It was a long weekend like no other!  Tessa and I traveled all over the Carolinas from Columbia to Asheville to Charlotte for a nice minication.

We started by heading down to Columbia Friday night and stayed with my cousin Tonya and her new husband Soup.  Tonya had to work an all-nighter but still managed to join us for a trip to the Riverbanks Zoo.  Tessa had never been so I was excited about taking her for her first visit.

After several hours, we left the zoo and went to the Red Bowl in Columbia since we love the one here in Greenville and wanted to share the experience with Tonya and Soup.  I gotta say, the Columbia location isn’t anywhere close to the one in Greenville in terms of food, service and price!  Fans of the Greenville location should go somewhere else when down in Columbia!

On our way out of Columbia heading towards Asheville, my dumbass let us run out of gas – on I-26 where there were exits every 3 or 4 miles and not all of which were gas exits!  I have never in my life run out of gas and this was a BAD day to start!  As we were walking towards the nearest exit, my stomach which had been giving me fits for the better part of the day decided it would rear it’s ugly head once more forcing me to run down into the woods on the side of the interstate!  Let’s just say it’s a good thing I wear underwear on a regular basis!

Not long after my ‘crappy’ ordeal, a good Samaritan by the name of John stopped and gave us a lift to the next exit so we could get a gas can and some gas.  As we got back to my abandoned car, John’s car decides to die on him upon arrival.  Apparently some killswitch he had killed his battery temporarily and he needed a jump.  Unfortunately, we had no jumper cables so we drove a couple of exits up, finished filling my car with gas and borrowed jumper cables from the nearest Hess station.  We got back to John, jumped his car and followed him back to the Hess station to make sure he was alright and to return the jumper cables.

We finally got back on the road and reached our hotel room in Hendersonville around 9.  After we checked in, I immediately hit the shower for obvious reasons!  Not thinking I closed and locked the bathroom door and Tessa needed to get in so she could get ready herself.  So I stepped out of the shower to open the door and as soon as I swung my right leg out, my left foot began to slip in the shower.  Panicked, I tried to steady myself by attempting to plant my right foot on the bathroom floor but to no avail.  I finally landed my wet and naked ass flat on the bathroom floor.  By this point I had had enough but the show must go on so I continued to finish getting ready and we made our way to the Orange Peel.

We got to the venue around 10 while AS SICK AS US was on stage.  Unfortunately, our misfortunes of the day had caused us to miss DIXIE DEATHWISH.  We made our way backstage to get a gameplan together for my introduction for IRONSIDE who was headlining the show.

After getting the crowd hyped up, IRONSIDE came out and delivered a killer set including tunes from the new EP Prepare For War.  After the show, we were bushed so Tessa and I went back to our room and passed out!

The next morning after we checked out, we headed to her cousin Sherry and her husband Mike’s house in Clover, SC to spend the day and night before going to Carowinds on Memorial Day.  They took us out to eat at Amber Jack Seafood Restaurant in Gastonia, NC where I gorged myself on shrimp, scallops and crab legs!  Nom!

Tessa and I got up fairly early the next morning and got ready for a big day at Carowinds!  Being it was Memorial Day, we expected it to be a bit crowded which it was but not as bad as expected.  We geared up appropriately for a day at a theme park (I chose to wear a bandana on my head to protect my now bald and vulnerable noggin) and doused ourselves with SPF 30 sunblock.

We immediately hit a few roller coasters including the Intimidator before the crowds could get any worse then decided to hit the water park section.  While Tessa changed into her bathing suit, I reapplied sunblock to all of my exposed parts and we were on our way.

By the time we rode a few water rides, it was after 5 and we were starved so we stopped and grabbed some food before hitting a couple more coasters and leaving the park.  As we were leaving, I finally decided to take off the bandana which had stayed on my head throughout the entire day through water rides and all.  When I did, Tessa broke out in laughter as it was the only place on my head not exposed to UV rays whereas the rest of it had been hit with the rays that penetrated the wimpy SPF 30 (I’m used to 50+)!

Needless to say, I am wearing my hat all day at work and everywhere I go!