Wow, what an amazing past week. I am back home from Moncton NB and I thought about just taking a picture of my journal entree to explain everything that happened on my trip but as I wrote on the bus the almost 8 page journal entry I wrote is barely legible so I will have to provide the short story version of my U2 Moncton NB Adventure.
Where to begin, well for starters I am a changed woman. U2 and the friends/fans I made on this trip have impacted and changed my life in such a great way. The entire trip, maybe minus the bus ride( as there are crazies on every bus ) was incredible I have never felt more welcome, more inspired, more in awe, more excited and more grateful. From the moment I got off the bus, I had no idea how I was going to get to Magnetic Hill as I only had 20$ bucks left to my name and strangers were very kind at the bus stop and willing to drive me (they thought I was nuts to travel alone and were worried about me, but they as well as no one at home had anything to worry about!) In the end I bargained with a taxi driver and he took me right up to my camping spot and stopped the meter at $20 bucks.
As soon as I got the camp ground I knew I would be totally Ok and I was. I just so happened to walk over to some nice folks, Liz and her man Ray, they were so kind and before even pitching my tent up told me I had to go with them to see the guy who was giving the GA numbers. They already had their numbers and I was really stoked, I had met the right people because as they said, no one knew were this guy was camped out as he was a far walk away up in at the top of Magnetic Hill. Anyway, so we trekked up to where (Vince) was staying, he had a one man tent and was the only guy allowed up there by U2 Security. I got my number which is now sunburned in on my wrist still which was/is 64 and man was I excited, that is one great number for so late in the week! I was very thrilled about this. Anyway we headed back and Liz helped me set up my $30 tent which held up really well in the torrential down pour we experienced on Saturday.
Friday was a quiet day, I woke up later then everyone and so the camp ground was empty, a lot of folks went to see the tide come in at this one spot where apparently it is higher than anywhere else. So back at camp I realized I was just a couple tents away from Philly guy, Drew. I have some pics of Him and Amp (Turban guy) in my Toronto GA line up. Anyway, he was around on Fri and we hung out for the majority of the day, he taught me how to make food from a bag on a little stove that was held up by a couple of rocks. It was the best meal ever! He shared a lot about being in the wilderness without food for weeks on end and how he could survive with just a few key things. I learned so much from him and gained a whole new appreciate for living out in the wilderness and am now actually really wanting to go camping again, I had the best time. Granted the outside toilets were terrible but other than that it was really amazing.
In the afternoon drew and I joined some other folks that were around on the camp ground, they were a lot older than us but had the most decked out little camp community and were so sweet and welcoming, I had the most delicious muscles that I learned to dip in garlic for the first time and wow, they are some very cool older folks still living it up and having a fun time, I want to be like that when I get older. I was really impressed, and so happy that they included us in their family fun.
I had kind of a rough sleep on Thursday night as I only had the comfort of my yoga matt, so Friday night Liz and I went to Wal-Mart, got our rain boots as we heard it was supposed to rain, I got some markers and bought a cheap shirt and we decorated our boots and my tee and called it a night.
We had an early night as we were waking up for 7am to join the Line-up. The rain was terrible and it did not let up from the moment we got in line until the moment the first opening act started. This was the toughest GA line that most have experienced and I by the time the concert started I was soaked from head to toe and even after it ended was still completely drenched. The concert was incredible and I will talk to anyone about it in person but I just can’t describe it on paper, I was front rail off to Adam’s side and had the most incredible time. It was everything I had hoped and more, words just can’t express.
The walk back to the camp ground was the craziest, terrible, didn’t know if I would make it …..Kind of walk. The rain all day had turned Magnetic Hill into a mud bath. My poor sketchers which I had changed into earlier because my boots were incredibly uncomfortable were mutilated by the end. What was incredibly cool was Drew’s friends a lady my age or a little older and her mom who was probably 65. She and her daughter had been to a lot of shows together and the older lady was incredibly tough, after standing and enduring such harsh elements and then after standing for hours at the concert I was in complete awe as this lady trekked her way through the uphill muddy climb. At certain points I wasn’t sure we would make it, it was absolutely the toughest climb to get out I have ever experienced. I just kept looking out for Drew’s red Philly Jersey and eventually we made it to the top of the hill. This older lady(can’t remember her name) got a ride from AMP who had a car and we continued to walk.
It wouldn’t be an event unless I caused a little drama. After we got through the crowds and were alone on the road walking back to the camp grounds my leg all of the sudden started feeling intense pain and I just fell down to the ground screaming in total agony! I can’t remember the term for when your leg goes crazy like that and causes intense pain but I couldn’t stop wincing and yelling in pain..in 2 seconds flat my U2 friends were there..I heard someone calling out to Drew who was walking ahead and he and everyone came running back and I had the support of everyone, giving me water…massaging my leg and this lasted for a good 15 minutes, the pain was excruciating. I have had this happen to me once when I was sleeping and woke up in pain but it had gone away soon and this just seemed to last forever!
Anyway, I limped with help back to the grounds and what happened between 1 and 4 am was the best part of my trip. I wish I could have taken pictures but my camera was destroyed after the water all day so all I have are the memories but all of, well about 15 of us were sitting wherever we could find a place and Colleen, I believe this is her name, had a bottle of wine or something like it called “360” which just happens to be the U2 Tour name. So anyway we thought no better way than to the pass the bottle around and when you got it share one of the moments on the tour or of U2 In general that stood out or impacted your life. Well this started with a small group and ended with a large one. It was the best way to end our time together and the tears from everyone rolled as we shared. I cried as I talked about how the song “Walk On” has mirrored my life in so many ways over the years and just how challenging it has been to keep going at times and others talked about there experiences and it was just a beautiful thing. I will never forget those last couple of hours of my time there on the Moncton Hill camp grounds. I made life time friends and one of the last toasts that was made was that we won’t wait until the next tour to get together and also that U2 has yet again inspired us to change the world and we want to get together and do something to help others the next time we meet.
There is so much more I could talk about, I had the most incredible time and on the bus ride back found myself telling this guy about Jesus, he had committed some terrible crimes and told me he knew he was going to Hell, I hope what I told him about Jesus’s forgiveness will resonate in his mind but I honestly don’t know what if anything he will remember from our hours of conversation on the bus. I know that I gave him the truth and that’s all I could offer.
So here I am, back at Chapters and I need to get some work done now as I have spent hours uploading pics to Facebook and blogging here, I don’t have time to add all the pics on my blog but check them out on facebook and yeah..thanks everyone for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers during this trip, I really appreciate it and I hope that next time I will be able to convince some of you to join me on my next U2 Adventure. Until then….
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