JEFF PIKE - ABBA MANIA - FALL 2021 TOUR BLOG - DAY 13

November 9, 2021
The Bus and The Holiday Inn
DeForest, Wisconsin
Shipshenawa, Indiana

Check out the TOUR page for all venue and ticket information for upcoming dates.

Sleep is a phenomenon and necessity of life that has always evaded me. Looking back through the years, I have found that I sleep ' my best', and I use that term loosely when alone in a cold hotel room or on a plane. So a night alone in a Holiday Inn is not as bad for me as it is for many people that I have known throughout my life. The Holiday Inn, as I had mentioned where we stayed last night, was nice and clean, and the bed was quite comfortable. Ah, pillows. I love pillows. I forgot to mention that I love pillows. I have to have a lot of pillows. Did I mention pillows? So that is another blessing for me of staying alone in a hotel room with two double beds. I get lots of pillows.

Anyway, after checkout, we all went outside to meet our next new bus. Like the ones before, she was a beauty, nice and clean and ready to roll. Yet I have to admit that as I patted her on the way in and said under my breath, "Come on, baby, hold together," I felt a little like Han Solo talking to the Millineum Falcon in Star Wars. Just for good measure, I did a full search for Princess Leia. Unfortunately, she was not to be found. The girls had already been out, and Alison told me she had bought me a little gift that she had left in my bunk. I was very excited and happy to receive my gift! To make sure you are paying attention, dear reader, I am going to make you search for it in the blog pictures posted below. :-) See if you can figure it out. Hint-it should not be very difficult.

Well, we were all anxious to get on the road to Shipshewana, Indiana, so we could at least enjoy one day off. But before we could do that, we had to go pick up the trailer full of equipment, which was still at the garage. After securing our trailer, we spent way too long picking up supplies at Wal-Mart. So by the time we got packed, situated, and on the road, it was several hours past the time we had planned on getting out of town, and we still had a very long drive ahead of us. The drive was not a short one, and it took us a lot longer to get to Shipshewana than we thought. Once again, by the time I got into my room, it was about 9:00 pm. So sadly, we missed our two days off in Shipshewana. Once we arrived and saw just how amazingly darling the hotel, our rooms, and the town were, we were even more bummed. Thankfully, we were playing directly next door the following day, so there was the option for those who wanted to get up early and get out and about before soundcheck. Some of the band members went out in search of late-night food. I just got into my PJs, did a little reading, and turned the lights out in hopes that I would sleep through the night. Welcome to Shipshewana, Indiana.