Sharing the Road

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12 am or so in the parking field of Noblesville, Indiana's outdoor venue in the summer of 2000. my good friend, Beth, and I were waiting our turn out--parked at the very end of a row toward the exit--so inevitably, we were one of the very last cars to leave. but we didn't fret. just sat listening to many Pearl Jam songs reliving the amazing concert we had just witnessed--enjoying the stream of cars cruising by on their way out--carloads of fans blasting PJ and singing out loud with drunkenness and delight.

well, about 5 minutes or so on the highway we got off an exit with a super gas station equiped with bathrooms, coffee, snacks and galore--a temporary safe haven before the long 2 hour drive home. by now we were bordering on 2am or so and still taking our sweet time at the truck stop.

so, when we finally got back on the road, I was driving my violet Chevy Lumina and intent on playing this mixed tape I had made weeks ago--no Pearl Jam songs on it that I recall--and yes, I was still using cassettes and very slowly getting into the whole burning cds thing. so we hopped back on I-70 east which was to take us back to Dayton. I was busy finding one song for Beth that I thought she hadn't heard before. about ten minutes or so on the road, I found the song and started singing along. and this I will never forget.

I'm looking at Beth and she's watching the lane to the direct left because we were either in the middle lane or the right slow lane. And I'm talking to her but she's not paying a bit of attention to me. Her jaw is dropped. eyes opened wide, scaring the shit out of me because it took her forever to spit out what she was thinking. "Look", she pointed to the left.

and now I noticed the long, wide bus ahead of me to the left with another right behind it. had been so fixed on her, that I hadn't even noticed it. "Look at the plates", she said. They were Oregon plates and I can't remember for the...

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...life of me what the bus company's name was--just that it had Oregon plates. so somehow, by chance, we were sharing the road with Pearl Jam's tour buses!!

The next night they were to play in Cincinnati and the easiest way to get there would have to be I-70 east to I-75 south. It was all dawning on us with utter excitement--hearts racing. What do we do now?

So of course we were analytical about it all and thought, well it could be a coincidence--they are Oregon plates and not Washington state plates. but instead I honked the horn a bunch of times, rolled down the window and we acted like a couple of fools shouting to the second bus on the left. But we couldn't make out a thing because of the tinted black windows. so for the next hour or so we stayed behind the second bus simply sharing the road with Pearl Jam.

We had decided to follow the buses to Cincinnati and try and get pictures and autographs with the band as they were getting off the bus--how this would happen smoothly was not clear at that time, but it was the only plan we had. I had already called my boyfriend (future husband) on my cell phone and told him the exciting news--to which he replied laughing "Well, alright. Have fun stalking the band." And of course I had to correct him that we were merely..."sharing the road".

Beth had already called her mom to let her know she was spending the night at my place since it was so late--leaving out the fact that we were on our way to Cincy experiencing a very surreal moment.

So as signs for I-75 south began to show, we were trailing behind the second tour bus into the right slow lane to ...

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...make the monumental road trip onto I-75 heading south. I had been noticing orange detour signs, but thought we were okay since we were just basically following this second tour bus.

Well, the second bus ended up getting on I-75 NORTH :shock: instead of South and it was too late for us to stop following the bus, so the whole time we are making the big U-turn heading north off of I-70 east, we are noticing that the first tour bus is still on I-70!! wtf, right? I believe "Nooooooo" was the sound one or both of us was making as we made the large, gloomy U-turn which was ultimately dividing the two buses.

So now we realize that the detour signs for 675 are where the first bus is headed, while we are still following--I mean, sharing the road with the second bus heading north on I-75. so now, if we turn back around to head east on 70 towards 675 in hopes of catching the first bus, we might not be able to find it--because the first bus has a 10-20 minute head start on us and my car can only go so fast.

So we ended up following that second tour bus for about a half hour or so north before we called it a day. We had been figuring that maybe the band's equipment or other things were on the second bus for some reason and we weren't following the right bus. at this point it was 5am or so in the morning, we were tired, frustrated with the 2 buses unexpectedly splitting up, and ready for sleep. so we turned around and headed home towards the Dayton area. It could very well NOT have been the band and their equipment and just a mere coincidence, because why would they be going in opposite directions? While this reality confused and exhausted two sleep-deprived 21 yr. old gals, we went to sleep that morning with smiles on our faces, glows on our skin, and visions of Pearl Jam dancing in our heads. ...

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...About half a week or so later, I got a call from Beth. She had been to Pearl Jam's Columbus concert with her brother, whom was friends with someone who worked backstage at the venue. Somehow they managed to get backstage for a few minutes before the concert. She SAW the tour buses with her own eyes and the Oregon license plates that matched. We had been following the band afterall, and unfortunately missed out on a golden opportunity to meet them...maybe. But till this day we will never forget our accidental midnight encounter with their tour buses, and always cherish our memory of "sharing the road".