Long version:

Since it did affect my vacation experience, I'm going to start with the weekend before we left for Bonnaroo. TJ was away at camp, so the dog and I had a lot of mother-daughter bonding time. That Saturday was pretty hot and I accidentally took her for too long of a walk (still learning my way around the neighborhood) and came home and gave her doggie ice cream to cool off. Several hours later, she had horrible, thick brown vomit all over the dining room floor. I figured it was just a combination of things just making her stomach upset and didn't worry too much about it. That night, I let her sleep with me since TJ was away. Around 3 or 4 in the morning, she woke me up by vomitting all over the hallway floor. I cleaned it up and then we cuddled until she fell back asleep. Sunday, I just gave her some rice and gatorade and she seemed much better. 

Crisis over. Until I was leaving for work Monday morning and she got sick all over the dining room again. I called the vet on the way to work and sorted things out so TJ could take her up that morning. Several hours and over $300 later, we learned that she had a parasite and were given 3 prescriptions and some canned food for her. Not a huge deal, but this meant my mom was hestitant to babysit Maddie because her puppy is so young. Some phone calls later and it was decided that Jelli would watch Maddie for a night so she could have an extra day on the meds before my mom picked her up. So, Monday was shot.

Tuesday night, TJ headed off to get his Dad's car (he was letting us borrow his SUV for the trip) and I packed. Katie, Ron, and Matt came over to drop off all their stuff and to load the cars. All we were missing was Robbie. Around 10 or 11, we found out he was at a 21st birthday party and wouldn't be there until late - so we told him not to come and wake us up, but to just get there in the morning by 6am. 

Woke up around 5am on Wednesday and started getting ready to go. TJ called Robbie to see where he was, but no answer. We found him sleeping in his car in our driveway - turns out, he got there late and just slept in his car. Not that big of a deal, excpet we had a 13 hour drive ahead of us that we needed him to be awake for. Not only that, but he didn't get his car fixed, so we ended up having to take mine and he got mad and threw a nerf football at TJ's face, breaking his glasses. As we would tell him when he drew a penis on the window of a McDonald's later in the trip, he's "so 20." 

We headed out and made good time getting through PA, DE, and MD. Virginia started to take forever, so we stopped off at a Waffle House for lunch and even met some fellow Bonnaroo-ers (from Boston). A few long hours later, we were finally in Tennessee. We met Katie and Ron at a motel (as we now know that the distinction between hotels and motels are the rooms opening up directly to the outside - the more you know, the more you grow) near Nashville. The next morning, we had what will probably now be my last meal at a Cracker Barrel ever (so sad), went food shopping at a Super WalMart, and then met up with Jimmy, his girlfriend Taryn, and their friend Austin (who had made the drive all the way down with them and didn't even have a ticket yet). 

Leaving Nashville (about 60 miles away from Manchester), we saw signs all over the place for Bonnaroo traffic. The exit we were supposed to get off of was blocked by cops, so we had to go several exits down before we could exit. On the way, we saw that traffic in the opposite direction was stopped, with a long line of cars parked on the side of the highway. We felt bad for the people waiting there, thinking we had lucked out and were coming from a less-traveled direction for Bonnaroo - little did we know that these people were the lucky ones. 

The next 8 or 9 hours were spent sitting on the side of the road for 30-40 minutes, driving 500 feet, and then sitting again. We amused ourselves with Uno, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, football, washers, running into corn fields, water guns, playing on our cell phones, and drinking (well, the boys did anyway, Katie and I were too worried about having to pee). Ron also threatened to give blow jobs to anyone who cut in front of us in line, which he will probably never ever hear the end of. 

Around 9, we finally pulled into Bonnaroo! And it started raining. Then pouring. Then there was a tornado watch/warning and we told to stay in our cars. And we set up our tents in the midst of it, getting absolutely drenched in the process. At this point, we were all frustrated, exhausted, and pissed that we had pretty much missed a full day at Bonnaroo. Which made us really great people to be around, haha. 

