Friday 6/17/2011 - The day started bright and early at 6:00am as I hurried to pack my bike so I could be ready to leave the hotel with the "motorcade" at 7:00 am. Today would be one of my longest single stretches of motorcycle riding during this trip covered in the least amount of time. Montebello, QC is where the D-Tox Rockfest was being held and it is located about 325 miles away from Toronto.
We left the hotel right on time. I was following the van driven by Simon and was followed by Hugh. Hugh is a friend of the band that had driven from Connecticut to see the two shows. We got underway without incident and stopped at a Tim Horton's after about an hour so everyone could get some breakfast. The skies were looking pretty ominous at this point so I figured, better safe than sorry and donned my rain gear. It may look stupid but should the heavens unleash at least I wouldn't get soaked. We continued travelling for another 150 miles or so and Simon was gracious enough to pull over so I could rest my weary posterior. It was about 15 miles shy of the longest single stretch that I've ever been in a motorcycle saddle. I was REALLY happy to get a break. This photo of me with the Descendents was taken by Stacie Stevenson at the rest stop.
We'd made it to Montebello a couple of hours later. Fortunately it didn't rain very much. The little rain that was encountered was just a drizzle. First order of business after unloading my bike was getting a nap. Simon was kind enough to let me crash in his bed while he worked. I had been unsuccessful in my quest to secure a room in Montebello so if I couldn't find a floor to crash on I was just going to backtrack the 40 miles to Ottowa after the show and get a room at a chain hotel. Honestly, it was not a well formulated plan on my part.
So I woke up, grabbed some dinner a little later and got set for some rock. The hotel rooms were situated maybe 100-200 yards from the main stage and all had porches. It made it really easy to just sit at the hotel and take in the music without having to go and stand around in the field. The main stage acts that I really payed attention to were: Joey Cape, Pennywise, Lamb of God, and obviously Descendents. This was the first time I'd seen Pennywise since Zoli Teglas took over vocal duties. They did not dissapoint, his voice is still just as powerful as with Ignite. The big moment of the Descendents set was when the entire audience was coaxed into singing "Happy Birthday" to Stacie (whose birthday it was on the 17th). Lamb of God played after Descendents. I'd never heard Lamb of God beforehand and was really impressed. They put on a fantastic live show and sounded great.
There was lots of partying and merry making after the performances were over for the evening. I ended up staying up way past my bedtime and finally crashed out around 3:00am. It was yet another exhausting day. I was REALLY happy that I had gotten that nap.
