Day Off in Edmond, OK

Happy T-Day, everybody!

I managed to sleep in this morning – got up around 8:30. Bus call wasn't until 2:30, so I had a lot of time to kill. Read yesterday's paper, showered, packed and was down on the bus by 1. Just didn't feel like sitting around the room any longer…

Our day off today has kinda been taken away from us. We SHOULD be waking up on the bus as we pull into a hotel in Houston, where our show is tomorrow. Instead, we're staying here in Oklahoma, where we're going to Thanksgiving dinner at Mike Kennerty's house out in Edmond, an OKC suburb. Don't get me wrong, I love working for this band, and I really like hanging out and drinking with everyone on my bus. As gracious as it is for Mike to provide a place for us all to spend the holiday together, most of us would rather be in Houston, chilling out. Me, I probably wouldn't leave my room today – if I can't be home with MY loved ones, I'd just as soon be alone with my thoughts.

I feel trapped. I don't really want to be rude, but I also don't want to hang out with a bunch of strangers in somebody's house all day. And I don't want to be trapped on my bus all day, parked in front of Mike's house. Mike's poor neighbors, they've got 3 tour buses parked here all day with their generators running.

To top it all off, I've got a splitting headache which is getting worse by the hour. About 4:30, I finally forced myself to go inside and meet everyone. Mike's got a cool house. It's about 5,000 square feet or so, and is decorated in "Young Person With Money" style. He also has 3 roommates, which means his mortgage is getting paid for him while he's on the road. No way in hell I could ever go the roommate route again. A live-in girlfriend, sure. But a roommate? No way…

After dinner, I hang out and socialize a while. Mike's dad is an interesting character, so I spend most of my time inside chatting with him.

Finally slip out to the bus around 7, never to return inside. Steve, my driver, is due back at 11 to head to Houston. I'll probably hit the sack around midnight, but for now we're watching an Elton John documentary on VH1, which seems to cover '70 to '75 or so. The "Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road" era footage is amazing. And I'm blogging…