The drive out the Gorge was pretty and somewhat uneventful. We did carabus with my neighbor and one of his friends (the green & white weekender in the front of the last picture in the last post), but we split ways somewhere along the way. IIRC, the GPS unit had us divert onto RT22 for a short period and then back onto highway 97. The others stayed on 97 the whole time. It didn't really matter in the end, though, as we eneded up camping about 50' away from the double cab and the weekender. We made a final pit-stop at a rest area about 20 minutes from the venue and met some folks from Canada. They turned up about 40' away from us in the camping lot, and we hung out quite a bit over the weekend.
The camp-zone setup was pretty chaotic. Imagine thousands of cats getting
herded by about 50 shepherds. The venue had painted lines on the grass where people were supposed to park (nose-in). Then, there was a presumption that tents would get set up behind your vehicle. If everyone did this along a line, cars and foot-traffic could flow. There were no-parking zones painted on the ground in a rectangle around the portapotties too. As you might expect, those lines were adhered to even when the parking lines were completely ignored. It actually kind of worked. It worked waaay better than the camping lot at Oxford Speedway in the late 80's, I'll say that much.
herded by about 50 shepherds. The venue had painted lines on the grass where people were supposed to park (nose-in). Then, there was a presumption that tents would get set up behind your vehicle. If everyone did this along a line, cars and foot-traffic could flow. There were no-parking zones painted on the ground in a rectangle around the portapotties too. As you might expect, those lines were adhered to even when the parking lines were completely ignored. It actually kind of worked. It worked waaay better than the camping lot at Oxford Speedway in the late 80's, I'll say that much.That first night was just a lounge-about. We set up for the weekend, popped some beers and grilled kabobs while listening to our stereo combat the stereo's from the neighboring campers. As ususally is the case, the folks with the nicest system (or playing the best bootleg selection) won. It wasn't us; it was the guy across the way with speakers on top of his car. He was playing 70's-era (wall of sound) shows, so there was no complaining. Besides, it was going to be a long weekend, and we only had so much battery. It got cold after sun went down. We were glad to have our little propane heater - we were able to hang out much later.
We were awakened the following morning by a bunch of locals (from "Yak") that were parked across the path from us. They, like some group of locals at practically every venue, 
came il-prepared: no camping equipment, no food, little money. They slept in their car and were awakened by the sun. So, they resolved to yelling, perhaps trying to touch their inner-rooster. We fired up the stove for coffee/tea and my wife cooked up some eggs, IIRC. We walked the lot, visited with our friends, and shut the van for the show. The Doobie Brothers were going on at 3, and we wanted to find a flat grassy spot with a decent view, so we headed for the venue around 2. I don't think any of us were terribly interested in the Doobie Brothers, but if we had waited, we would have been dancing on the slope -> shin splints.
came il-prepared: no camping equipment, no food, little money. They slept in their car and were awakened by the sun. So, they resolved to yelling, perhaps trying to touch their inner-rooster. We fired up the stove for coffee/tea and my wife cooked up some eggs, IIRC. We walked the lot, visited with our friends, and shut the van for the show. The Doobie Brothers were going on at 3, and we wanted to find a flat grassy spot with a decent view, so we headed for the venue around 2. I don't think any of us were terribly interested in the Doobie Brothers, but if we had waited, we would have been dancing on the slope -> shin splints.I'll post the set list next time. Pictures...
top: view of the filled camping lot (A) from the empty camping lot (B). Oddly, the venue filled the lot without running water first, and loaded the lot with running water the moring of the concert. Not sure of the logic there.
bttom: boy wandering the lot the morning of the show. He was selling candy bars that looked like the plastic-wrapped bars kids sell for their school. He said it was a benefit of some kind, and we bought a few.
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