Friday - Part 2

We were on our way at last. Sunny and I sent the passenger manifest on its way around the bus for people to sign and started distributing snacks and drinks. It was pretty challenging- a lot like being stewardesses on a junior high school bus. Eventually we found homes for all the pastries and bananas and sat back to enjoy the ride, hoping to get a little sleep. Someone had brought ‘Wild Hogs’ on DVD and the bus driver put it on. Not much time passed before one of the guys from the back came up to hang out with us. Pretty soon after that there were some desperate calls for a pit stop, which afforded us the opportunity to buy some much-needed candy. Our new front seat companion appreciated this, as well. The rest of the trip was pretty smooth, with ‘Wild Hogs’ playing through on repeat about 2.5 times.


When we arrived at the hotel in Vukovar, things were a little hectic. As people were checking in, there were a host of questions to field, 90% of which we had no answers for. Everyone wanted to know how many people would be at the festival, what the schedule was, what was for dinner, etc. Your blind guess is as good as mine was at the time. One person requested – nay, demanded – that they switch his room to one with a bathtub. Because he hates to take showers.

Anyway, we were able to convince the hotel staff to move dinner so people didn’t have to wait until 9pm to eat. Then we started to figure out who wanted to go to the festival – the venue was about 30 minutes away – and how they would get there. One person decided to brave it alone and made his own arrangements (alienating the entire front desk staff in the process - impressive) while the rest of them were at our mercy. It ended up being more complicated than we anticipated, and while we sorted things out we were treated to some singing and dancing outside on the lighted staircase. One person nearly made me audition for the choir by imploring me to sing ‘Baa-Baa Black Sheep’ for her. She was really funny and nice so I wanted to please her but in the end declined, perhaps turning down a revolutionary career as a vocalist.

At any rate, we were able to arrange transportation for most of the people who wanted to go check out the festival that night, except for Sunny and me (the vans were full). We successfully drank away our sorrows, and emotionally prepared for the following day by watching the Grey’s Anatomy season finale.


I know this is a pretty lame picture, but it was the only one we took of our bus driver, and he deserves recognition. He drove a ton and put up with a lot over the course of the weekend. Thanks, Željko!