We were taking turns driving, a tank full of gas at a time, and everything seemed fine... we were going to drive straight down with no over night stops. As we crossed into the North Carolina border and pulled over to the rest area, we noticed some terrible grinding noises, and I mean terrible... we knew we were in trouble.

The thought of missing NYE 2000 was worrying the hell out of us.  We forged onward, "Follow The Lines Going South."  We get back on the highway and realize that for some reason, the noise goes away when its in 4th gear (Standard Tranny). We all knew we couldn't rent a car and that our only option was praying that the 4runner would take us to southern Florida.

As we entered S.C. it got worse.  The Shifter was stuck in fourth; it would not come out. We were determined, however, to make it. If you can imagine starting from dead stops in 4th, it's not easy, almost impossible - driving through traffic, traffic lights with only 4th gear is quite a task. (Slave to the traffic light) But we did alright making it to Alligator Alley!

That's when we met the line and waited in for a while, but the clutch was starting to get bad (lots of smoke). In a normal situation we would have waited patiently in line, but we had no choice -  WE WERE GOING TO THIS SHOW!!! we PULLED ON TO THE RIGHT side and drove down the breakdown lane, cutting people and feeling bad about it, and thus receiving plenty of grief from Phellow Phans waiting in line. But we were this close and not stopping...

now, maybe you saw us and thought "what assholes," but now you know there was reason.  We made it to the show and I really had the time of my life. I could write a whole other story on the show, but this one's about our determination of making it to this historic event.  We were there and that memory is with me forever. I hope to see Phish many times in future, but was not lucky enough to get tickets for MSG-Hampton.