Believe me, everyone was shocked to find two buses with seats picking us up at the airport!! What started out like Shock and Awe soon turned into a creative construction project that we all called Bunk Wars! There was a piece of plywood or an air mattress safe in Europe, once our pillaging hands went near! People claimed property under the tables, under the seats and on top of the tables. It looked like a gypsy squatter's ville!!
The best feature was the giant coffee area at the back of each bus! We drank more coffee on that tour than you can imagine! The only trouble was, the toilet was next to the coffee machine! The heat would set in and whoa...the smell would overtake us! One night, as we were all being gassed, Mom came out of the toilet and said "that doesn't stink! You know what stinks? Straw in the corner of a train car!" Touche! No one complained again!
We were making our way to Russia, visas intact, when I received an urgent message from the Russian government. Our tour was cancelled due to their discovery of a terroist attack planned for Volgagrad, the city of the wedding! With so many Americans traveling, and the city near Chechnya, we made prime targets!
Reboot everything and we switched the wedding to Belgrade, Serbia. It was absolutely a blast! This tour had many tales...we took my Mom to the concentration she survived; we took her to the location of the forced labor camp she worked in; we took her to the Grand Hotel in Nurnberg where she spent her first free New Years after years of enduring WW2. We partied with Gypsies and Dad held court at the catering backstages of many festivals. He even asked if he should Pop Slayer in the nose for restricting Max's on stage water tossing! I am ever grateful that Max and the band allowed this to go down. My parents have left this earth and those experiences are now treasures!
Thanks to Soulfly and our guests for keeping it REAL, for not whining and crybaby-ing! Bunk Wars.....RIP, Dad, Mom and Leo...you made it righteous!!
Class dismissed.....