At a break in the rain, TJ insisted we go find some real food, check out Centeroo and see Passion Pit, so we headed toward the bright lights and loud noises. Passion Pit was pretty good from what I heard, but we were mostly just trying to get our bearings, so we headed back after exploring a bit and, of course, it started raining again. Cold, driving, get-you-soaked-through-your-$1.29-Target-ponch rain. There was nothing to do except try to get as dry as possible and go to sleep. But not before TJ gave us all a good show by walking into the tent in nothing but his boxers, soaking wet, yelled "Watch Out!" and dropped trou because there was no where else even semi-dry to get changed. 

The next morning looked optimistic when the hot sun forced us out of our tent around 8am. After enjoying the bright blue sky for about an hour (just long enough to feel hopefull), it clouded over and turned gray. At least that meant we could nap...

So, we napped, ate Chef Ron's hot dogs and burgers, covered ourselves in suncreen and put on our standard issue, matching bandanas, courtesy of Katie, and headed out to Centeroo. The rest of the day was sort of whirlwind-esque and invloved a ferris wheel looking out on miles of tents, some of Animal collective, watching people get their entire bodies painted red, cooling off in a muddy fountain, dancing to Santigold, eating benevolent burritos, watching a guy with a full beard dressed in a hot pink moo-moo dance to Al Green, getting smooshed in a very fun crowd for Beastie Boys, catching a little bit of David Byrne, trying to stay awake for Phoenix, and then finally back to the tents for sleep.

Saturday was my birthday! Everyone at the camp site sang a rousing rendition of happy birthday, accompanied by a yukelale, which was what Taryn called, "the saddest happy birthday she had ever been a part of" haha. I decided all I really wanted for my birthday was a shower, so TJ, Katie and I set out a trek to find the showers, only to discover that they were about a mile away and that the line moved impossibly slow for the 4 stalls designated for women. Katie and I retreated to the handy sink station instead, washing up as best we could using my tank top (I had a bathingsuit on) and the sink. It was  gross, but felt wonderful.

Afterwards we went up to Centeroo to walk around and shop a little, see Elvis Costello, Bruce, the Daily Show stars (a lot of the comedians on the show, minus John Stewart), some of NIN, and some of MGMT before heading off to bed around 3 or 4am.

Sunday was an easy day, except for the blisters on my back and arms from the sun. We cleaned up the camp site and loaded the cars, headed up to Centeroo to see Ted Leo and walk around some more. Met up and headed out to take Katie and Ron to the airport in Nashville. 

After the airport, TJ and I went to hang out in the hotel and I took the best shower of my entire life. It's really bad when you can't tell what is a tan line and what is dirt when you're washing yourself....

We met back up with Robbie and Matt and ventured into downtown Nashville, which was overrun with crazy country fans for the CMA festival. We got food at a brewery, walked around to the kitschy souvinier shops and found a tank! The tank was in the middle of the street for some reason and it inspired Matt to do a photo essay (I'll have to post pictures of everything later).

The next morning, we got up bright and early for the 13 hour drive home. Fueled up the cars and headed to waffle house for some grease and coffee, where TJ and I were referred to as Robbie's parents (thanks for rubbing in my oldness two days after my birthday). We got on the road and everything was fine - until TJ decided we needed to stop an hour or so later.

10 minutes later, he's in the Kroger bathroom puking as I'm shopping for Solarcaine and ginger ale and Matt is vomitting in the parking lot. Well, that sucked, but on our way.

We made it another hour or so before we had to stop again. We then spent the next 2 hours hanging out on the porch of a Cracker Barrell while TJ, Matt, and I made frequent trips to the restrooms (and the bushes when TJ couldn't make it back inside).

I don't think I can ever eat at Cracker Barrell again. And it's not even their fault. 

While trying to figure out if we could drive anymore, I texted Katie to see if she or Ron were sick. Ron called me back 2 seconds later to tell me that they were in the hospital because Katie had been vomitting the entire night before. The doctor's said they thought she had a virus. 

Scared for what we might be in for and unable to drive too far, we hopped in the cars and pulled in at the Marriot down the street. Got a room and promptly passed out for most of the day, getting up only to drink ginger ale and then again when my stomach rejected the ginger ale. 

We drove home the next day and are all more or less healthy now. Needless to say, I get to pick our next vacation and it will include showers and umbrella drinks.