My last couple days have been all about the trip this weekend. My friends and I have been searching all of the DMB boards (antsmarching.org, nancies.org, etc.) for tickets to the shows. Many of us already have tickets in our hands (I am not one of those people) and are looking for better seats, while others have been holding out for the best seats possible. It’s a known fact that ticketmaster.com will release some unused band comp tickets as the show date approaches. With this in mind, we have also been checking out the site at least every half hour. I got a call from my good friend Nasim (lead singer of O.A.R.’s wife). She told me that I’ve got at least one ticket to each night this weekend, so I can finally relax thanks to her. Although I’m still checking ticketmaster quite often to see what they have and also to let my buddies know when something is there.

With my ticket concerns mostly out of the way, I’ve been concentrating on my packing. We will be camping the whole weekend and our friends who live in Chicago don’t have much camping gear. This means that I am somehow going to take some large things with me on my flight as checked luggage. I’ve borrowed two canopies from my parents that I hope to bring with me. However, each one of them weights nearly 15 pounds! The limit on southwest flights is 50 pounds per piece of luggage. So two of the canopies in one bag is already 30 pounds. The next problem is that they are so large that only one will fit in the biggest piece of luggage that we have, and it only fits diagonally across the bag. This doesn’t leave much room for other things. The good news is that I can check up to three pieces of luggage. I’ve been considering using my hockey bag to transport some of the supplies, but it seems that it might be too big to use as a free item. In addition to these two canopies, I’m also taking one or two bag chairs, a smaller sized tent, an air mattress, a pillow and sleeping bag. That’s in addition to any clothes that I’ll pack. So you sort of see my dilemma that I face when putting it all together tonight. Another problem is that I’ve only got about an hour to get it all done. Wish me luck…