that it was the only way to go. I'm going to declare this the best YEM of the 3.0 era. Grind was a nice send off at the end of my time on the road with them this fall. I was happy to hear Bouncing in the encore. It was disappointing having not gotten a Reba in my 6 show run and then they drop it when we least expect it. Great version. Trey was playing from the heart. Good Times Bad Times was appropriate as this Fall I made the decision to end a bad situation and got back to what makes me feel good. This was what you would call a sleeper show. I'd consider it up there with Friday Worcester as the best offerings I saw from Phish Fall 2013.
After the show I made the dark, winding drive on the PA Turnpike to my cousin Traci's house near Pittsburgh. It was scary almost hitting a deer very late at night. At the oasis I stopped at there were a bunch of Phishheads still excited from the show. I told them it had been my 107th time seeing Phish and I'd consider it one of the better ones. It was nice to get a little sleep and a shower at Traci's place. The highlight of the roadtrip was visiting with Aunt Maude at my dad's cousin Joanie and her husband Larry's house. Aunt Maude is my Grannie's sister. Mais has been gone for over 10 years and having a nice chat with such an important link to my family history was priceless. After our nice visit I made the arduous journey home. I met up with where I'd left I-80 the previous Monday in Cleveland. I listened on the radio as the Red Sox won it all during the drive. I was on the road for the entire World Series. It was smooth sailing until Indiana and Illinois where I drove through torrential rain and high winds. I had to reach down deep to get the final stretch done. With me Phish Tour is like Arnold and weight lifting. The more I put into it, the more I get out of it.
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